Nina Raspopova

Nina Maksimovna Raspopova (Нина Максимовна Распопова; 31 December 1913 – 2 July 2009) was a commander 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 15 May 1946.

Civilian life
Raspopova was born on 31 December 1913 to a Russian family in the city of Magdagachi in the Russian Empire. She graduated from the Blagoveshchensk Mining College before graduating from the Khabarovsk flight school in 1933. She then moved on to the Central Aeroclub in Moscow for the remainder of her civil aviation training and graduated in 1940. Before enlisting in the military she worked as a geologist in mines in Transbaikalia as well as a flight instructor in Spassk of the Far Eastern Territories and in the Omsk and Mytishchi flight clubs of Moscow. At one point the Komsomol forbid her and several other students from flying, but the decision was eventually revoked and Raspopova was permitted to fly again.

Military career
Raspopova joined the military in October 1941 after the start of the Great Patriotic War and after completing training was sent to the Eastern front in May 1942.

On one mission in 1942 after a standard bombing attack the Polikarpov Po-2 she was flying was hit by anti-aircraft fire from Axis forces. To avoid more fire, she maneuvered the plane into a steep dive leading Axis forces into thinking they had been shot down; when she began to increase altitude over a lake, her navigator noticed that the fuel tank had been punctured from the fire.

On another mission that same year her Po-2 was again hit by anti-aircraft fire, that time causing more damage to the aircraft. The fuel tank exploded and sprayed fuel over the cabin, damaged the engines, and seriously injured her navigator Larissa Radchikova. The plane landed on a minefield but all crew members were rescued by an artillery unit commissioner sent to search for them. Having sustained several injuries requiring surgery, Raspopova received surgery and returned to the military in less than two months.

She participated in the battles of Crimea, Berlin, and Warsaw. In the war she made 805 sorties, sometimes making as many as eight sorties in one night.

Later life
Raspopova was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and an Order of Lenin on 15 May 1946 for "for exemplary fulfillment of commanded missions and demonstration of courage and heroism in battles against the German fascist invaders".

She did not continue an aviation career after the war, but stayed in touch with many of fellow members of the regiment, remaining social and working as a secretary for a local council. She passed away at the age of 96 in Mytischi, Moscow in 2 July 2009.

Awards

 * Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Order of Lenin
 * Two Orders of the Red Banner
 * Three Order of the Great Patriotic War in the 1st Class
 * Order of Friendship of Peoples
 * Medal "For Courage"
 * Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"
 * Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw"
 * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
 * Medal of Zhukov
 * Medal "Veteran of Labour"
 * Order of Honour
 * various jubilee medals