The area-specific geography and inavailability of railroads in the territory of Magadan Region have been a prerequisite for a key importance of air transportation services here. In order to get an all-round understanding of the socioeconomic situation in Magadan Region during the Soviet period, a researcher shall analyze the development of aviation activities in these northern areas as an integral part of the regional history at that time. In 1980–1985, the regional aviation was under the aegis of the USSR Aeroflot Company, but still air transportation business in the northern areas had its own peculiarities. Air aviation activities were efficient in this region as modern aircrafts were exploited including the passenger Tu-154, Il-18, An-2, An-24, An-26, Yak-40, and cargo An-12 and Il-76 crafts, also helicopters Mi-4, Mi-8 and Mi-6, which were used on a contract base to meet the requirements of geological teams, reindeer herders and many other economic entities. Availability of air aviation services has been a social factor of life support there and to the greatest extent in remote settlements and communities. Proceeding from this information, we determine as the goal of our article to study unpublished archives dealing with the Magadan Civil Aviation activities, which included passenger and cargo transportation services in Kolyma and Chukotka in the early 1980s. We have systematized and thoroughly examined the archive documents from unbiased viewpoints. We use the obtained results as a basis to conclude that the Magadan Civil Aviation Department has been a steadily functioning enterprise and provided to the full extent with the air transportation services for the population and regional industries. The regional aviation facilities included a sufficient number of airplanes and helicopters, maintenance and repair depots and airports. Regular air routes were established in interior Kolyma and Chukotka, and between Magadan Region and the rest of the country. Safety of flights especially passenger transportations was at a high level, there were just few air incidents.

Tretyakov Maxim Viktorovich, Candidate of Sciences (History), Acting as the Researcher, Laboratory of History and Economy, Shilo Northeast Interdisciplinary Science Research Institute DVO RAS, 16, Portovaya, Magadan, 685000, Russian Federation, e-mail: maximmgnn@mail.ru

Tretyakov M.V. On the History of the Magadan Decline of Civil Aviation in the Early 1980s (on the Materials of the State Archive of the Magadan Region). The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series History, 2020, vol. 31, pp. 91-100. https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2020.31.91 (in Russian)

1. Umanskii M.A. (ed.) Semdesyat let aviatsii Severo-Vostoka Rossii [Seventy years of aviation activities in Northeast Russia]. Magadan, Okhotnik Publ., 2005, 160 p. (in Russian)