Did Lenin ever fly?

[Egg Centric]

I have asked this question in a few places without success - is Lenin known to have flown in an aircraft? Alternatively, is Lenin known never to have flown in an aircraft?

 

[birchesgreen]

I can't tell you for sure but it seems unlikely, he died in 1924 and his last few years were in poor health.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

He certainly was known to have travelled by train, most famously the return to Russia from exile in Switzerland in April 1917, but that's not the question that the OP has asked. Just maybe though, Lenin contemplated returning to Russia by plane, but obviously this didn't happen.

 

[Calthrop]

He certainly was known to have travelled by train, most famously the return to Russia from exile in Switzerland in April 1917, but that's not the question that the OP has asked.

One wonders whether re this 1917 voyage (a complicated business involving rail through Germany, ferry to Sweden, then rail right the way round through Sweden and Finland, ultimately to St. Petersburg); those in Germany who facilitated this move -- hoping to do harm to Russia's World War I war effort -- at least contemplated, instead, flying Lenin and his associates directly to Russia?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

One wonders whether re this 1917 voyage (a complicated business involving rail through Germany, ferry to Sweden, then rail right the way round through Sweden and Finland, ultimately to St. Petersburg); those in Germany who facilitated this move -- hoping to do harm to Russia's World War I war effort -- at least contemplated, instead, flying Lenin and his associates directly to Russia?

There do seem to be rumours in this regard, i.e. Lenin / his associates contemplating hiring / renting an airplane.

 

[Calthrop]

Vladimir Ilyich's dreadful secret, perhaps -- he found that he was an aerophobe ?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Vladimir Ilyich's dreadful secret, perhaps -- he found that he was an aerophobe

Doubt it. Just somewhat impractical in 1917 to cross over Germany by air in the midst of WW1 (albeit not impossible).

 

[Gloster]

From my limited knowledge of the subject, I believe that Lenin travelled in the sealed train because Russia was still at war with Germany and it was necessary to enter it via neutral Sweden. Flying directly from Germany to Russia would have even more risky than flying was generally in those days. One consideration would have been that it wasn’t just Lenin travelling, but a party, so you would have needed several aircraft, which would have to have been military as civilian flying was at a stand. Another point would have been that travelling direct from Sweden to Russia would have involved a lengthy sea crossing (and depend on the military situation in what are now the Baltic states), while I doubt that there was the infrastructure to allow the flight to take place around the north of the Baltic.

 

[Snow1964]

There were virtually no passenger planes until late 1920s, civilians could get flights before that, but not in any form of VIP comfort
The earliest civilian flights from Moscow were in in early 1920s from Knodynskoe pole (pole = field) which is north of Moscow centre

Stalin apparently didn’t like planes either, which is why other leaders always had to go to somewhere he could get to.

Even Hiltler insisted on one trusted pilot (Hans Baur) from his first chartered Lufthansa aircraft in 1932 to his death. Apparently he did make one flight from Bavaria to Berlin with another pilot, whilst Baur was away having taken various high Nazi officials to Russia.

 

[birchesgreen]

Stalin apparently didn’t like planes either, which is why other leaders always had to go to somewhere he could get to.

Even Hiltler insisted on one trusted pilot (Hans Baur) from his first chartered Lufthansa aircraft in 1932 to his death. Apparently he did make one flight from Bavaria to Berlin with another pilot, whilst Baur was away having taken various high Nazi officials to Russia.

Kim Jong-Il also doesn't seem to have liked flying, when he visited China and Russia he did it in an armoured luxury train (which is kind of cool and on brand for this forum!)

 

[krus_aragon]

There were virtually no passenger planes until late 1920s, civilians could get flights before that, but not in any form of VIP comfort
The earliest civilian flights from Moscow were in in early 1920s from Knodynskoe pole (pole = field) which is north of Moscow centre

Though coincidentally, there was a Russian aircraft (the Ilya Muromets) that was designed for a nascent airline circa 1913, but the first aircraft were diverted for use as a wartime bomber. I believe some were eventually used as passenger craft after the war.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_Ilya_Muromets for more details.