The Sverdlovsk air disaster of January 5th, 1950

1950 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1950:- Events :* Arrow Air is founded.* The Brazilian Navy begins to reestablish an air arm of its own when an aeronautics directorate is created within the Ministry of the Navy.-January:...

was an airplane crash where all 19 of those on board were killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team (VVS Moscow

VVS Moscow

VVS Moscow was a Soviet sports club representing the Soviet Air Force. Among the sports the club participated in were soccer, ice hockey, basketball, and volleyball. They won the championships in basketball and volleyball in 1952, and the hockey team won three championships.Vasily Stalin, the son...

) of the Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...

 - 11 players, as well as a team doctor

Team physician

The team physician for a sports team is the physician who is in charge of coordinating the medical staff and medical services for a sports team. They are also subject to activities involving team building...

 and a masseur. The team was on board a twin-engined Lisunov Li-2

Lisunov Li-2

The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...

 transport aircraft, a licensed Soviet-built version of the DC-3, heading to a match against the Dynamo Moscow

HC Dynamo Moscow

HC Dynamo Moscow was a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. They were members of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League...

 hockey club. During the approach to Koltsovo Airport in Sverdlovsk

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, the aircraft crashed in extremely adverse weather conditions involving a heavy snowstorm with strong winds.

Passengers

• Ivan Novikov — wing
• Zdenek Zigmund
• Yuri Tarasov
• Harijs Mellups
  Harijs Mellups
  Harijs Mellups was a Latvian football and ice hockey player. Mellups died in a plane crash at age of 23.-Biography:Mellups came from Sarkandaugava in Riga where he played football in the streets and in the winter - ice hockey on a frozen river. His first football club was Aldaris for which Mellups...
  
   — goalkeeper
• Roberts Sūlmanis — full-back
• Yuri Zhiburtovich
• Victor Isaev — second goalkeeper, Soviet Airforce Team
• Alexander Moiseev — forward
• Galperin - team's doctor
• Galkin - team's masseur
• Boris Bocharnikov - team's coach

In memory of the crash victims a memorial was erected near the common grave in Koltsovo

Koltsovo

Koltsovo may refer to:*Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Oblast, an urban-type settlement in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia*Koltsovo, Yekaterinburg, a former urban-type settlement in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia; now a part of the city of Yekaterinburg...

.

Reaction of Vasiliy Stalin

The crash occurred two and a half weeks after the 70th birthday of Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

. Stalin's son Vasiliy Stalin, an Air Force commander of the Moscow Military District

Moscow Military District

The Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District.-History:In the beginning of...

, was afraid of his father's possible reaction and of the crash investigation; he decided to recruit a new Air Force team in less than a day,http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/world/europe/08russia.html?_r=1&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=NY-WO-E-FB-SM-LIN-CWO-090811-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click except for three original players who for various reasons were not on the crashed plane. The crash was not mentioned in the state-controlled media, and Joseph Stalin never knew it had happened.