Eight hundred and forty-eight combat missions defined the wartime service of Rufina Gasheva, a navigator who flew the Polikarpov Po-2 light bomber. Serving with the all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment, later redesignated the 46th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, she operated across multiple major Soviet offensives before transitioning into a lengthy career as an academic and literary editor.
Military Service and Combat
Volunteering for service in September 1941, Gasheva completed a navigators' course at the Engels Military Aviation School of Pilots by February 1942. She participated in the Battle of the Caucasus and subsequent aerial operations, including the liberation of Crimea, the Belostok offensive, and the final Battle of Berlin. During her combat career, her aircraft was downed twice. The second incident required her to bail out over a minefield, where she narrowly survived the trek back to her lines after her pilot, Olga Sanfirova, was killed.
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →Recognition and Ranks
For her extensive combat record, which included 823 sorties by December 1944, Gasheva was named a Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945. Her military decorations include two Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Red Star, and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class. She retired from active duty with the rank of major and was eventually promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2000.
Postwar Professional Life
Following the war, Gasheva pursued an academic and editorial career. She graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in 1952 and served as a senior lecturer at the Malinovsky Military Armored Forces Academy until 1957. She later held positions as a senior editor within the Voenizdat Bureau of Foreign Military Literature and the USSR Ministry of Defense, focusing on foreign military publications until 1972.
Fast facts
- Born: 1921, Verkhnechusovskiye Gorodki
- Died: 2012, Moscow
- Military Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
- Primary Aircraft: Polikarpov Po-2
- Combat Missions: 848
- Burial Site: Vostryakovo Cemetery
Questions readers ask
What was the Night Witches unit?
The 588th Night Bomber Regiment was an all-female Soviet air force regiment, later known as the 46th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, in which Gasheva served as a navigator.
Where did Gasheva work after retiring from the military?
She worked as a senior editor for the Voenizdat Bureau of Foreign Military Literature and the Ministry of Defense office for foreign military publications.
Achievements
- Affiliated with Military Academy of Armored Forces and Voenizdat
- Educated at Lomonosov Moscow State University
- Worked as aircraft pilot, professor and editor