Grizodubova, Valentina (1910–1993)

views updated

Grizodubova, Valentina (1910–1993)

Russian aviator. Born Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova on Jan 18, 1910, in Kharkov; died April 28, 1993, in Moscow; dau. of aviator and aircraft designer S.V. Grizodubov.

Completed flying-club training and began work in the civil air fleet (1929); assumed command of the 101st Long-Range Air Group (later the 31st Guards Bomber Group) which lent support to partisan detachments (1942); with Polina Osipenko and Marina Raskova, flew 3,717 miles nonstop from Moscow to the Soviet east coast near Japan (1938), a journey one-third longer than Amelia Earhart's solo flight, and crash landed, spending 10 days in the Siberian taiga until rescued. Awarded Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Order of the Patriotic War 1st class, and Order of the Red Star.

See also Bruce Myles, Night Witches: The Untold Story of Soviet Women in Combat (Presidio, 1981); and Women in World History.