Marina Mikhailovna Raskova

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Marina Raskowa, 1938

Marina Raskova ( Russian Марина Михайловна Раскова ., Scientific transliteration Marina Michajlovna Raskova * March 15 . Jul / 28. March  1912 greg. In Moscow , † 4. January 1943 near Saratov ) was a Soviet aviator . She had belonged to the CPSU since 1940 .

Life

Marina Raskowa was born the daughter of a musician. At the Moscow Conservatory she began to study piano, but broke it off and worked in a chemical factory from 1929. From 1932 to 1934 she trained as a navigator by distance learning at the Institute of the Civil Air Fleet, in her free time she trained as a pilot at her local aero club . In August 1935, she took part in her first long-distance flight over 650 kilometers with a Yakovlev sports aircraft . Six female pilots flew from Leningrad to Moscow under the leadership of Agnessa Kadazkaja and Valentina Stojanowskaja .

In 1937, she set her first women's world record together with Valentina Grisodubowa as a pilot. The two women completed a non-stop flight of 1,443 kilometers. On July 2, 1938, she carried out another long-distance flight without a stopover with Polina Ossipenko and Vera Lomako on the Sevastopol - Arkhangelsk route in a flying boat .

On 24./25. September 1938 she achieved a world record in an ANT-37 "Rodina" (Heimat) together with Valentina Grisodubowa and Polina Ossipenko in 26:29 hours on a straight of 5908.610 km on the Moscow - Sea of ​​Okhotsk route . Shortly before the end of the flight, the plane ran out of fuel and Marina Raskowa had to parachute on the orders of her commander before the emergency landing. She landed in the wilderness and made her way through the taiga for ten days to the plane that had belly landed in a swampy area. The "Rodina" and her crew were not found by two pilots until October 3, despite the search that was initiated immediately. For this flight, on November 2, 1938, the three female pilots became the first women in Soviet history to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union .

After the outbreak of war , Marina Raskowa reported to the air force, but was not admitted. Following the intercession of the People's Commissar (Minister) for the Aviation Industry Alexei Shachurin with Josef Stalin , she was promoted to major and finally received permission to work with six other female officers on the drafting of female air regiments. First of all, Fliegergruppe No. 122 was founded. In 1941 three regiments were set up in Engels : the 586th fighter regiment, equipped with Jak-1 , the 587th bomber regiment with Pe-2 planes and finally the 588th night bomber regiment ( night witches ) equipped with U-2 . She herself took over the leadership of the bomber regiment from 1942. All three units, from the pilot to the technician to the top management, consisted only of women and fought against the German troops until the end of the war. The title of Guard Regiment was awarded to the two bomber units in June 1943, Marina Raskowa herself did not live to see this anymore; she crashed on December 28, 1942 on approach for landing while transferring a Pe-2 to her unit and died a few days later. Her urn was buried on the Kremlin wall in Moscow. Posthumously Raskowa was awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War, 1st class. She was also a two-time holder of the Order of Lenin .

Marina Raskowa is the author of the book “Fliegerinnen”, which was translated into German in 1949 by Paul List Verlag Leipzig. In it, she describes, among other things, her experiences on the record flight in September 1938. In addition, in 1976 her book "Aufzüge eines Navigatoroffiziers" appeared in Russian.

Russian special stamp for the 100th birthday of Marina M. Raskova (2012)

In the Ö1 radio protocol on August 29, 2017, Raskowa can be heard in the original language: At the end of May 1942, her unit was transferred to the front. (Translation :) “We flew with machines that were built for the training company. They essentially consisted of a wooden frame and plywood, were covered with fabric and had two seats: the pilot sat in the front and the navigator, who also dropped the bombs, sat in the back. Our girls often completed more flights than the male regiment stationed near us. Because the men kept taking breaks from smoking. The women didn't smoke. When they returned from a flight, they refueled as quickly as possible, reloaded new bombs and flew out into the night again - for the next mission. "

literature

  • Ulrich Unger: Airmen tell: From the book "Fliegerinnen" by Marina Raskowa . In: Horst Skull (Ed.): Fliegerkalender der DDR 1988 . Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-327-00300-9 , p. 174–183 (Slightly abridged excerpt from the book "Fliegerinnen" by Marina Raskowa).

Web links

Commons : Marina Raskowa  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Wilfried Copenhagen : Encyclopedia Soviet aviation. Elbe – Dnjepr, Klitzschen 2007, ISBN 978-3-933395-90-0 , p. 228.
  2. Heinz Machatscheck: From the history of Soviet aviation: life and achievements of famous female pilots. In: Flieger Jahrbuch 1980 , Transpress, Berlin 1979, p. 128.
  3. by Marina Raskova on warheroes.ru (Russian) , accessed June 12, 2008.
  4. Alexei Ivanovich Shachurin: Wings of Victory. Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-327-00822-1 , p. 129 f.
  5. Radiocommunication - The weapons of Russian women. Part 2. Ö1 Radio, orf.at, 29 August 2017, 9:05 a.m. - Audible for 7 days.