Yevdokiya Borisovna Pasko (; 30 December 1919 27 January 2017) was a squadron navigator in the Soviet all-female 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. For her successes in the war, she was honored with the title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

on 26 October 1944.

Early life

Pasko was born in Lipenko village,

Jeti-Ögüz District Jeti-Ögüz (, ; ) is a district of Issyk-Kul Region in north-eastern Kyrgyzstan. Its seat lies at Kyzyl-Suu. Its area is , and its resident population was 93,392 in 2021. It comprises much of the eastern end of the Terskey Ala-Too Range. Geogr ...

Semirechye Oblast The Semirechyenskaya Oblast () was an oblast (province) of the Russian Empire. It corresponded approximately to most of present-day southeastern Kazakhstan and northeastern Kyrgyzstan. It was created out of the territories of the northern part of ...

on 30 December 1919 to family of Ukrainian peasant immigrants; she was the youngest of twelve children. Having demonstrated a talent for mathematics from a young age, she went on to attend secondary school in

Barnaul Barnaul (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob (river), Ob rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As of the Russian Censu ...

from 1936 to 1937 before returning to her native village to complete her tenth grade of schooling in 1938. Her family then decided to send her to Moscow to continue her studies, and later that year she was enrolled in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. In October 1941 during her fourth semester at the school, she and some of her classmates volunteered to join the women's aviation group founded by

Marina Raskova Marina Mikhaylovna Raskova ( rus, Мари́на Миха́йловна Раско́ва, , mɐˈrʲinə mʲɪˈxajləvnə rɐˈskovə; née Malinina; 28 March 1912 – 4 January 1943) was the first woman in the Soviet Union to achieve the diplom ...

Military career

After completing initial training at Engels Military Aviation School in February 1942 she was assigned to the 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, with which she was deployed to the warfront in May 1942 initially as a shooter-bombardier. Soon after her arrival on the warfront she was promoted to the position of flight navigator, and eventually she became squadron navigator for squadron No.3, where she was tasked with navigating for squadron commander Mariya Smirnova. In February 1943 the regiment received the Guards designation and was renamed as the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. During the war, she flew bombing missions against the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

in Belarus, Berlin, Crimea, the Caucasus, the Kerch peninsula,

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

, and Poland, often though extreme weather and heavy anti-aircraft fire. In total, she made approximately 790 sorties in the

Polikarpov Po-2 The Polikarpov Po-2 (also U-2 before 1944, for its initial Glossary of Russian and USSR aviation acronyms: Aircraft designations, ''uchebnyy'', 'training', role as a flight instruction aircraft) was an all-weather multirole Soviet Union, Soviet b ...

during the war. In addition to her flight duties she helped train seven new navigators in the regiment.

Civilian life

After the war, Pasko returned to her studies and graduated with a Ph.D. in mathematics and married her colleague Boris Malyshev. She taught for over forty years at

Bauman Moscow State Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU; ), sometimes colloquially referred as the ''Bauman School'' or ''Baumanka'' (), is a public technical university (Institute of technology, polytechnic) located in Moscow, Russia. Bauman Univ ...

. She died on 27 January 2017 in Moscow and was buried at the

Troyekurovskoye Cemetery The Troyekurovo Cemetery (), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (), is a cemetery in Moscow, Russia. The cemetery is located in the former village of Troyekurovo on the western edge of Moscow, which derives its name from the Troye ...

Awards and honors

(26 October 1944) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(26 October 1944) *

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

(5 May 1943) * Two Orders of the Patriotic War 1st Class (30 October 1943 and 11 March 1985) *

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...

(27 November 1980) * Two Orders of the Red Star (9 September 1980 and 26 April 1944) * campaign and jubilee medals

References

Bibliography