Russian TV channel ‘NTV’ runs an interesting project called ‘Aviators‘. We watch this show at home via the Internet TV provider. I put here a few frames from footage of a recent episode about Russian/Soviet aviation in Antarctica. As you’ve been able to see for the date, I’m pursuing this theme in a category ‘Antarctica: Greg’s Files‘.
A penguin on a red tail reveals where this plane had once belonged: ‘Polyarnaya Aviatsiya‘ - ‘Polar Aviation’.
And the plane is, of course, an indispensable workhorse of Arctic and Antarctic flying - the Ilyushin-14 (know in the Western world also as a ‘Crate’ - through that funny NATO classification designating a ‘code-name’ to each and every Soviet/Russian built aircraft.
However, as they said in the show, among the ‘polyarnye aviatory’ (‘polar aviators’) the plane was known then by another nickname - ‘Ludwig the 14th”, for its kind of ’standing along royalty’, - the ‘King’ was just second to none in its instrumental role of exploring both Arctic and Antarctic.
The show is growing quite popular, and it seems their team has ‘great connections’ 
- they even managed to arrange a real trip to Antarctica on an Ilyushin-76 freighter to shoot a footage of today’s life on ‘Novolazarevskaya’, a Russian Antarctic station, for the show.
Oh, there’s been one piece of news from Novolazarevskaya that made me unhappy.
They showed a plane, the Antonov-2, laying upside down on ice. Some time ago this plane was flipped over by extremely strong wind, and as I connected from the narrative, it was exactly the same Antonov-2 I’ve got a few nice pictures of.
It looks like there’s no hope for this Anny to get back in the air any time soon, unless some miraculous thing happens - like, one of Russian ‘oligarchs’ would step up forward with a philanthropy money to salvage it, or send a repair team right down to the site. Oh, you think I’m kidding? Not quite. Actually, I really mean it: such a deed might still be associated with less expense than buying an exorbitantly expensive chateau at the Côte d‘Azur, and one would benefit even more by being hailed as a ‘true patriot and son of one’s Motherland’
OK, notwithstanding the ultimate improbability of such a happening, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open
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