Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova

Born Jan. 18 (31), 1910, in Kharkov. Soviet flyer, Hero of the Soviet Union (Nov. 2, 1938), and colonel (1943). Became a member of the CPSU in 1941. Daughter of the airman and aircraft designer S. V. Grizodubov.

Grizodubova completed flying-club training in 1929 and worked in the civil air fleet. On Sept. 24–25, 1938, she made a nonstop flight with P. D. Osipenko and M. M. Raskova in an ANT-37 from Moscow to the Far East, setting a women’s world distance record. In the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) she assumed command in March 1942 of the 101st Long-Range Air Group (later the 31st Guards Bomber Group), which lent support to partisan detachments. She has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class, and the Order of the Red Star, as well as medals.