| Date: March 22, 1920 |
Personnel: P.Abrams, K.Vizins, Oss |
Aircraft Involved: LVG P-1 |
Location: Katlakalns, near the Kekava marsh |
Details:
- All three aviators were serving with a bolshevik aviation unit stationed at Velikije Luka.
- At about the end of February, 1920 a german LVG P-1 (the three-seater LVG variant) made a forced landing near Velikije Luka. On board was german pilot
Paul Lange and he was entrusted with delivering to Lenin certain messages from German communists. K.Vizins convinced Lange to
continue his journey by land and, in the meantime, they would repair his aircraft. He could then pick up the aircraft on his return journey
and fly it home.
- The aircraft was repaired and, when the Commander of the 2nd Aviation section ordered pilot Abrams to fly the repaired aircraft
to a proper airfield, Abrams, Vizins and Oss took the opportunity to desert to the Latvian side. Their flight, totalling a very
impressive (for that time) 380 km, ended in a clearing at Katlakalns, not far from Riga.
- The aircraft flipped over on landing, with damage to the undercarriage, wings and propeller, but after repairs it gave good service
as a communications aircraft for the Aviation Park.
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