What happened
On the night of the incident, a military aircraft departed from Stalingrad-Tsentralny Airport at 0310 local time. The mission involved transporting ammunition to Zhirkov, a location situated beyond enemy lines. Approximately thirty minutes into the flight, the crew completed the delivery of the cargo and initiated their return journey to base.
During the outbound leg or shortly after the turn-back, the aircraft came under attack from German anti-aircraft units. The plane sustained critical damage from the flak fire and crashed into a small river in the vicinity of the village of Sukhanovsky. All seven occupants were killed in the accident.
Findings
The wreckage was not recovered immediately following the crash. Fragments of the aircraft structure and one engine were located in the early 1980s, confirming the site of the incident decades later.