Raisa Aronova

Raisa Yermolayevna Aronova
Portait photograph of Raisa Aronova in uniform, 1940's
Native name Раиса Ермолаевна Аронова
Born 10 January 1920
Saratov, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died 20 December 1982 (aged 62)
Moscow, Soviet Union
Allegiance  Soviet Union
Service/branch Soviet Air Force
Years of service 1941–1962
Rank Major
Unit 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Hero of the Soviet Union
Order of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner (2)
Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class
Order of the Red Star
Other work Author

Raisa Yermolayevna Aronova (Russian: Раиса Ермолаевна Аронова; 10 January 1920 – 20 December 1982) was a Soviet Polikarpov Po-2 navigator and pilot in World War II of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, later renamed 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment. She received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 15 May 1946, for completing 960 night bombing missions against Axis forces in the war.[1]

Early life

Arononva was born in 1920 to a Russian peasant family; her father was a railway employee. After graduating from secondary school she entered the Kalinin Saratov Institute of Agriculture and studied at the Saratov aeroclub in her spare time before moving to Moscow, after which she continued flight training at the Moscow aeroclub until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. She became a member of the Communist Party in 1942.[2]

World War II

Several months after Germany invaded the Soviet union with the launch of Operation Barbarossa the three women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova began training at Engels Military Aviation School in October. After joining the military in October, Aronova began training at to be a navigator Engels which she graduated from in 1942. After the 588th Night Bomber Regiment was deployed to the Southern Front in May Aronova saw combat throughout the Eastern front including the on the 4th Ukrainian and 2nd Byelorussian as well as the Battle of the Caucuses, Crimea, Kuban, Kerch, Poland, and Germany, gaining 1,148 flight hours at night after flying 960 sorties. On a bombing mission on 28 May 1943 over the village of Kievskaya in Krasnodar she was wounded by a shell fragment fired by ground-based anti-aircraft artillery. Despite her injury she continued navigating so the plane could safely. When she went to the hospital seventeen shrapnel fragments were removed from her body, but she returned to flying in May less than two months later. That same year she attended an accelerated piloting course and became certified to fly as a pilot on the Po-2 and soon began flying missions as a pilot-in-command. Her bombing missions destroyed an estimated four artillery batteries, three searchlights, three ferries, two warehouses of fuel and ammunition, and eight cars. She was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin on 5 May 1946 for her bravery in the war.[2][3][4]

Later life

From May to October 1945 Aronova remained in Poland where her regiment was assigned until it was disbanded in October 1945, but Aronova remained in the military until 1962. After graduating from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in 1952 she held various positions in the Communist party and the Soviet government, becoming a senior officer in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in May 1953. She later worked for the KGB starting in 1954 where she encrypted agency correspondence, attaining the rank of Major in 1960 before retiring in 1962.[2]

After retiring from the military she wrote a book about her experiences in the war titled Ночные ведьмы ("Night Witches") which was published in 1983. She passed away in December 1982 and was buried in the Kuntsevo Cemetery.[5][3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sakaida, Henry (2012-04-20). Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941–45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 9781780966922.
  2. 1 2 3 "Аронова Раиса Ермолаевна". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  3. 1 2 Cottam, Kazimiera Janina (1998). Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co. pp. 37–39. ISBN 1-58510-160-5.
  4. ↑ Pennington, Reina (1997). Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1554-7.
  5. ↑ Gerard J.De Groot, C Peniston-Bird: A Soldier and a Woman
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