HERBERT CUKURS' FLIGHT TO TOKYO



Tris Zvaigznes - A.Vercamer Profile



BACKGROUND

On October 21, 1936 Herberts Cukurs embarked on his second epic flight, this time to Tokyo, Japan. Once again, the destination was selected because of others' failures - at least four other aviators from other European nations had tried a similar flight and failed. This flight was much longer than his first, with stopovers in Lithuania, Germany, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Burma, China, Viet Nam, Korea and, finally, Japan. The total round trip was 40,350 km (twice that of the Gambia trip) and, aside from an incident in Hong Kong, was relatively free of mechanical difficulties. The aircraft was his new C.6 "Tris Zvaigznes" (Three Stars) which he had completed in the spring of 1936. It was assigned the registration number YL-ABA and, while it was designed and built as a two-seater, he made the flight alone.



   FLIGHT CHRONOLOGY

Date Cities Images
Oct. 20, 1936 Riga - Kaunas - Danzig Well-wishers in Riga at departure
Oct. 21, 1936 Danzig - Stettin - Berlin spacer
Oct. 23, 1936 Berlin - Budapest Well-wishers in Riga at departure
Oct. 25, 1936 Budapest - Belgrade spacer
Oct. 30, 1936 Belgrade - Sofia spacer
Nov. 1 1936 Sofia - Istanbul spacer
Nov. 2 1936 Istanbul - Konya - Adana - Halab spacer
Nov. 4 1936 Halab - Baghdad spacer
Nov. 5 1936 Baghdad - Basra - Bushehr spacer
Nov. 7, 1936 Bushehr - Langeh spacer
Nov. 8, 1936 Langeh - Jask - Karachi Posing by the airplane
Nov. 11, 1936 Karachi - Jodhpur spacer
Nov. 12, 1936 Judhpur - Agra - Allahabad spacer
Nov. 13, 1936 Allahabad - Calcutta spacer
Nov. 14, 1936 Calcutta - Akyab - Rangoon spacer
Nov. 15, 1936 Rangoon - Bangkok spacer
Nov. 16, 1936 Bangkok - Vinh spacer
Nov. 17, 1936 Vinh - Hanoi spacer
Nov. 19, 1936 Hanoi - Hong Kong Kai Tak, Hong Kong
Nov. 20, 1936
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May 25, 1937		 Hong Kong After the crash - Kai Tak, Hong Kong
May 25, 1937 Hong Kong - Xiamen (Amoy) - Fuzhou spacer
May 26, 1937 Fuzhou - Shanghai spacer
May 29, 1937 Shanghai - Qingdao - Beijing spacer
May 30, 1937 Beijing - Shenyang spacer
June 3, 1937 Shenyang - Seoul - Usan spacer
June 4, 1937 Ulsan - Kobe - Tokyo Tokyo airfield
June 10, 1937 Tokyo - Osaka - Ulsan - Seoul spacer
June 11, 1937 Seoul - Shenyang spacer
June 12, 1937 Shenyang - Qingdao spacer
June 17, 1937 Qingdao - Shanghai spacer
June 22, 1937 Shanghai - Hong Kong spacer
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SOURCES
Bruvelis, Edvins Latvijas Aviacijas Vesture
Irbitis, Karlis Of Struggle and Flight
"Jaunakas Zinas" November 24, 1936
"South China Morning Post" November 21, 1936
"South China Morning Post" May 26, 1937

I would like to thank R.Cukurs for translations and additional materials.
Thanks also to Ian D. Johnson for providing materials pertaining to the
        Hong Kong leg of the flight.
Profile courtesy of A.Vercamer.


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