Mariya Nesterenko

Mariya Petrivna Nesterenko (; 1910 28 October 1941) was a Soviet pilot who rose to the rank of major in the Air Force and became a deputy regimental commander before she was executed for being the wife of Hero of the Soviet Union Pavel Rychagov, a victim of one of NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria's purges of the air force. She, her husband, and the other victims were posthumously rehabilitated after Stalin died.

Early life Nesterenko was born sometime during August 1910 to a Ukrainian family in the village of Budy, then part of the Russian Empire. After completing her initial education she worked at a pottery factory while she dreamed of aviation in addition to having hobbies in music and sports.

Aviation career Having become a member of the Communist Party in 1931,

Downfall Shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Nesterenko was arrested at an aerodrome on 26 June 1941 and executed along with dozens of other high-ranking officers on 28 October 1941. Officially, she was shot for failure to report a crime, Rychagov had gotten in trouble for referring to Soviet aircraft as "flying coffins" directly to Stalin.