Vera Belik

Vera Lukianovna Belik
Photograph of Vera Belik. She is wearing a Guards pin and an Order of the Red Star medal.
Native name Віра Лук'янівна Білик
Born (1921-06-12)12 June 1921
Ohrimovka, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine SSR, Soviet Union
Died 25 August 1944(1944-08-25) (aged 23)
near Ostrołęka, Poland
Allegiance  Soviet Union
Service/branch Soviet Air Force
Years of service 1941–1944
Rank Guard Senior Lieutenant
Unit 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment
Battles/wars Eastern Front of World War II †
Awards

Vera Belik (12 June 1921 – 25 August 1944) was a link navigator and Guards Lieutenant in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment where she worked with pilot Tatyana Makarova. When their Po-2 was shot down by a German fighter after completing a bombing mission she was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945.[1][2]

Early life

Belik was born in Ohrimovka, Ukraine on 5 August 1921 to a Ukrainian family and was the oldest of six children. Her father was a master electrician. For most of her childhood she lived in Kerch, Crimea where she graduated from secondary school in 1939 before she enrolled at the Karl Liebknecht Pedagogical Institute in Moscow, where she studied mathematics.[3][4]

Military career

Belik joined the Red Army in October 1941 after the start of the war and became active starting in May 1942. Belik was trained as a navigator at the Engels Military Aviation school and after competing the brief navigation courses that lasted three years in peacetime she was assigned to the 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (later redesignated the 46th Guards) in mid-1942.[3] She worked closely with Tatyana Makarova who served as pilot of the Po-2 they flew while she navigated. In December 1942, the regiment was expanded and Belik was promoted to navigator of the second squadron. She flew in difficult sorties over Ukraine, the Kuban area of the North Caucasus, the Crimea, Belorussia, and Poland. On 1 August 1944, she and Makarova flew the first bombing mission over East Prussia- the first aircrew of the regiment to fight over German soil.[5][4]

On the night of 25 August 1944 on her 813th sortie, the plane Belik and Makarova were flying was attacked by a German fighter over Ostrołęka, Poland, killing both of them after it caught fire and crashed. She had accumulated 1,287 total flight hours of which 1,045 were in combat. In those 813 sorties she had dropped 106 tons of explosives over enemy controlled territory, caused 156 major explosions and 143 fires, destroyed two searchlights, two ammunition depots, three enemy crossings, three ground-based anti-aircraft guns, and over two platoons of enemy infantry personnel. For her combat operations she was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union and posthumously awarded the title on 23 February 1945, the same day as her pilot Makarova.[1][6]

Awards and honors

Monument to Vera Belik in Kerch, Crimea

Awards

Memorials and dedications

  • A 1981 Soviet envelope from a series of covers with portraits of people awarded Hero of the Soviet Union featured Belik and Makarova.[11]
  • A statue in Kerch, Crimea (pictured) stands as memorial to Belik.
  • The lobby of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute where she studied contains a memorial to her.[12]
  • Ohrimovka, Ukraine contains a school and street named after her.
  • School No.17 in Kerch was renamed in her honor.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Sakaida, Henry (2012-04-20). Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941–45. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781780966922.
  2. ↑ "Из архива Р. Ароновой". www.bestwriter.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  3. 1 2 Pennington, Reina; Higham, Robin (2003). Amazons to fighter pilots : a biographical dictionary of military women / Vol. 1, A-Q. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 271. OCLC 773504359.
  4. 1 2 "Белик Вера Лукьяновна". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  5. ↑ Goodpaster Strebe, Amy (2009). Flying for her country : the American and Soviet women military pilots of World War II. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books. OCLC 762288771.
  6. ↑ award sheet
  7. 1 2 "Герой Советского Союза (Орден Ленина и медаль «Золотая звезда»)". podvignaroda.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  8. ↑ "Орден Красного Знамени". podvignaroda.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  9. ↑ "Орден Отечественной войны I степени". podvignaroda.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  10. ↑ "Орден Красной Звезды". podvignaroda.ru. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  11. ↑ Бендель, П. "Макарова Татьяна Петровна, Белик Вера Лукьяновна на почтовом конверте 1981 года". filpersona.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  12. ↑ "Белик Вера Лукьяновна". airaces.narod.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  13. ↑ "Белик Вера". tamanskipolk46.narod.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
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