Ekaterina Budanova. Fighter pilot of the great Patriotic
Ekaterina Budanova in Moscow, 1943, photo: goskatalog.ru
The Great Patriotic War became a serious test for the entire Soviet people. The whole country rose to fight the enemy. The women who forged a common victory in the rear and at the front did not stand aside either. In the ranks of the Red Army, along with men, about 600 thousand women fought with the enemy.
Against this background, Soviet female pilots stood out, who, along with men, mastered one of the most difficult professions in every sense - a military pilot. This profession was difficult, including purely for physical reasons. The military pilots suffered colossal physical and psychological stress.
Among the famous Soviet female pilots during the Great Patriotic War, Ekaterina Budanova, who fought the enemy on a Yak-1 fighter, occupies a special place. Budanova is a fighting friend of another famous Soviet pilot, Lydia Litvyak.
In the Soviet Union, aviation captured the minds of both men and women alike
Ekaterina Budanova was born on December 7, 1916 in the small village of Konoplyanka, today it is the territory of the Vyazemsky district of the Smolensk region. The famous aviator in the future came, like most people of that generation, from an ordinary peasant family. It was hard to believe then that years would pass and a girl from the most ordinary village would grow up and begin to control combat aircraft, but the young Soviet state and the era itself provided Budanova with such an opportunity.
Like many children of that period, Ekaterina Budanova received a seven-year school education. Budanova graduated from primary school in her native village, studied in the village of Ermolinka until the 6th grade, and in 1934 she completed her studies in the seventh grade at the Vyazma-Novotorzhevskaya station.
The flight crew of the second squadron of the Kiev Aero Club in Moscow. In the first row, second from the right - Ekaterina Budanova, 1938, photo: goskatalog.ru
Budanova had to work from the age of 7, when she began to earn money as a nanny. The thing is that at the age of 6, Budanova's father died. In the future, Catherine had to start working early in many ways in order to help her family.
After completing the seven-year plan, Catherine went to Moscow, where she tripled to the plant in Fili. It was aviation plant number 22 named after Gorbunov, one might say, here Budanova's life course finally and irrevocably stopped at aviation. In parallel with her work, the girl continued to study, but already at an evening school, which she successfully graduated in 1935.
Simultaneously with the work of Budanova, she attended classes at the flying club of the Kiev district of the capital, where she studied from 1935 to 1937. After completing her studies at the flying club, Yekaterina Budanova remained there as an instructor, having mastered the control of U-2, UT-2, and AIR-6 aircraft. AIR-6 was the first production aircraft designed by Yakovlev. It is on the fighters of this designer that Ekaterina Budanova will fight the enemy during the war years.
Before the war, Ekaterina managed to realize the dream of many Soviet teenagers, who really dreamed of aviation on the wave of the success of the first Soviet aviators. At the same time, the girl continued to persevere in her chosen profession. From the end of 1939, she studied at the Kherson Aviation School of Instructor Pilots Osoaviakhim, returning in May 1940 to work as an instructor pilot in the flying club of the Frunzensky District of Moscow.
Chicks of the nest of Marina Raskova
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the question of how to act in this situation did not stand before Budanova. Being a well-trained instructor pilot, the girl was eager to join the active army. In October, she, like many other women of the same age, was enlisted as a volunteer in the ranks of the Red Army, sending her to Saratov for training. Here, at the current Engels military aviation school of Budanov, she was trained in piloting the Yak-1 fighter. After graduating from the course on February 22, 1942. After completing her studies, Ekaterina Budanova was awarded the military rank of junior lieutenant.
Ekaterina Budanova, photo from the resource pamyat-naroda.ru
It is worth noting that it was on October 8, 1941 that the decision was made to create three female aviation combat units in the Red Army, these were air regiments: fighter, bomber and night light bomber. As part of these air regiments, female pilots fought with the enemy until Victory in May 1945.
The initiative to create these units came from the famous Soviet pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, Major Marina Raskova. Behind her shoulders were not only several world records and record flights, but also training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. In order to achieve the involvement of female pilots in military service, Raskova had to go to the very top and her calls were heard. As a result, thousands of Soviet female pilots, who have been laying siege to the thresholds of military enlistment offices since the beginning of the war, received a real chance to get even with the enemy in the sky.
One of these pilots was Ekaterina Budanova, who, after completing her studies at the Engels Military Aviation School, was enrolled in the 586th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment, becoming a flight commander. The regiment's task was to provide air cover for the Saratov region. While serving in the women's aviation regiment, Budanova met Lydia Litvyak. The girls became best friends and from that moment on they always served together.
Fighting everyday life of Ekaterina Budanova
Budanova's first military award was the Order of the Red Star, to which she was presented on February 17, 1943. The award document indicated that during the period of service in the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Catherine made 55 successful patrol missions over Saratov, as well as escorting transport aviation with especially valuable and important cargo for the front.
On September 10, 1942, Budanova arrived at the front near Stalingrad, where she made her first combat missions. At Stalingrad, according to the award documents, Catherine managed to fight in the 758th IAP and 487th IAP, from October 1, passing into the operational subordination of the 9th Guards Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment. The award documents indicate that until October 1, the girl conducted 15 combat missions, taking part in two air battles with the enemy.
The technical staff of the 586th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment is serving the Yak-1 fighter, photo: waralbum.ru
The first combat victory was won by Ekaterina Budanova on October 6, 1942, when the pilot discovered and attacked a group of 13 Ju-88 bombers, shooting down one of them south of Vladimirovka. A few days earlier, Budanova, together with Senior Lieutenant Belyaeva, attacked a group of 12 German Ju-88 bombers. The planes flying to bomb the Elton railway station, as a result of the attack of Soviet fighters, could not bombard the object with precision.
On December 10, 1942, in the Kalach region, Yekaterina Budanova conducted an air battle with a single German twin-engined Me-110 fighter, shooting down it. By this time, the pilot operated as part of a group of "free hunters" of the 9th Guards IAP.
The next place of service for the pilot was the 296th IAP, in which from January 8, 1943 to February 4, 1943, the girl flew 8 combat missions to escort attack aircraft and cover the ground forces at the front line. On March 18, 1943, this regiment received the rank of a Guards Regiment and was renamed the 73rd Guards IAP, at the same time Budanova became a Guard lieutenant.
As part of the regiment, Ekaterina Budanova fought the enemy until July 1943. The brave Soviet fighter pilot did not return from a combat sortie on July 19, 1943, during the Miusskaya offensive operation of the Soviet troops. Performing a combat mission to escort a group of Il-2 attack aircraft, Budanova was attacked by enemy Me-109 fighters in the area of the city of Anthracite.
In an air battle, the fighter of the Soviet pilot was damaged, and she herself was wounded. Despite this, the girl still managed to land the plane in the field. Local residents ran up and took Budanova out of the cabin, but they could not save her, she died from her wounds without regaining consciousness. Local residents buried the pilot on the outskirts of the village of Novokrasnovka. On July 22, 1943, Ekaterina Budanova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, XNUMXst degree.
Pilots Ekaterina Budanova and Lydia Litvyak, photo: goskatalog.ru
The number of aerial victories won by Budanova varies. According to some reports, the pilot made 266 sorties, shooting down 11 German aircraft (6 personally and 5 in the group). According to the data that was published in the book "Women - Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia", written by Andrey Simanov and Svetlana Chudinova and published in 2017, it is indicated that Budanova personally shot down three enemy aircraft and flew 109 sorties.
In fact, the question of how many aerial victories Ekaterina Budanova won in the sky is absolutely secondary. The very fact of the brave service of this woman, who, without hesitation, stood up to defend the Motherland in the most difficult period of her stories.
The heroism of the Soviet pilots did not consist in the number of enemy aircraft shot down. All of them became heroes, finding themselves at the helm of a combat aircraft and going into battle with a very dangerous enemy, who often had an advantage in the quality and capabilities of equipment, combat experience and the level of combat training. In such conditions, Soviet female pilots, who, along with men, withstood physically exhausting air battles with well-trained Luftwaffe pilots, and again went into battle, losing their combat friends and comrades, can only bow to the belt.
On May 9, 1988, the remains of the Soviet pilot were solemnly reburied in the village of Bobrikovo on the territory of the Antratsytovsky district of the Luhansk region. At the same time, a strict obelisk appeared over the grave of Yekaterina Budanova. Even during the existence of the USSR, the question of conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Budanova was raised. Fellow soldiers of Ekaterina Budanova initiated this issue in 1990, but it was not possible to resolve it before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Only on October 1, 1993, 50 years after her death, Ekaterina Budanova was posthumously awarded the highest rank of Russia - the title of Hero of the Russian Federation - for her military merits and courage shown on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.
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