1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash
The Sverdlovsk plane crash of 5 January 1950 killed all 19 persons on board, including almost the entire ice hockey team of the Soviet Air Forces – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur. The team was on board a twin-engined Lisunov Li-2 transport aircraft, a licensed Soviet-built version of the DC-3, heading to a match against the Dzerzhinets hockey club. Due to poor weather at Chelyabinsk, the flight diverted to Sverdlovsk. The crew attempted four approaches but during the fifth approach to Koltsovo Airport at Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Unions Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the aircraft crashed near the airport in a heavy snowstorm with strong winds.
Among those killed in the crash was goalkeeper Harijs Mellups.
