Yevgeniya Zhigulenko

Yevgeniya Andreevna Zhigulenko
mid-war portrait photograph of Zhigulenko. On her military uniform she is wearing her guards pin, one Order of the Patriotic War, one Order of the Red Star, one Order of the Red Banner, and the Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"
Native name	Евгения Андреевна Жигуленко
Born	1 December 1920 Krasnodar, Russian SFSR
Died	27 February 1994 (aged 73) Moscow, Russian Federation
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service / branch	Soviet Air Force
Years of service	1941–1955
Rank	Major
Unit	46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment
Battles / wars	Eastern Front of World War II
Awards	Template:Medal Liberation of Warsaw

Yevgeniya Zhigulenko (Template:Lang-ru; 1 December 1920 – 27 February 1994) was a pilot and navigator in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, 325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front during World War II. For her service in the military she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945.

Civilian life

Zhigulenko was born on 1 December 1920 in Krasnodar to a working family. After graduating from secondary school in Tikhoretsk in 1939 she studied at the Moscow Aviation Technology Institute and then graduated from flight school at the Moscow Aeroclub. She became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1942.

Military career in the Second World War

In October 1941 she joined the Soviet military and participated in battles on the Eastern Front starting in May 1942 after graduating from her military navigation courses. She worked as the regiment's director of communications and was later promoted to be a link commander. As a link commander in the "Night Witches", officially the 588th Night Bomber Regiment until it was renamed in 1943 to the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, she participated in bombing campaigns on the Southern, Caucasian, and Belarussian fronts as well as in Berlin, Crimea, Kerch, Kolberg, Kuban, Mlavsko-Elbing, Mogilev, and Osoweic. In total she performed a total of 968 combat sorties on the Polikarpov Po-2 and was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945.

After the war

Zhigulenko remained in the air force on active duty until she graduated the Lenin Military-Political Academy in 1955, when she then went into the reserve before eventually retiring from the military. In 1976 she graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography and worked as a film director, creating two major films: "In the Sky of the Night Witches" and "Without the Right to Fail", donating a copy of the film to the Poklonnaya Gora Museum of the Great Patriotic War. She passed away at the age of 73 on 27 February 1994 and was buried in the Troekurov cemetery.

Awards

• Hero of the Soviet Union
• Order of Lenin
• Two Orders of the Red Banner
• Two Orders of the Patriotic War in the 1st Class
• Two Orders of the Red Star
• campaign and jubilee medals

See also

• List of female Heroes of the Soviet Union
• "Night Witches"
• Marina Raskova
• Polikarpov Po-2