Sergey Aleksandrovich Asyamov

Major Sergey Aleksandrovich Asyamov (1 November 1907, Krasnoyarsk — 30 April 1942) was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 20 June 1942. Commander in the 746th Long-Range Aviation Regiment, Asyamov led the TB-7 trial flight Moscow — Dundee (Tealing airfield) — a test of the route that would carry Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov to the United Kingdom and the United States for talks on opening the Second Front. After landing safely at Tealing on 29 April 1942 and presenting the TB-7 to British pilots, Asyamov travelled to London the next day. On the return leg from East Fortune to London aboard a Royal Air Force D.H.95 Flamingo of 24 Squadron, the aircraft's right engine exploded over North Yorkshire; the plane fell from 600 metres near the village of Great Ouseburn. All ten people aboard were killed. Before the war, Asyamov served in the Lensk aviation group of the Northern Sea Route. In July 1941 he joined Long-Range Aviation and on 10 August 1941 participated in the first Soviet bombing raid on Berlin. By January 1942 he had flown 48 combat sorties. His ashes were held at the Donskoye Cemetery columbarium in Moscow but disappeared in the 1980s; the search continues. The 746th Aviation Regiment voted to enrol him in its rolls in perpetuity. A street in Zyryanka (Yakutia) and the ice-class vessel «Lyotchik Asyamov» (Khatanga) bear his name. A memorial plaque commemorating Asyamov and the three Soviet Military Mission officers killed with him was unveiled on the High Street in Great Ouseburn, North Yorkshire on 30 April 2012 jointly by the Embassy of the Russian Federation and the local municipality — the UK anchor of his memorial. Source: Roman Firsov, «Майор Асямов. Прерванный полёт…», 2013. See document: /documents/russian-aviation-necropolis-uk.