Description of the attraction
Boulder Puntukas is located 6 kilometers from the town of Anyksciai, in the Ligumai forest, on the left bank of the Sventoji River. This is the second largest huge stone in Lithuania. Its height is 5.7 meters, length - 6, 9 meters, width - 6, 7 meters. The weight of the stone is 265,000 kilograms.
There are different legends about the origin of the name of the boulder. One of them tells about a devil who once decided to destroy the church and chose a huge stone for this. But in the morning, when the cocks crowed, the devil threw him out not far from the goal. The boulder was named after the hero Puntukas.
According to another legend, the name of the stone appeared after one terrible incident. For a long time, the stone was located in the depths of the forest, and no one suspected of its existence. And in the place where the Anyksciai river flows into the Sventoji river, lived a wealthy Aniksht family, in which the mother was a clairvoyant. The neighbors envied them with black envy and decided to destroy them by filling the hut with a stone. And then the old man sent his nephew to the dirty business. But despite all his efforts, the stone was never moved. Failure befell the old man's son. Then he himself began to push the stone, but it did not give in. Then the old man whistled so loudly that leaves fell from the trees. And disgusting people came running from all sides, lifted and carried a stone. But at that moment the god Dundulis saw this dirty deed. He struck the villains with lightning, and they fell in different directions, and the stone fell directly on the hut of an evil man named Puntukas. It was from that time that no one saw him, and the stone began to be called by his name.
In 1943, the sculptor Bronius Pundzius knocked out bas-reliefs of pilots Steponis Darius and Stasis Girenas on the Puntukas boulder, who flew across the Atlantic Ocean on a Lituanica plane.
In 1932, Staponis Darius offered Stasis Girenas (both lived in the United States at that time) to jointly purchase an airplane and fly from New York across the Atlantic Ocean to Kaunas. Having bought a 6-seater Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker aircraft, they decided to convert it for long-range flight. A more powerful engine and propeller were mounted. The tail and rudder have also been redesigned. The wings have become longer and the old devices have been replaced with new ones. The aircraft was equipped with additional fuel tanks and was painted orange.
In February 1933, for the first time in history, pilots were allowed to transport mail to Lithuania by air. On April 15, Belanka was renamed Lituanica, and on May 6, at the Chicago airfield, it was solemnly christened. After 2 days, Darius and Girenas arrived in New York. Departure to Lithuania depended on the weather conditions over the Atlantic Ocean, and they, as luck would have it, in the last 2 months did not please.
The flight route was mapped out by Steponis Darius. It was 7186 kilometers. And finally, on July 15, 1933, at 06:24 am New York summer time, the Lituanica took off from the land of North America and flew to Lithuania, in an easterly direction.
Having learned about the departure of Darius and Girenas, the Lithuanian flying club published an emergency telegram in the press, which said about the time of departure of the pilots and the arrival of the plane in Kaunas, which was planned at night from Sunday to Monday between 24.00 and 07.00 in the morning. Already in the evening at the Kaunas airfield, the pilots were waiting for their relatives and friends and about 25,000 people gathered.
On a dead night, flying over a forest in Germany (now Poland), near the town of Soldin (now Myslibuzh), not far from the village of Kudam (Pshchelnik), the Lituanika plane touched the tops of the pine trees. It was here that the Lithuanian pilots died. "Lituanica" flew 6411 kilometers and stayed in the air for 37 hours and 11 minutes without landing. On July 17, at 00 hours 36 minutes, Berlin time, the legendary flight of the Lithuanian pilots ended. Only 650 kilometers were left to Kaunas. Until now, the causes of the tragic incident have not been clarified.
On July 17, at 5 pm, Lithuania learned about the terrible tragedy. The pilots were solemnly buried at the Military Cemetery in Kaunas. Staponis Darius and Stasis Girenas gained posthumous fame as the national heroes of Lithuania.
Fragments of the legendary aircraft "Lituanika" can be seen in the Kaunas War Museum, and a copy of it - in the Lithuanian Aviation Museum (Kaunas). A monument was erected at the site of the plane's death.
