From Minsk to the beach — in just 7 minutes. How Minsk residents flew to Minsk Sea by planes

Even more surprising are the intervals between flights — just 10-15 minutes. At the same time, flights were carried out all day: from 8:30 to 20:00, writes Onliner.by.

The cost of such a short flight varied. Before the monetary reform in January 1961, an adult ticket cost 7 rubles, a child's ticket — 3 rubles 50 kopecks.

After the denomination, a seat on the plane cost 1 ruble (instead of 70 kopecks, which 7 rubles would have become), and a child's ticket — 50 kopecks (instead of the possible 35).

Thus, the flight actually became more expensive.

Was one ruble for a short suburban flight a lot of money?

A city bus fare in Minsk then cost 5 kopecks, so the flight was 20 times more expensive. If compared to the current price of a bus ticket in the capital (1.10 rubles), such a flight today would cost about 22 rubles.

One could also reach Minsk Sea by suburban bus. The ticket price depended on the distance and was approximately 10-20 kopecks.

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Much has changed since then. The capital's airport, from which these flights departed, gave way to a large residential complex. Only the old airport terminal building remains. But can traces of the airfield near the beaches of Zaslavskoye Reservoir be found today? And did it exist at all?

Onliner journalists spoke with local historians who suggested that the former airfield was located on the site of the modern parking lot near Zaslavskoye Reservoir. It is located on Ozernaya Street between the third beach and the sailing center. On old maps, a large open area is indeed visible in this spot.

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This version was supported by a message on the Onliner forum: "The landing strip was next to the Zaslavl restaurant. Then there was a football field there. And now something is being built."

Many Minsk residents remember the white building of the Zaslavl restaurant, which resembled an ocean liner. It was located near the third beach. For over twenty years, the restaurant was one of the most popular recreation spots on Minsk Sea, but it closed in the 1990s. Later, the building became a well-known abandoned landmark, which was demolished in 2018. Now, this site houses a settlement of expensive villas with a SPA complex.

Not so long ago, there was another place related to aviation in the vicinity of Minsk Sea. Near one of the beaches of Krynitsa reservoir, a real An-2 stood just two and a half years ago. It appeared from an unknown location in the early 2020s and quickly became a popular photo spot for vacationers and aviation enthusiasts. Unfortunately, the plane was gradually looted by vandals.

Comments on Yandex Maps well conveyed its fate: from enthusiastic reviews about the "bird" to the sad one: "The plane has already been almost completely dismantled for parts." And then a short note appeared: "No plane."

Perhaps there was an airfield there once? This idea came up, but it seems unlikely.

Firstly, the Krynitsa reservoir appeared about twenty years later than Zaslavskoye. Secondly, that An-2 was very similar to a plane that for some time stood on Kastrychnitskaya Street in Minsk in 2019, where one of the restaurateurs wanted to turn it into a food truck.

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Therefore, the version involving the location near the former Zaslavl restaurant seemed more plausible.

In search of people who still remembered the 1960s, journalists headed to the small village of Zarechcha-1, located right behind the parking lot where the "beach" airfield was presumed to have existed.

Zarechcha-1 is what remains of a once large village. The last houses here have retained their old appearance and sharply contrast with the modern luxurious cottages on the first shoreline.

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— Of course, I know where the airfield was. I even flew from there myself," the very first local resident surprised the journalists.

Vladimir Iosifovich so simply dispelled doubts that the search might prove fruitless.

The old-timer immediately dismissed the parking lot version.

— A bit further, near the fifth beach.

The man drew an approximate diagram: a traffic circle, dachas (now this is Pervaya Dachnaya Street of the agrotown Zhdanovichy), several paths — and the place where planes once landed.

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— The strip was just grassy — without asphalt and even without a dirt surface. But the open space was large: approximately 350-500 meters long and 150-200 meters wide. I remember there was a windsock there — a fabric sleeve for determining wind direction.

Vladimir Iosifovich no longer knows what is currently located on this spot. He was last there about 25-30 years ago, when he went mushroom picking.

— By the way, in childhood, we even drove cows to that airfield to graze. I don't remember well anymore, but it seems the plane only flew on weekends.

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Following the hints from the resident of Zarechcha-1, journalists drove to the designated spot and then followed paths towards the forest. At first glance, there was nothing that resembled a large open area — only dense thickets all around.

But as soon as they switched the maps to satellite image mode, contours became visible that indeed resembled the outlines of a former runway.

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And if you look at old NASA satellite images, an even more interesting picture emerges. In the photo from August 16, 1972, a cleared runway is clearly visible. One can also discern a small white square of a building — probably where the ticket office was located, where Volodya, a young resident of Zarechcha-1, once came for a ticket.

Now, in the place of the former small airfield, rows of already adult pine trees stretch before us. Time flies so unnoticed.

Let's return to Vladimir Iosifovich's story. When he was a boy of 7-8 years old, he asked his mother for money for his first flight in life.

— We, the local children, saw planes flying to the airfield from Minsk and back. We also wanted to take a ride.

So the boy made a flight to Minsk airport.

— Was it scary at height?

— Not really scary. But on such planes, you fly and, you know, sometimes it feels like you're falling somewhere," the interlocutor recalls with a laugh.

The An-2 plane was full of passengers, but Vladimir Iosifovich no longer remembers whether his parents let him fly alone, or if it was with a friend.

He returned from Minsk not by air, but by bus number 27. The journalists were surprised: why not by plane?

— There was some strange flight schedule there," the man recalls.

The same thing was complained about by an unlucky An-2 passenger in a 1961 newspaper article. One Minsk resident, listening to the radio one morning, remembered that he wanted to visit Zaslavskoye Reservoir. But that day there was a large influx of people at Minsk airport, and as a result, something went wrong.

"The announcer patiently and politely explained that one should save time, that all conditions for this exist, namely: you will be transported from the airport to Zhdanovichy in just seven minutes. <…> Someone politely showed me to the ticket office. And now the cashier stamps R-72 on the ticket, meaning flight-72. She assures me that in no more than an hour and a half I will be at the sea," the man told the media.

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"At half past twelve I hurry to the flying sea..."

"At half past twelve I hurry to the flying sea. But what is this? Only flight 44 is allowed onto the platform. In an hour and a half, only eleven flights were made by four planes. Another hour passed, and we again surrounded the shift supervisor. An hour later and an hour and a half later, it was the same. At half past two, the ticket office generously began refunding money for sold tickets.

The clock hand relentlessly approached four, and for takeoff, the shift supervisor was preparing... only flight 59. <…> 160 people (these were the most patient ones) walked to the trolleybus stop."

A few years later, in December 1963, the first electric trains would start running in the direction of Minsk Sea. On hot summer days, numerous vacationers and dacha owners would also struggle to get tickets for them.

Vladimir Iosifovich was born in 1951, when there was no Minsk Sea anywhere near the vicinity.

— My father told me. There were swamps here: lingonberries, cranberries, capercaillies, black grouse… A river flowed, called, I think, Chuchenka. Then soldiers were brought, then firefighters — and they cut down the bushes as best they could in winter. What was under the snow — roots, stumps — all remained. Then they built a dam and flooded the area. Islands are visible from the fifth beach — houses once stood there, and people lived. And there were those who were resettled because of the reservoir: some to our village, some to the second Zarechcha, some to Zhdanovichy.

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The first beach season at the newly built reservoir opened in 1956. The former village boy witnessed the flourishing of resort life.

— There were so many people here then! Right near the rescue station there was a pavilion with refrigeration units, where ice cream and beer were sold. You could buy "Eskimo" for 11 kopecks — wrapped in foil, on a stick — oh, that was real ice cream! Or a drink — cream soda, oh-oh-oh! — Vladimir Iosifovich recalls.

— We were constantly at the sea. Well, constantly... We also had to save hay. Father would go, mow, and you'd be sitting on the beach and see that it was going to rain. And from there you'd run home: you needed to gather the hay so it wouldn't get wet.

"Fuel simply cost less than water." What the pilot remembers about those flights

Harry Pak is a former pilot. In Soviet times, he was the commander of one of the squadrons at Minsk-1 airport. At his respected age of 90, the man clearly remembers how in the early 1960s he transported vacationers to the beach of Zaslavskoye Reservoir.

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— Then I went to retrain for a new, larger type of aircraft — the Il-14. Before that, on the An-2, I performed flights between small towns: Glusk, Narach… There were many routes… In summer, we also flew to Zaslavskoye Reservoir.

The pilot recalls that before starting flights, the landing sites were chosen very carefully.

— Our management and engineers looked for a place — they went out, checked the soil there. Once chosen, they stretched boundary tapes and placed flags. This was necessary to prevent cars from driving in and animals from entering: the Zhdanovichy state farm was located nearby.

The pilot confirms: the mini-airfield's surface was grassy. The undemanding An-2 was perfectly suited for this.

According to Harry Innakentyevich, the flight lasted only 15 minutes. Tickets could be purchased both at the Minsk airport terminal ticket office and directly at the runway.

The crew consisted of two people: the commander and the co-pilot. Harry Innakentyevich served in both roles.

— Of course, one crew didn't fly to Minsk Sea all day. For example, one flew until lunch, then another.

12 passengers were taken on board.

People who flew on An-2s for longer distances often recall an unpleasant moment: they frequently got airsick and vomited into the hygiene bags distributed before flights. Harry Innakentyevich says that in such a short flight, as discussed, passengers felt fine.

— There were countless people eager to fly to the beach! They flew during daylight hours, approximately until eight in the evening. Quite a few flights accumulated between Minsk and the reservoir during the day.

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According to Harry Innakentyevich, there was a time when, during the season, one could fly to the beach by plane every day.

To our question of whether he had to transport passengers in swimsuits from the shores of Zaslavskoye Reservoir to Minsk, he replies with a laugh:

— No, of course not. Everything was decent.

Pilots did not disdain such short "beach" flights.

— Was it necessary to earn money? Yes, it was. Moreover, on those same An-2s, there were also flights over the city back then. People came to the airport, bought tickets. 12 people gathered — and flew in a circle over Minsk. There were also tour guides on board who pointed to buildings, telling passengers exactly what they were seeing. Because from above, many things look completely different.

Tickets were inexpensive.

— Because fuel was cheap then, it cost almost nothing — water was more expensive," concludes Harry Innakentyevich.

Mentions of flights from the capital of Belarus to Minsk Sea are found in newspapers from approximately 1957 to 1965. When exactly they ceased is unknown.

Perhaps planes on such a short route could not withstand competition from electric trains, which were actively developing at that time.

A train ticket to the reservoir area cost approximately 15 kopecks, the railway schedule was clear and did not depend on the weather.

Or perhaps someone from the management still considered such flights illogical: after all, an electric train could transport about a thousand people at once, not just 12.

In those years, Belarusians flew not only to Minsk Sea: transport links between the country's regions were generally provided by… of course, not by buses, cars, or minibuses, but by planes.

There were airfields in all regional centers, as well as in Pinsk, Polotsk, Mozyr, Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Borisov, Braslav, Glubokoye, Glusk, and many other small towns in Belarus.

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