Among the women who became Heroes of the Soviet Union, the name of Marina Raskova stands apart. She was one of the first to receive the "Gold Star". In addition, this woman was awarded two Orders of Lenin, as well as the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree (posthumously, in 1944).
Marina Raskova is a famous navigator who has flown over 6,000 km through the taiga. Her plane made a unique landing in the swamps. Marina Raskova is also a legendary major who worked in a special department of the NKVD. She formed an air group consisting of 3 women's air regiments: fighter (586th), bomber (587th) and night bomber (588th). The brave girls from the 588th regiment were most afraid of the enemy. He gave them the nickname "night witches". However, Marina Raskova did not have a chance to see Victory Day. So suddenly her life ended…
Marina Raskova: biography
Marina Mikhailovna was born in Moscow on March 28, 1912. Her father is Mikhail Dmitrievich Malinin, entrepreneur, opera artist (baritone), vocal teacher. Marina's motherAnna Spiridonovna (maiden name Lyubatovich). She worked from 1905 to 1932 as a secondary school teacher in Vyazma, Torzhok and Moscow. After retirement, Anna Spiridonovna lived in the family of her daughter Marina Mikhailovna.
Education at school, work as a laboratory assistant
The future great pilot and "godmother" of the night bomber aviation of the USSR graduated from a seven-year school, studying along the way at the conservatory (children's department). Marina inherited her musical talent from her father, a singing teacher. She was predicted the future of an opera singer. However, Marina Mikhailovna was not destined to become an artist: her father died, and in order to feed her mother, brother and herself, Marina was forced to get a job at the age of 17 as a laboratory assistant. She worked at the Butyrka chemical plant.
Starting a family
The future pilot Marina Raskova got married in 1929 (in April) - Raskov Sergey Ivanovich, the laboratory engineer of this plant, became her husband. A year later, a daughter, Tanya, was born in the family. Due to the birth of her daughter, Marina interrupted her work until October 1931. She divorced her husband in October 1935.
Working at the Aeronautical Laboratory
In 1932, Marina Raskova changed jobs, getting a job as a draftsman in the air navigation laboratory (Air Force Academy of the Red Army named after Zhukovsky). Marina was here in a completely different world. Her additional duty was to bring complex instruments to lectures - sextants, aerothermometers, pressure gauges. The names of all these devices alone were worth something, and the principles of their operation for a young girl were at first completely incomprehensible. However, Raskovaover time, I figured out the purpose of all these devices - for work, she had to attend many practical classes and lectures along with students of the academy.
Study books, pass exams
Aircraft in the 1930s became a fashionable hobby in the USSR, one might even say romantic. The feats of Georgy Baidukov and Valery Chkalov had not yet been accomplished, but young people were increasingly interested in aircraft models and gliders. Marina Mikhailovna was fascinated by air navigation, although at that time few could have imagined that this 20-year-old girl would have a future related to flights.
Marina Raskova, as a diligent student, studied books about the skill of a navigator one after another. Fueled by curiosity, she also studied related sciences: physics, higher mathematics, astronomy, radio engineering, meteorology and many others. Alexander Vasilyevich Belyakov, a teacher at the academy, noticed a capable employee. At that time he already had the qualification of a navigator. Alexander Vasilyevich began to help Raskova. Based on the acquired knowledge, without his patronage, Raskova Marina Mikhailovna passed the exams with flying colours. She became a female navigator, the first in the national military aviation. At the same time, even during her studies, Raskova carried out complex research work.
Photography and description of the coast
On the Black Sea in those years a passenger hydro-airline was laid in the direction of Odessa - Batumi. Information about the conditions of this area was very necessary for engineers. MarinaMikhailovna was instructed to take photographs, as well as to describe the segments of the future route. Marina had to fly sometimes for 7 hours a day, often in difficult conditions when the sea was stormy. The girl carefully studied the Crimean and Caucasian coasts, the waters of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. The results obtained proved to everyone that Marina Raskova, a female pilot, became an excellent navigator. She was appointed as an instructor in the aeronautical laboratory after examinations. And then the girl began to teach navigation at her native academy. And this at the age of 22.
Working as a teacher
Raskova Marina Mikhailovna, always neat, in an elegant uniform and a blue beret, conducted classes for senior officers. She taught venerable land warriors the tactics of air combat and the basics of flying. Marina also conducted practice, during training, making up to 50 hits on a target on a heavy bomber TB-3 during one flight! The cadets were dizzy, but Marina felt great. It seemed that the sky was calling this brave girl, and one day Marina had a chance to become a pilot. And what a chance! The head of the academy personally addressed her. He wanted to reward Raskova for training navigators. Then Marina Mikhailovna asked to teach her how to fly an airplane…
May Day air parades
A dream come true! In Tushino, at the Central Aeroclub, Marina graduated from the pilot school. Soon she was entrusted with a very important task: training inthe capital of May Day air parades. Needless to say that all of them were held "excellent". Marina Raskova each time personally led the formation of aircraft, which solemnly passed over Moscow on a holiday.
Newspapers wrote about Marina Raskova, all of Moscow knew her name. Marina Mikhailovna became a consultant to the NKVD, and then an authorized special department. She took part in long-distance flights, setting records and even surprising aviation generals with her flights. However, the main glory of Raskova, all-Union, was yet to come.
World record
Marina Raskova in 1938, as part of the crew of the ANT-37 "Rodina", made a non-stop flight from Moscow to the Far East, leaving more than 6,4 thousand km under her wing. In addition to Marina Mikhailovna, Polina Osipenko and Valentina Grizodubova were on board the plane. All of them were subsequently awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This flight set a women's world distance record: the aircraft covered 5908 km in a straight line, and following the course - all 6450 km. However, this unique flight did not end with a regular landing…
Arriving in the Far East, the ANT-37 plane crashed into forest swamps near Khabarovsk, not far from the village of Kerby. At the same time, Raskova was forced to parachute into the autumn taiga. Left with a revolver, a knife and a small supply of food, overcoming the cold, the 26-year-old girl traveled to her partners for 10 days, scaring away bears and lynxes, eating berries and sleeping in trees.
Marina Mikhailovna Raskova survived, she managed to reach. In everythingSoviet newspapers got this story. Moscow met brave girls as heroes, they began to take an example from them. Marina Raskova spent a short time in the hospital, writing a book there, which she called "Notes of the Navigator". The Great Patriotic War began a few years later.
Creating a female combat unit
Hero of the Soviet Union, navigator and pilot Marina Raskova in the summer of 1941 began to seek permission to create a female combat unit. She even had to use personal contacts with Stalin and her position in order to obtain this permission. Thousands of the fair sex of our country supported her. Many girls sought to get to the front and expel the German invaders from the territory of their homeland. Having received permission, Marina set about creating these squadrons. Marina Raskova throughout the country was looking for pupils of flying clubs and flight schools. And among the non-pilots there were those who wanted to beat the Germans in the sky. Of course, not all of them became pilots, but only the female composition became a feature of the regiments of Marina Mikhailovna. All were women, from pilots and commanders to chefs and technicians.
Under the leadership of Marina Raskova, the 586th, 587th and 588th regiments were created. Major Raskova was soon appointed commander of the bomber regiment (587th). She personally completed many tasks. However, Marina Mikhailovna did not see the long-awaited victory. Marina Mikhailovna Raskova died two years before the end of the war. The biography, awards and achievements of this woman - all this is of interest to many of our compatriots to this day. The memory of her is still alive. It remains for us to tell only about how Marina Raskova died and where she was buried.
The death of Marina Raskova
Marina Mikhailovna died near Saratov (near the village of Mikhailovka) on January 4, 1943. Her plane crashed in bad weather when it flew to the front, where the new squadron was stationed. Probably, Marina Mikhailovna would have done a lot more for our country if her biography had not been cut short by sudden death.
Marina Raskova was first buried in Saratov's Lipki park, on the playground. Then she was reburied here, on the flower alley, after which - at the Resurrection cemetery in the city of Saratov. Hero of the Soviet Union Raskova Marina Mikhailovna was cremated after her death. The urn with her ashes was transported to Moscow. Today, the remains of this great pilot lie at the Kremlin wall on the Red Square of the capital. The exploits of Marina Raskova, accomplished in peacetime, have been an example for many pilots of our country for many years.
