Nadezhda Popova

Nadezhda Vasilyevna Popova (, ; 17 December 1921 – 8 July 2013) was a squadron commander in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Regiment during the Second World War who achieved significant domestic publicity after completing 18 bombing sorties in one night with navigator Yekaterina Ryabova. Awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945 for completing 737 sorties, she was featured on the cover of Komsomolskaya Pravda and in many other major Soviet publications during the war.

Early life Popova was born in Shabanovka on 17 December 1921. The daughter of a railwayman, she grew up near the Donetsk coal fields in Ukraine. As an adolescent, she loved music, song, and dance, taking part in amateur plays and musicals, and considered becoming an actress or doctor before entering aviation. The Economist reported that she was a "wild spirit, easily bored; she loved to tango, foxtrot, sing along to jazz. It made her feel free." When a small aircraft landed near her village, she became enamored with aviation, enrolling in a gliding school at the age of 15 without telling her parents. "Walking towards a plane, every time, she would get a knot in her stomach; every time she took off, she was thrilled all over again."

Awards Hero of the Soviet Union (23 February 1945) Order of Lenin (23 February 1945) Three Order of the Red Banner (19 October 1942, 25 October 1943, and 15 June 1945) Two Order of the Patriotic War 1st class (30 August 1944 and 11 March 1985) Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class (2 May 1943) Order of Friendship (1 April 1995) Order of Honour (4 May 2000) Honorary citizen of Donetsk (1985)