Tamara Aleksandrovna Kazarinova (; 9 July 1906 – 4 August 1956) was a Soviet pilot and the commander of the

586th Fighter Aviation Regiment The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment () was one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War after she convinced Joseph Stalin to allow her to form three all-female aviation regiments ...

during the Second World War until she was transferred to the General Directorate of Fighter Aviation Defense.

Early life

Kazarinova graduated from the Leningrad Military Theory Air Force School in 1929 with excellent marks and the Kachin Military Pilots School in 1931. Before entering flight school with recommendations from the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

she worked at a factory in Moscow. Since she was the first female cadet to enter the Leningrad school she had to live in an apartment off-campus while she studied. After completing further training in Kachin she served as a flight instructor and rose through the ranks to become a squadron commander in an assault aviation unit. She received the

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 ...

, one of the highest Soviet awards, in 1937 during the height of the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

and was able to maintain a good standing in the Soviet Air Forces during those times.

World War II

After the

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 ...

and the formation of three women's aviation regiments 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 ...

, Kazarinova was appointed commander of the

. The volunteers assigned to the regiment hoped that

Yevgeniya Prokhorova Yevgeniya Filippovna Prokhorova (; 17 November 1912 3 December 1942) was a Soviet aviator who briefly served as the acting commander of the 586th Fighter Regiment before she was killed in action during World War II. She is still the record holder ...

, who was generally well-liked by her colleagues, would become the official regimental commander; however Prokhorova was not a member of the Communist Party, and she had little previous military experience. Kazarinova was eventually chosen due to her military experience but quickly ended up getting into various disputes with Raskova, causing speculation that her appointment as regimental commander was the result of Kazarinova's friends in high places including General Osipenko in addition to her status as a recipient of the Order of Lenin. While the crew of the 586th Regiment underwent training for

Yak-1 The Yakovlev Yak-1 () was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, p. 239. The Yak-1 was a man ...

fighters at Engels Military Aviation School in Saratov, Kazarinova studied at a flight institute in Grozny where she sustained a severe leg injury during an air raid that left her with a limp and unable to fly. Despite having been rendered unable to fly she insisted on remaining regimental commander and went to the front when the regiment was deployed. Several members of the regiment complained to her superiors about her leadership, citing her lack of knowledge of fighter tactics combined with her inability to fly left her unfit to remain regimental commander. Tensions grew in the regiment between those who considered her a good commander and those who disliked her, which was not helped by her cold temperament. To sweep some of the issues under the rug, she sent eight members of the regiment to Stalingrad, where five of the eight sent out would be killed in action, two of whom went on to become credited as the only female flying aces in history before their deaths - Lydia Litvak and

Yekaterina Budanova Yekaterina Vasilyevna Budanova (), nicknamed Katya (Катя) (6 December 1916 – 19 July 1943), was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Usually credited with five or more aerial victories,Jackson 2003, p. 57. along with ...

. Eventually in November 1942 Kazarinova was removed from her post by General Mikhail Gromadin after her actions led to the death of Valeria Khomyakova, who had died in a plane crash after she was assigned to the night watch even though she was exhausted and had fallen asleep in the dugout only to be awoken by her commander who sent her out for a night flight, resulting in Khomyakova crashing since her eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark with the lack of lighting in the airfield. After removing her from her post as commander Mikhail Gromadin requested General Osipenko to open an investigation into the death of Khomyakova, but instead of doing so Osipenko just transferred her to his staff. The new commander appointed to the 586th Regiment was Aleksandr Gridnev, a pilot recently released from NKVD custody for refusing to fly an escort flight for

Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

in poor weather. In 1943 Kazarinova achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was appointed assistant to the director of the 4th Department of the Central Administration of the Air Defense Agency of the Customs Union. In 1945 she was appointed as assistant to the chief of the intelligence department of the 1st Airborne Fighter Defense Army. In 1954 she entered the reserve and died in Moscow two years later; she was buried in the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazarinova, Tamara Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner 1906 births 1956 deaths Military personnel from Moscow Russian women aviators Women air force personnel of the Soviet Union Soviet military personnel of World War II

Early life

World War II

See also

References