Boris Chukhnovsky

He graduated from the School in November 1917, and was eventually appointed Chief of Oranienbaum air detachment of the Baltic Sea.

Between November 1918 and July 1920 he was involved in the Russian Civil War as a pilot on the Red Army side, mostly in the southern front.

In particular, as a part of the Northern Hydrographic Expedition headed by Nikolay Matusevich, Chukhnovsky performed a number of flights from Novaya Zemlya to the Barents and Kara Seas.

[3] On July 10 Chukhnovsky performed the second flight (after an earlier abortive attempt) and discovered the group of Finn Malmgren which was sent from the Italia crew to the mainland.

He reported the discovery to the Krasin, however, subsequently due to limited visibility was not able to return to the icebreaker and landed on ice when the fuel was running out.

Malmgren died, but the two other members of the group, Philippo Zappi and Arcibaldo Mariano, were taken on board of the Krasin on July 12.

[2] In 1929, Boris Chukhnovsky started to work for the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route and participated in creation of the Arctic aviation service.