Phew! Settling back in the very cramped 'pit of this Tu-104 (there's 8 of us in here) I breathe a great sigh of relief and look around me at the scene in the cockpit... seven other very worried people, all preoccupied with their immediate problems as we taxi for departure from Irkutsk by Lake Baikal to Magadan on the chill banks of the Sea of Okhotsk.
The Mikulin jets roaring, we thunder down the runway in this modern miracle. Dmitri sits with the copilot up against one of the walls, keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't try anything. Lena in the navseat cradling a Tula-Tokarev pistol and eying the radio op and engineer like an owl, Vassily ('the General) in the co-pilots seat keeping the pilot under supervision.
I'd got the Li-2 down at Irkutsk okay... surprising myself - until that time the biggest plane I'd flown was a two-seater. Vassily said I must be a natural.
On leaving the plane we saw a copy of Pravda blown across the apron, featuring the General's face and a simple headline: "TRAITOR!". Lena took charge..."Follow me!" she hissed, and led us away from the ragtag bunch of passengers among baggage trucks, coaches and other airport stuff to a service entrance - looking back I saw some of the passengers speaking to two soldiers with machine guns and pointing in our general direction. She hustled us into the back of a catering truck and, pulling on a uniform jacket and hat, drove up to the gate and gave the guard a beautiful smile. He let us out, of course, and we went speeding out into the airport carpark.
She drove like mad, while the general stripped down and put on some smelly old trousers and some bits and pieces we lent him...bundling up his old clothes in a sack. Once this was done he suddenly stared at us and said "What on earth are you doing here!? I'm a fugitive! You'll be killed if they catch you with me...." Dmitri nudged me sharply: "We've decided to come with you, sir. We're all going to Magadan anyway..." "Well, okay, thanks boys... don't say I didn't warn you."
On reaching the suburbs of Irkutsk Lena shouted "OUT!" and we exited the truck at speed to find she had flagged down a taxi already with a combination of her smile and a certain authoritative look...Irkutsk had the usual grim panel tower blocks, but also some fine old historic buildings and churches - nobles exiled here in the last century had left their mark.
We got out at a run-down hunting shop and she purchased a TT WW2 issue sidearm, before flagging another taxi and heading back towards the airport via a different route.
We stopped around a corner from the checkpoint and paid the driver. Then we headed over a field and through trees before Lena produced some wire cutters and got us through the perimeter fence. A very tense few minutes followed, of dodging airport personnel and guards (nowadays it would be impossible, but back in 57, in Irkutsk...) until we found ourselves scrambling up the steps and into the open cabin door of the wierdest, coolest plane I'd ever seen. 45 minutes before take-off, no one was on board except for the pilot. He was very surprised when we burst into the cabin....
When the other crew members came on board they also got a nice surprise... the barrel of a TT aimed in their general direction. I felt bad about this, but it was Lena and Vassily's game (he told us to drop "General") and we were just tagging along. We held our breath as the passengers boarded and the pilot radioed for last calls to be made for Vassily, Dmitri and I. Then we were off!
This was the first ever flight of the 104 to Magadan (it had only been used Moscow-Irkutsk before that time) and we almost ran out of fuel. We had none left for a go- around and nearly had an 'incident' on touchdown.
Early in the flight the General had made one terse radio exchange with one guy. "Seagull clipped,needs 12 at Mag TW, quiet, 14.30, no drill". I wondered about it all flight, and as we touched down I asked him if he had arranged something...
"It pays to be prepared," he said. "If it doesn't work out, Magadan will be at least convenient for those of us who escape the bullet".
"What do you mean, convenient?"
"Don't you know about Magadan?"said Vassily, fixing me with an intense gaze."You know nothing of where you are going?!
