Nina Zakharovna Ulyanenko (; 17 December 1923 – 31 August 2005) was a navigator, pilot and flight commander in the women's

46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment "Night Witches" was a World War II German nickname for the all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Red Banner and Order of Suvorov Regiment, of the Soviet Air ...

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 ...

, after which she was awarded the title

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 18 August 1945.

Early life

Ulyanenko was born on 17 December 1923 to a working-class Russian family in Votkinsk, Sarapul district, in what is now the capital of Udmurtiya. Due to her parents divorcing when she was only seven years old she was brought up by her mother. Amazed and fascinated by three famous women aviators

Valentina Grizodubova Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova (, ''Valentyna Stepanivna Hryzodubova''; – 28 April 1993) was one of the first female pilots in the Soviet Union awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the only female Hero of the Soviet Union to also b ...

Polina Osipenko Polina Denisovna Osipenko (, ; 8 October 1907 – 11 May 1939) was a Soviet military pilot who, with Valentina Grizodubova and Marina Raskova on 24–25 September 1938, performed a nonstop flight between Moscow and the Sea of Okhotsk, setting a n ...

, and

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 ...

she frequently saw in the newspapers, she decided to enroll at the local aeroclub while in ninth grade, during which she juggled evening schoolwork and studying aviation. She went on to graduate from her tenth grade of school as well as the local aeroclub in 1940, having made her first flight on 11 April 1940. From August 1940 to August 1941 she worked as a kindergarten teacher, but wanting to return to aviation, she entered the Saratov Aviation Technical School in September.

World War II career

Due to the recent

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

, Ulyanenko voluntarily enlisted in the military in January 1942 to join the women's aviation group founded by Marina Raskova. The next month she finished a highly condensed navigator's course at the Engels Military Aviation School and was subsequently assigned to the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, the daylight dive-bomber women's aviation regiment, but was then transferred in March to the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, (which used the Po-2 light utility aircraft for night bombing missions) before being deployed with the rest of the regiment to the Southern Front in May 1942; in February 1943 the unit was honored with the guards designation and renamed to the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. Later that year when the regiment was planning to retrain mechanics as navigators and navigators as pilots to form an additional squadron she expressed a desire to become a pilot in the unit, having previous experience of being a pilot from training at her aeroclub. In 1944 she became a flight commander in the regiment. She took part in battles for the Caucasus, Crimea, Poland, East Prussia and eventually in the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

. By mid February 1945, she had flown 388 sorties as navigator and an additional 530 sorties as

pilot in command The pilot in command (PIC) of an aircraft is the person aboard an aircraft who is ultimately responsible for its operation and safety during flight. This would be the captain in a typical two- or three- pilot aircrew, or "pilot" if there is only ...

of a

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 ...

; by the end of the war she had flown 905 sorties, dropping 120 tonnes of bombs, damaging ten vehicles, four ferries, and forcing four artillery batteries to retreat. For her service in the war, she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 18 August 1945.

Later life

After leaving the military at the end of the war Ulyanenko entered the Military Institute of Foreign Languages of Moscow in November 1945. In 1946 she moved to the city of

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

with her husband Nikolai Minakov, where she worked for two years as a writer for the newspaper Kurskaya Pravda. In 1948 she moved to the city of

Izhevsk Izhevsk or Ijevsk (, ; , or ) is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city in Russia, and the most populous in Udmurtia, with over 600,000 ...

Udmurtia Udmurtia, officially the Udmurt Republic, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is administratively part of the Volga Federal District. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russi ...

where she worked as an editor for the newspaper Udmurt Pravda. Between 1947 and 1951 she was a deputy of the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

. From 1957 on she worked as a teacher and as an instructor at a local DOSAAF flying club after graduating from Udmurt State University in 1955. She died on 31 August 2005 and was buried in the Khokhryakovskoye cemetery.

Awards and honors

(18 August 1945) *

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 ...

(18 August 1945) * Two

Orders 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 Sovi ...

(17 June 1943 and 15 June 1945) *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

1st class and 2nd class (11 March 1985 and 29 February 1944) *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

(29 December 1942) * campaign and jubilee medals

References

Bibliography