Hero of the Soviet Union Polina Denisovna Osipenko: biography, achievements, awards and interesting facts

Polina Denisovna Osipenko is one of the few representatives of the female, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. What did this woman deserve such honor for? This will be discussed in the article.

Childhood and youth

What interesting biography will tell us? Polina Osipenko was born on October 8, 1907 in the village of Novospasivka. In the family where she grew up, eight children were brought up, not counting her, and the head of the family was an ordinary worker, so one could only dream of financial well-being. This factor did not allow a single-minded girl to get a good general education - she graduated from just two classes at a church school. To help the family get out of the difficult financial situation, the girl had to start working at a very young age. For some time she worked as a nanny, and then she became a farm laborer.

Work and training

After the Osipenko revolution, Polina Denisovna worked on a poultry farm, where her first meeting with a dream of heaven and height took place. On the local field landed a plane, which was controlled by a girl. It was her image that played on the imagination of the twenty-year-old Pauline and became an example, a dream.

Parallel to the work, Polina Denisovna Osipenko studied at an educational institution for evening attendance, and in 1929 she completed courses in the field of "Poultry Instructor Instructor". The girl stood out with her diligence and ingenuity, so after a short time she became the head of the collective farm poultry farm.

The heroine's marriage and its importance in choosing her life path

1926 was marked by marriage. Her chosen one was a pilot of military equipment Stepan Govyaz, who lived with her in one village. It was he who prepared the young girl for education in a school with a military orientation named after Myasnikov, whose main specialization was the training and training of pilots.

To my great regret, Polina Denisovna Osipenko, whose biography is presented to your attention in the article, could not enter this educational institution the first time. To regularly monitor the aircraft and strive for their goal, the girl went to work in the dining room, located at this facility. The institution had many training grounds, where it was necessary to bring food. They did it on the U-2 airmobile. When carrying out these flights, the pilots allowed Pauline "to turn the steering wheel" from time to time. Thus, she mastered her first airplane control skills.

The acquisition of new skills in piloting only provoked the girl in love with the sky. The desire to fly did not let her rest. In the pursuit of her dream, she again and again appealed to the leadership of the school of pilots with a request for her enrollment in the ranks of students. Due to his perseverance and timely appeal to Voroshilov, who arrived at that time to them, Osipenko still achieved a positive result - she was accepted to school.

Success in realizing the dream darkened the separation of Pauline with her husband. He was sent to the Rostov region and there he was repressed.

Records and exploits

1933 is marked in the life of Polina Osipenko by the end of the military school of pilots. In the same year, she was sent to a military flight in Kharkov, where she managed to show all her abilities. Her ability to control aircraft surprised and delighted everyone, so by 1935 she was already commander of the link. Love of heaven and flight did not stop the girl on her laurels. Soon Pauline is transferred to the Moscow military district, and then becomes an inspector of the air force under the General Staff.

Real exploits fearless woman began to commit in 1937. For one year, she managed to beat several world-class records for the height of the aircraft's rise. First it overcame the rise to 6 thousand meters, which was a record result of the pilot from Italy Negron. In the May days of 1937 the pilot reached 9 thousand meters on an unloaded aircraft. And two days later, Osipenko achieved the world standard, breaking away from the earth by 7 thousand meters with a cargo weighing 1 ton.

Having achieved excellent results in high altitude, Osipenko Polina Denisovna - a female pilot - has started to overcome the highest distances of flights to long intervals. And already in 1938 the crew of Osipenko surprised with a fantastic record of the range of flight along a closed curve. At the same time, Kliment Voroshilov issued a permit and picked up the crew for Polina Osipenko's long flight from south to north. The second pilot was Vera Lomako, and the navigator Marina Raskova. It was in this composition that women performed a great feat in overcoming the higher result of long-distance flight directly. For ten-odd hours, with a load of 5.5 tons, they crossed a distance of 2372 km.

Overcoming the way to the Far East

The next heroic achievement of Polina Osipenko is a flight to the Far East, for which the girl was given the title of second pilot. Nobody was sure that Pauline would agree to such conditions, but the young woman was only important is the very fact of the flight, regardless of ranks and ranks. The commander-in-chief in this case was appointed Valentina Grizodubova, who passed a very long and high-quality training specifically for the command of the aircraft during long flights. Marina Raskova retained her position and flew the rank of navigator.

The plane, under the name "Motherland" set out on September 24, 1938. Taking the course to the Far East, the flying machine for a long time moved blindly, due to the growing cloudiness. The navigator M. Raskov determined the correct direction only in terms of instruments. But this problem was not the only one on the path of brave pilots. Soon they were overtaken by icing. The girls had to maximize the rotation of the screw, in order to clean the blades from the accumulating ice. In addition, the pilots missed fueling in Komsomolsk-on-Amur due to the loss of connection with the civilization. The connection was interrupted after the Urals. Closer to the Sea of Okhotsk, a light bulb on the plane reporting a critically low gasoline residue. According to the estimated calculations, it should have been sufficient for no more than 30 minutes. Based on the situation, the crew commander Valentin Grizodubov decided to land the aircraft in the taiga. This landing was very dangerous for the navigator sitting in front, so Raskova was ordered to jump with a parachute.

The plane was planted near the Amun River. Due to the previously lost opportunity to communicate with the land, no one could even guess the landing point of the "Motherland". The search for the missing aircraft was conducted from the Baikal waters to the Sea of Okhotsk. We searched for both air forces and ordinary people living in nearby villages. The plane was found only on the third of October, it was noticed by one of the participants in the search for aircraft. Behind persistent and brave women was sent a boat called "Far East". It was he who picked up the heroines in the taiga wilderness.

Reward for perseverance and courage

Despite the fact that they had to survive the brave pilots, they still managed to set a record for a further migration trip. Their plane flew 6450 km, which eclipsed the results of previous record holders. The result was more than 1500 km. It was for this feat that all three were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union.

After Osipenko stood out in such a heroic event, she had the opportunity to become a teacher and assistant fighter pilots.

The death of Pauline

Soon after the breathtaking success of the Hero of the Soviet Union Osipenko, Polina Denisovna paid for her passion for height. Together with Anatoly Serov, she performed blindflight, in which one of the pilots should fly the plane from a closed cabin, and another to instruct him. The catastrophe occurred at a time when Osipenko acted as an instructor, and the Serov aircraft was driving.

The country responded to the death of the heroine of all-Union mourning. V. Molotov himself carried the ashes of Polina Osipenko to the Kremlin wall, where she was buried.

Polina Denisovna Osipenko: awards of the great woman

For a short period of her life, Polina Osipenko received two Orders of Lenin, the first of which deservedly went to her in the summer of 1938. She was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the medal "XX Years of the Red Army".

The memory of the heroine left for ages

Many streets and avenues of different cities received "names" in honor of P. Osipenko after her death.

• Polina's native village acquired a new name, sounding like her name.
• Her name is educational institutions, such as the Aviation School of Odessa and the Dnepropetrovsk Aeroclub.
• In Berdyansk there is a monument to the great heroine.
• On the territory where she died, a memorable obelisk was erected.
• LA Kolesnikov brought out a new variety of lilac and named him Polina Osipenko.
• The monument to Polina in the city of Kokshetau (Kazakhstan) was erected.

Polina Denisovna Osipenko was not just a woman, she was a strong, courageous and dreaming person. It was this that helped her to achieve such vital summits and to remain in the hearts of people even after death.