Leyla Məmmədbəyova

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Leyla Məmmədbəyova

Leyla Ələsgər qızı Məmmədbəyova , née Zeynalova (born 1909 in Baku ; died 1989 in Baku), was the first Azerbaijani female pilot . She was also the first female pilot in the Caucasus , Southern Europe and the Middle East .

Career

Məmmədbəyova's father, Ələsgər Zeynalov, was the cousin of the Azerbaijani pioneer actor Hüseyn Ərəblinski . Her family was interested in art, and as a teenager she played the piano and the tar . At 14, she married the former landowner Bəhram Məmmədbəyova, who later became the head of the Professional Unions Bank in Baku.

Məmmədbəyova was trained as a professional aviator at the Baku Aeroclub and made her first flight in 1931. She continued her training in 1932 at a pilot school in Moscow . On March 17, 1933, Məmmədbəyova became the second female parachutist in the Soviet Union (after Nina Kamnewa ) when she jumped from a U-2 plane over the Moscow Tushino Field. In 1934 she won the skydiving competition, which was organized by the representatives of the South Caucasian nations. In 1941 she became a squadron leader in the Soviet Army .

Məmmədbəyova continued her career as a pilot and instructor in the Baku Aeroclub. She was not allowed to fight in World War II as she was raising four children (she had six children in total) at the time. Although the Aeroklub Baku had to close due to the war, Məmmədbəyova managed to give gliding and parachuting courses herself, during which she trained hundreds of fighter pilots and around 4,000 parachutists. Two of her students later became Heroes of the Soviet Union . Məmmədbəyova made her last flight in 1949 and worked as chairwoman of the DOSAAF Baku branch until 1961.

Məmmədbəyova's eldest son Firudin fought in World War II and her youngest son Xanlar took part in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict , both as fighter pilots.

Leyla Məmmədbəyova became a “living icon” in her twenties. Her courage and skills have been celebrated in the media and the arts. Their character inspired the literary work of Mikayıl Müşfiq and Səməd Vurğun , as well as the film İsmət (1934) by Mikayıl Mikayılov . Most recently, Məmmədbəyova appeared as a stunt woman in airplane scenes . In 1995, a documentary about the life and career of Məmmədbəyova, directed by Nazim Rza , called Leyla , published by Azerbaijantelefilm .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Conquering the Skies . Baku Magazine, # 2 (22), March-April 2011; p. 72.
  2. ↑ Хозяйка неба ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) by И. Кадырова, May 7, 2004. Retrieved June 6, 2007
  3. ↑ Ernst Probst: Queens of the Skies: Biographies of famous pilots like Elly Beinhorn, Hanna Reitsch, Amelia Earhart, Jacqueline Auriol and Valentina Tereschkowa . Diplomica Verlag, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8428-7296-7 , p. 122 ( google.fr ).
  4. ↑ The Living Age ... by Eliakim Littell and Robert S. Littell. Making of America Project. Littell, Son & Company, 1934; p. 226-27
  5. ↑ AzTV / Our Films: Leyla ( Memento from June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Məmmədbəyova, Leyla
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mammadbeyova, Leyla Alasgar qizi (full name); Zeynalova, Leyla (maiden name); Məmmədbəyova, Leyla Ələsgər qızı (Azerbaijani)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first female Azerbaijani pilot
DATE OF BIRTH 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Baku
DATE OF DEATH 1989
Place of death Baku