Hero of the Soviet Union Maria Ivanovna

The Great Patriotic War left descendants many names of great Soviet pilots. One of them is the Valley of Maria Ivanovna. She was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Red Banner.

early years

Maria Ivanovna was born on December 18, 1922 in Shrovka, a village in the Omsk Region. Her parents were ordinary Siberian peasants and Ukrainians by origin. The girl's father fought in the Civil War and lost his legs there.

Due to the incapacity of the breadwinner, the family moved to Zaporozhye region, where the girl graduated from the eight-grade secondary school. The child was always attracted by planes. In 1939, the girl graduated from the Kherson Aviation School. In order to get there, Maria Ivanovna Dolina added to her age two years, so that in all official documents the year of her birth was celebrated as 1920th. Many of her contemporaries went to such maneuvers, especially when the war broke out, and the military commissariats did not have time to take everyone who wanted to be at the front.

In the Red Army

Unlike many war heroes who became military only because of the attack of the Wehrmacht, Maria Ivanovna got all the necessary professional skills in peacetime. After graduating from an aviation school in Kherson, she began to work as an instructor pilot in Osoaviakhim. She lived in Dnepropetrovsk and Nikolaev.

When the war broke out in 1941, Maria Ivanovna Valley was immediately included in the ranks of the Red Army as a valuable specialist. First, the girl fought in the 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment. Her combat machine was the "Pe-2". It was a dive bomber, developed at the Kazan Aviation Plant.

On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War

The first flight was made by the pilot in the vicinity of Stalingrad, where the fate of the whole war was largely decided. Later, Maria Dolina was constantly transferred from the front to the front. She fought in the sky of the Kuban, the North Caucasus and Kursk. At the final stage of the war, the pilot participated in the liberation of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Baltic states.

In the skillful hands of the "Pe-2" became a deadly weapon directed against the German opponents. And Maria Ivanovna Dolina, of course, was a real professional, even despite her very young age. Almost every combat sortie ended in losses in the camp of the enemy. In "Pe-2" Maria Dolina was no less brilliant navigator - Galina Dzhunkovskaya.

In the 125th Aviation Regiment

In 1943, Maria Dolina received a new appointment. She became deputy commander in the 125th Guards Women's Bomber Aviation Regiment. At the same time, this military formation received the name of another famous Soviet pilot, Marina Raskova, who was killed near Saratov during a flight to the front.

The pilots of the regiment, where Maria Dolina served, destroyed the enemy's equipment, live force and defenses on the banks of the Volga River, where in 1943 a turning point occurred throughout the Great Patriotic War. "Pe-2" provided a breakthrough of Soviet tanks during the famous Battle of Kursk.

Fight over the Crimean

Almost every pilot of the Great Patriotic War had a fight, which almost became the last one. There was such a case and the Valley of Maria Ivanovna. The pilot was commissioned to destroy several targets near the Kuban village called Crimean. In the sky above this place on June 2, 1943, her "Pawn" received significant damage - a fragment of an anti-aircraft missile hit one of the engines.

Maria Valley led the left link of the squadron. At the moment when the target was already very close, the engine of the car began to work intermittently. The plane began to lose its course. The crew of the Valley lagged behind the main squadron, in which he carried out a combat mission. But even with this state of the car, the crew continued the fight. Land targets were bombed, and the goal set by the command was fulfilled. On the way back, "Pe-2" came under the new fire of several German fighters.

In the battle of the machine gunner at the "Pe-2" cartridges ran out. The valley in such conditions decided to decrease. In this position, she was caught up by one of the Messers. The plane approached closely, so that the pilot saw the face of the German enemy. Through the windshield, he gestured Valley at first one, and then two fingers. The woman did not understand the meaning of the gesture. Only then it was explained to her that the German pilot kindly asked how many hits to knock down her car. But all has managed. In a fierce skirmish, the crew of the Valley ditched the enemy "Me-109" and FW-190.

However, in the Soviet "Pe" fire began. The valley was not blinded by the fire only because Galina Dzhunkovskaya in time put on her glasses (the pilot's hands were always busy). Maria miraculously planted the plane only two kilometers from the front. As soon as the crew hastily left the car, it exploded.

In Belarus

In total, Maria Ivanovna Valley spent 72 sorties in the war. When the Soviet Army liberated Belarus, the pilot noted several particularly vivid and successful operations in the air. For example, on July 26, 1944, it destroyed a strategically important section of the railway near Orsha, which the Germans used to transport resources.

Many trains with ammunition and other important objects were bombed by Maria Ivanovna Dolina. The photo of the young pilot began to get into Soviet newspapers in the rear and at the front. Her courageous flights were demonstrated throughout the country as examples of courage and professionalism.

During the battles over the Belarusian Borisov, the crew of the Valley threw a pennant with the letter. In the message the pilot urged compatriots to quickly restore their native city. When in 15 years the residents of Borisov celebrated the anniversary of his release, local journalists remembered the dropped pennant. They had to work hard to find Maria Dolina, who at that time lived in the Baltic States. Employees of the Belarusian newspaper conducted several interviews with the famous pilot. These recorded conversations later formed the basis of biographical sketches about Maria Dolina.

After the war

After the defeat of Germany in August 1945, the Valley received the deserved title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The woman decided to stay in the Air Force. Until 1950, she was deputy commander of one of the bomber aviation Soviet regiments. In 28 years she left for the reserve.

In the following time, work in the CPSU became the path chosen by Maria Ivanovna's Valley. The hero of the Soviet Union lived in the Lithuanian city of Siauliai, where she graduated from the party school. In the 60s the former pilot worked in the Latvian institutions of the CPSU and lived in Riga. Was elected to the local Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Since 1983, Maria Dolina has lived in Kiev. After the collapse of the Soviet Union received Ukrainian citizenship. Died in Kiev on March 3, 2010 at the age of 87 years. The place of burial of the famous pilot was the local Baikovo cemetery.