To Test Pilot

Comrade M.Yu. Alekseev

Congratulations on achieving the all-Union altitude record on the twin-engine aircraft ANT-40 with a commercial load of 1 ton.

I shake your hand.

I. Stalin

Pravda. November 6, 1936.

Note: Alekseev M.Yu. (1903–1939) — Soviet test pilot. On November 1, 1936, on an SB aircraft with a 1,000 kg load, he reached an altitude of 12,695 meters. However, this world aviation record was not registered by the FAI. On September 2, 1937, on an SB aircraft with a 1,000 kg load, he reached an altitude of 12,246.5 meters, which was registered by the FAI as a world aviation record. During his flying career (1926–1939), he mastered 46 types of aircraft. On July 26, 1939, he was killed during the first flight of an I-16 aircraft equipped with an engine fitted with a turbocompressor.