Mariya Kuznetsova (pilot)

Mariya Mikhailovna Kuznetsova (Russian: Мария Михайловна Кузнецова; 14 April 1918 – 12 October 1990) was a Soviet fighter pilot who originally flew with the women's 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment but was later transferred to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment with Yekaterina Budanova, Lydia Litvyak, and several other members of the unit in September 1942. While she did not become an ace, she made it through Battle of Stalingrad unlike many of her colleagues transferred there.[1][2][3][4]

Mariya Kuznetsova
Native name
Мария Михайловна Кузнецова
Born14 April 1918
Yazvishchi village, Moscow oblast
Died12 October 1990
Moscow
Allegiance Soviet Union
Service/branch Soviet Air Force
RankSenior lieutenant
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsOrder of the Patriotic War 2nd class
Order of the Red Star

Civilian life

Kuznetsova was born on 4 April 1918 to a Russian peasant family in Yazvishchi village. She began flying when she was 18, but her father was arrested during the Red Terror in 1937, forcing her to note the arrest in applications and documents, resulting in her being kicked out of flight training several times for being related to an "enemy of the people"; however, her friends spoke up on her behalf and managed to convince the head of the flight school to let her stay. After the war she married Vladimir Pavlovich Zhukotsky, commander of the 802nd Fighter Aviation Regiment.[5][6]

World War II

After transferring to the Red Army from Osoviahim in October 1941 she began training at Engels Military Aviation School until she was deployed to defend important structures in Saratov from German bombers with the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment. In September 1942 she was transferred to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment with Yekaterina Budanova, Lydia Litvyak, and Raisa Belyaeva; the reasons for the transfer are disputed among historians, ranging from the need for experienced pilots in the battle of Stalingrad to Tamara Kazarinova wanting to get rid of the pilots who complained about her. In a postwar interview with Anne Noggle she claimed to have shot down three enemy aircraft, including a Ju-87 and Ju-88, but there is no confirmation of this in her award sheets or regiment documents. It is confirmed that she flew over 100 sorties, providing cover for strategically valuable targets and escorting Li-2 transport aircraft. After serving with the predominantly male fighter aviation regiment in Stalingrad she did not want to return to her original unit, the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, because it was an air defense unit that saw less intense combat; however, she was forced to do so under threat of tribunal, despite complaining that she wouldn't be "deserting" to the reserve but to the frontlines.[7][4][8][9] During the war she was featured alongside Litvyak and Budanova in the military aviation newspaper Stalinsky Sokol.[10]

Awards

[5][11][12]

References
  1. Женские авиаполки. История. Факты. Лица.
  2. Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah (1999). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications. p. 552. ISBN 978-0-7876-4068-2.
  3. Yenne, Bill (2013). The White Rose of Stalingrad: The Real-Life Adventure of Lidiya Vladimirovna Litvyak, the Highest Scoring Female Air Ace of All Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-78200-912-2.
  4. Noggle 1994, p. 167-170.
  5. Kaminsky, Oleg (2014). "Кузнецова Мария Михайловна". proza.ru. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  6. Noggle 1994, p. 167.
  7. Noggle 1994, p. 7-9.
  8. Vinogradova, Lyuba (2018). Defending the Motherland: The Soviet Women Who Fought Hitler's Aces. MacLehose Press. ISBN 978-1-68144-010-1.
  9. Cottam, Kazimiera Janina (1997). Women in Air War: The Eastern Front of World War II. New Military Pub. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-9682702-1-9.
  10. Газета «Сталинский сокол» от 13 ноября 1942 года
  11. Award list on the site «pamyat-naroda.ru» (archive materials of TsAMO, ф. 33, оп. 686044, д. 3361)
  12. Award list on the site «pamyat-naroda.ru» (archive materials of TsAMO, ф. 33, оп. 690155, д. 423)

Bibliography
  • Noggle, Anne (1994). A Dance With Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0890966028. OCLC 474018127.
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