Yevgeniya Zhigulenko

Yevgeniya Andreyevna 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	Hero of the Soviet Union

Yevgeniya Andreyevna Zhigulenko (Template:Lang-ru; 1 December 1920 – 27 February 1994) was a pilot and navigator in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

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 a 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 initially served as a navigator but went on to become a pilot, after which she was promoted to the position of promoted flight commander. Her regiment was officially designated the 588th Night Bomber Regiment until it was renamed in 1943 to the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. During the war she participated in bombing campaigns on the Southern, Caucasian, and Belorussian fronts as well as in Berlin, Crimea, Kerch, Kolberg, Kuban, Mlavsko-Elbing, Mogilev, and Osoweic. In addition to bombing enemy targets she flew missions to resupply the Red Army. By the end of the war she flew 968 missions, during which she had encountered many close-calls with death.For completing her first 773 sorties she 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 (23 February 1945)
• Order of Lenin (23 February 1945)
• Two Orders of the Red Banner (19 October 1942 and 15 June 1945)
• Two Orders of the Patriotic War in the 1st Class (30 October 1943 and 11 March 1985)
• Two Orders of the Red Star (26 April 1944)
• campaign and jubilee medals

See also

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

References

Bibliography

• Cottam, Kazimiera (1998). Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co. ISBN 1585101605. OCLC 228063546.
• Simonov, Andrey; Chudinova, Svetlana (2017). Женщины - Герои Советского Союза и России. Moscow: Russian Knights Foundation, Museum of Technology V. Zadorozhny. ISBN 9785990960701. OCLC 1019634607.