On December 15, 1938, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov - a Russian pilot, brigade commander, Hero of the USSR (1936) - died.
He was born on February 2, 1904 in the village of Vasilyovo, now Chkalovsk, Nizhniy Novgorod Region. He worked at the Nizhny Novgorod (after 1932 - Gorky) aviation base.
He studied at the Yegorovsky and Borisoglebsky aviation schools, the Moscow School of Aerobatics and the Serpukhov Higher Aviation School. Served in the Red Banner Fighter Squadron (from 1924). Test pilot at the Air Force Research Institute (from 1930), where he conducted tests of more than 70 types of aircraft, developed and implemented new types of aerobatics figures.
From July 20 to 22, 1936, together with G. F. Baidukov and A. V. Belyakov, he made a non-stop flight from Moscow to Petropavlovsk on Kamchatka and then to Hut Island (9,374 km in 56 hours and 20 minutes).
From June 18 to 20, 1937, with the same crew, he flew from Moscow to Vancouver via the North Pole (8,504 km in 63 hours and 16 minutes).
He died during the tests of a new fighter. His ashes are buried in the Kremlin Wall on Red Square.