To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the first human flight into space, a memorial air rally took place on Yak-18T training aircraft along a route associated with the flight biography of Yuri Gagarin. The expedition was organized and conducted by specialists from the Cosmonaut Training Center, pilots from the Saratov Aeroclub of the Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Aviation and Navy of Russia (DOSAAF), as well as active Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Sergei Ryzhikov.
The route followed a closed loop: starting from the Dubki airfield near Saratov, with intermediate landings in Samara and Orenburg, crossing the border in Aktau, visiting the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and returning to the point of departure.
The air column consisted of more than ten light aircraft. The fleet was mainly composed of modernized versions of the Yak-18T, which retained the basic aerodynamic configuration and the M-14P piston engine, but received modern radio equipment and satellite navigation systems that meet current air transport requirements.
Over the week, the participants covered several thousand kilometers and visited sites important to the history of domestic aviation and the space industry. The program included working meetings with engineers from the rocket and space industry, veterans of aviation, and students from specialized universities. The expedition concluded with the installation of a memorial sign on the Cosmonauts Alley at the Gagarin Saratov Airport.
The Yakovlev Design Bureau developed the Yak-18 in the mid-20th century, and the aircraft quickly became the standard for initial flight training. It was on this type of aircraft that Yuri Gagarin made his first solo flight in 1955 at the Saratov Aeroclub.