Women Pilots

Becoming the most famous aviatrix in Russia during the 1930’s, Marina Raskova matched Amelia Earhart’s fame. Raskova was the first woman to become a pilot in the Russian Air Force. Because she had a good rapport with Joseph Stalin, Russia’s leader at the time. She was asked by Stalin to create three squadrons to bomb the advancing German army. Raskova, along with two other women, were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal in 1938. They were the first women to receive the award and the only members of the Soviet Army to accept it before the war started.