A Tupolev ANT-37 touched down in the wilderness near the Sea of Okhotsk on 25 September 1938, marking the end of a record-breaking nonstop flight from Moscow. Polina Osipenko, serving as a navigator and pilot, successfully completed this mission despite severe weather conditions, cementing her status as a pioneer in long-distance Soviet aviation during the late 1930s.
Early Career and Training
Born Polina Dudnik in 1907 in Novospasovka, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, she originated from a Ukrainian peasant family. She spent her formative years working on a collective farm before transitioning to aviation training. Between 1930 and 1933, she attended the Kazan Flight School, which provided the foundation for her subsequent service as a military officer operating fighter aircraft.
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Osipenko achieved significant professional milestones in the years leading up to her death. In 1937, she secured three separate altitude world records. By October of that same year, she partnered with Marina Raskova to establish a new women's flight distance record, traveling from Moscow to Aktobe. In July 1938, she joined Vera Lomako and Raskova to complete a nonstop journey from Sevastopol to Arkhangelsk aboard a Beriev MP-1 aircraft.
The 1938 Expedition
The September 1938 flight intended to reach Komsomolsk-on-Amur faced extreme meteorological challenges. With fuel supplies exhausted near the Sea of Okhotsk, the crew executed a forced landing in a forest. While one crew member parachuted out, Osipenko and the pilot-in-command remained with the Tupolev ANT-37 and survived the impact. Search teams located the wreckage eight days later.
Military Recognition and Final Flight
Following the 1938 distance record, she was named a Hero of the Soviet Union on 2 November 1938, becoming one of the first three women to receive the honor. Her military career progressed through the ranks of lieutenant, senior lieutenant, and captain, eventually reaching the rank of Major. She also received the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and the Jubilee Medal XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Her career concluded on 11 May 1939, when she died during a training flight in a UTI-4 alongside Anatoly Serov in the Rybnovsky District. She is interred at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
Fast facts
- Born: 1907
- Died: 11 May 1939
- Highest Rank: Major
- Place of Death: Rybnovsky District
- Citizenship: Soviet Union
- Major Awards: Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin
- Burial Site: Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Questions readers ask
What record did she set in 1938?
She set a new women's nonstop flight distance record during a journey between Moscow and the Sea of Okhotsk.
How did Polina Osipenko die?
She died on 11 May 1939 during a training flight in a UTI-4 aircraft.
Achievements
- Worked as aircraft pilot, navigator and Major
