TU-95MS BEAR H might pay a visit to Portland International

It has been about 10 years since the last visit of the type.....

http://www.columbian.com/06152004/clark_co/156148.html

"Russian delegation to arrive today

Tuesday, June 15, 2004
By DEAN BAKER, Columbian staff writer

Half of a 13-member Russian delegation will arrive in Vancouver today
for a week-long observance of the 100th birthday of Russian aviator
Valeri Chkalov and the 67th anniversary of his famous transpolar
flight which ended in Vancouver.

Others in the delegation are expected to fly into Portland
International Airport on Thursday in a historic Russian TU-95
strategic bomber with the rest arriving by commercial flight into
Seattle on Thursday.

Chkalov's nonstop flight in 1937 was the first ever over the North
Pole. Chkalov and his companions were bound for San Francisco when
they ran short of fuel on June 20, 1937, and landed at Pearson Field.

A delegation from Vancouver has visited Russia to observe the
anniversaries. This is the return visit.

There is some doubt, however, about when or even whether the giant
bomber will arrive, said Jess V. Frost, president of the Chkalov
Cultural Exchange Committee, which is sponsoring the visit.

At a press conference Monday, Frost said some sources told him the
huge aircraft, code-named the Bear by NATO, still will arrive on
Thursday. But another source in Russia told him Monday that the
arrival might be delayed for reasons that weren't immediately clear.

"We're back to keeping our fingers crossed," Frost said.

Among those in the Russian group are three of Chkalov's children,
Igor, Olga and Valeria Chkalov. Also in the group are a test pilot,
science institute directors, military and government officials and
museum experts.

While here, the Russians will visit many historical sites as well
as meet public officials in Vancouver, Portland and Olympia, Frost
said. He said the visit is a "historic and symbolic event," because
the Russian bomber once was deployed during the Cold War as a major
weapon in the stand-off between the United States and the Soviet
Union.

Times have changed, he said. Now the airplane is expect to arrive
in the Pacific Northwest on a mission of friendship and peace."