Long ago, 43 years ago, at the beginning of summer, I happened to fly on a Mongolian passenger plane. It is difficult for me to imagine the Mongolian airline of that time. Probably, it was an analog of the aeroflot. But it's easy for me to remember the sky and the landscape of the South Gobi.
I was at that time a sergeant of the Soviet army, a GRU SHELL at the very border of Mongolia and China, monitoring the nuclear potential of a possible enemy, the missile and nuclear test sites of the Lanzhou Military District.
They brought me on a military "UAZ" to the airport of Dalanzadgad from Khonkhongor's somon. Not that the ticket was bought, or there was some other arrangement, but I went to the AN-24 salon and sat down by the porthole, trying to adapt on the spot with my secret suitcase with encrypted code and issued to me for some reason by a machine. How could I shoot him with one hand, and remained a mystery, to which there is no answer from any of the weapons designers.
Naturally, in the cabin were some Mongols. The plane fled and took off. But then miracles began: before arriving in Ulan Bator, the pilots twice, of course, violating the schedule of flights, sat down at the camps of Mongolian herdsmen, Mongols, loaded with sacks of meat, or even a connected sheep, came into the salon. During the flight they drank vodka (they did not get drunk!), Smoked (treated each other!), Talked noisily (talked!), Looking at me. Meanwhile, the steward went to the stewardess in Daly, sometimes - one of the pilots. They also communicated.
After handing the suitcase, a week later I flew back by the same airplane. The same story happened again. And now, flying on modern "Boeing", I often recall that long flight. And I do not cease to be surprised: why did the commanders send me on time with a passenger airplane, because we kept all the secret materials on our military AN-26?
And yet the Mongolian plane, the passengers of the cabin and the unforgettable Gobi landscape remained for me a painful soul and a colorful picture of the past, where every detail and character in its place, including the sheep in the cabin of the plane, arbitrary landing of pilots and my secret suitcase.
And this is our military, painted under a civilian plane in the South Gobi. 1974 year.
