Raisa Belyaeva

Raisa Vasilyevna Belyayeva
Nickname(s)	Raya
Born	25 December 1912 Kirov, Kirov Oblast
Died	19 July 1943
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Air Forces
Years of service	1941–1943
Unit	586th Fighter Regiment 437th Fighter regiment
Battles/wars	World War II

Raisa Vasil'evna Beliaeva was one of the first Russian female fighter pilots. She fought alongside Lydia Litvyak and was credited with three aerial victories. She died in combat, from causes unknown, in 1943.

Early life

Belyayeva attended a technical institute for tanners in Kirov. After graduation she asked her old friend Olga Yamshchikova, a Leningrad flight instructor, to teach her to fly. Belyayeva soon proved herself an enthusiastic and indefatigable alumna. Before the war she accumulated more than a 1,000 hours flight time and a hundred parachute jumps, instructing hundreds of parachutists. She also took part in many airshows over Tushino airfield, near Moscow.

Bibliography

• Cottam, Kazimiera Janina. Women in War and Resistance – Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers. Newburyport MA, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co. 1998. ISBN 1-58510-160-5.
• Milanetti, Gian Piero (2013). Soviet Airwomen of the Great Patriotic War - A pictorial history. Istituto Bibliografico Napoleone, Rome, Italy. ISBN 9788875651466.
• Milanetti, Gian Piero (2011). Le Streghe della Notte: La storia non detta delle eroiche ragazze-pilota dell'Unione Sovietica nella Grande Guerra Patriottica (in Italian). Istituto Bibliografico Napoleone, Roma, Italia. ISBN 88-7565-100-0.
• Pennington, Reina (1997). Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1554-7.
• Sakaida, Henry (2003). Heroines of the Soviet Union: 1941-45. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-598-3.