Editing Aeroflot (section)

===Aeroflot - early history (1932-1945)===
[[File:Aeroflot ANT-20bis.jpg|thumb|The [[Tupolev ANT-20bis]] was used for cargo flights from Moscow to [[Mineralnye Vody]] before World War II.]]
Responsibility for all civil aviation activities in the Soviet Union came under the control of the Chief Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet on 25 February 1932, and on 25 March 1932 the name "Aeroflot" was officially adopted for the entire Soviet Civil Air Fleet.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|10}} The [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] Congress in 1933 set out development plans for the civil aviation industry for the following five years, with [[air transportation]] becoming one of the primary means of transportation in the Soviet Union, linking all major cities. The government also implemented plans to expand the Soviet aircraft industry to make it less dependent on foreign built aircraft;<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|10–11}} in 1930, 50% of aircraft flying services in the Soviet Union were of foreign manufacture.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|8}} Expansion of air routes which had taken shape in the late 1920s,<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|8}} continued into the 1930s. Local (MVL) services were greatly expanded in [[Soviet Central Asia]] and the [[Soviet Far East]],<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|11–13}} which by the end of the second [[Five-year plans of the Soviet Union|five-year plan]] in 1937 was {{convert|35000|km|mi}} in length out of a total network of {{convert|93300|km|mi}}.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|13}} The agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany relating to Deruluft expired on 1 January 1937 and wasn't renewed, which saw the joint venture carrier ceasing operations on 1 April 1937. On that date Aeroflot began operations on the Moscow to [[Stockholm]] route, and began operating the ex-Deruluft route from [[Leningrad]] to [[Riga]] utilising [[Douglas DC-3]]s and [[Tupolev ANT-35]]s (PS-35s). Flights from Moscow to Berlin, via Königsberg, were suspended until 1940, when they were restarted by Aeroflot and [[Deutsche Luft Hansa]] as a result of the signing of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], and they continued until the opening of the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front in World War II]] in 1941.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|5}}[[File:Ps-84-nowarra135.jpg|thumb|left|An Aeroflot PS-84 (a [[Douglas DC-3]], modified by fitment of Soviet engines) at Moscow City Airport in 1940. The [[Lisunov Li-2]], a license-built version of the DC-3, became the backbone of the [[Aeroflot fleet]] after the opening of the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front in World War II]].]]

Under the third five-year plan, which began in 1938, civil aviation development continued, with improvements to airport installations being made and construction of airports being commenced. In addition to the expansion of services between the [[Soviet Union]]'s main cities, local routes (MVL) were also expanded, and by 1940, 337 MVL routes had operations on a scheduled basis. Serial production of the [[Lisunov Li-2]] (license-built Douglas DC-3) commenced in 1939, and the aircraft became the backbone of the [[Aeroflot fleet]] on mainline trunk routes. The day after [[Operation Barbarossa]], the invasion of the Soviet Union by [[Nazi Germany]], on 22 June 1941, the Sovnarkom placed the Civil Air Fleet under the control of [[Narkomat]], leading to the full-scale mobilisation of Aeroflot crews and technicians for the Soviet war effort. Prior to the invasion, the Aeroflot network extended over {{convert|146000|km|mi}}, and amongst the longest routes being operated from Moscow were those to [[Tbilisi]] (via [[Baku]]), Tashkent and [[Vladivostok]].<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|13}} Aeroflot aircraft, including PS-35s and PS-43s, were based at [[Khodynka Aerodrome]] in Moscow; and important missions undertaken by Aeroflot aircraft and crews included flying supplies to the besieged cities of [[Leningrad]], [[Kyiv]], Odessa and [[Sevastopol]].<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|14}} During the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], between August 1942 and February 1943, Aeroflot operated 46,000 missions to Stalingrad, ferrying in {{convert|2587|t|lb}} of supplies and 30,000 troops. Following the defeat of the [[Wehrmacht]], 80 [[Junkers Ju 52]]/3ms were captured from the Germans, and were placed into the service of the Civil Air Fleet, and after the war were placed into regular service across the Soviet Union.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|15}} Whilst civil operations in [[European Russia]] west of the front line, which ran from [[Leningrad]] to Moscow to [[Rostov-on-Don]], were prevented from operating because of the war, services from Moscow to the [[Urals]], [[Siberia]], Central Asia, and other regions which were not affected by the war, continued.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|15–16}} By the end of the war, Aeroflot had flown 1,595,943 special missions, including 83,782 at night, and carried 1,538,982 men and {{convert|122027|t|lb}} of cargo.<ref name="hugh" />{{rp|16}}