Gatchina Days; Reminiscences of a Russian Pilot

183, [1] pages. Illustrations. Endpaper maps. Occasional footnotes. Maps. Bibliography. DJ has slight wear Alexander Riaboff (1895-1984) who served in the Russian Army Air Service and was trained at Gatchina. After the Revolution, Riaboff flew in the Red Air Fleet and also with the counterrevolutionary White forces before fleeing in 1920 to Harbin, China. Later, he emigrated with his wife and daughter to the United States and settled in the San Francisco area. Years later, Riaboff wrote up his adventures as a pilot during those tumultuous times, and as edited by National Air and Space Museum curator Von Hardesty, they were published in 1986 as Gatchina Days: Reminiscences of a Russian Pilot. Von Hardesty is currently a curator in the Division of Aeronautics at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He has edited or written a number of books, including Gatchina Days; and Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941-1945 The author recounts his experiences in the Revolution and explains why he left the Bolsheviks and eventually emigrated to the U.S. In 1910, one of the first airfields in Russia was established in Gatchina, with the city becoming one of the first centers of aviation and engine technology in Russia. The pilot Pyotr Nesterov was trained at the Gatchina airfield and made his first long-distance flight from Gatchina to Kiev. The outbreak of the Russian Civil War saw Gatchina loyal to the White Movement.