Yevgeniya Zhigulenko
Yevgeniya Andreyevna Zhigulenko (1 December 1920 – 2 March 1994) was a pilot and navigator in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
Also recorded as Yevgeniya Andreyevna Zhigulenko
Yevgeniya Zhigulenko

Mil.ru · CC BY 4.0
- Born
- 1920 · Krasnodar.
- Died
- 1994 · Moscow.
- Nationality
- Russia · Soviet Union
- Occupation
- film director · aircraft pilot · screenwriter
- Education
- Moscow State Aviation Technological University · Lomonosov Moscow State University · Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
- Honours
- Medal For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 · Order of Lenin · Hero of the Soviet Union · Order of the Patriotic War and 1st class · Medal For the Defence of the Caucasus · Medal For the Liberation of Warsaw
- Languages
- Russian
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Documentary summary
Yevgeniya Andreyevna Zhigulenko (1 December 1920 – 2 March 1994) was a pilot and navigator in the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
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Note VALÉORINE
Yevgeniya Zhigulenko (1920–1994) was a Russian and Soviet aircraft pilot, film director and screenwriter. Born in Krasnodar, the aircraft pilot died in Moscow. Yevgeniya Zhigulenko studied at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Moscow State Aviation Technological University.
Languages used include Russian. The aircraft pilot received Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin and Order of the Patriotic War, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Educated At · outgoing
Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
Organisation

Awarded · outgoing
Hero of the Soviet Union
Term
Own work
Born In · outgoing
Krasnodar
Place
Educated At · outgoing
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Organisation
Awarded · outgoing
Order of Lenin
Term
Citizen Of · outgoing
Russia
Place
Citizen Of · outgoing
Soviet Union
Place
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
original value insufficient · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
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- 0
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1688703 · wikipedia · Yevgeniya Zhigulenko
In this article
Civilian life
Civilian life
Yevgeniya Zhigulenko studied at Moscow State Aviation Technological University, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. The recorded working language is Russian. Distinctions recorded are Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", Order of Lenin, Hero of the Soviet Union and Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class.
Zhigulenko was born on 1 December 1920 in Krasnodar to a working family. After graduating from secondary school in Tikhoretsk in 1939 she studied at the Moscow Aviation Technology Institute and then graduated from flight school at Moscow Aeroclub. She became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1942.
Second World War
Second World War
In October 1941 she joined the Soviet military and participated in battles on the Eastern Front starting in May 1942 after graduating from her military navigation courses. She initially served as a navigator but went on to become a pilot, after which she was promoted to the position of flight commander. Her regiment was officially designated the 588th Night Bomber Regiment until it was renamed in 1943 to the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. During the war she participated in bombing campaigns on the Southern, Caucasian, and Belorussian fronts as well as in Berlin, Crimea, Kerch, Kolberg, Kuban, Mlavsko-Elbing, Mogilev, and Osowiec. In addition to bombing enemy targets she flew missions to resupply the Red Army. By November 1944 she had dropped 89 tons of bombs on targets, destroyed three crossing points, a searchlight, three artillery batteries, and started 177 fires. Upon the end of the war she flew 968 missions, during which she had encountered many close-calls with death. For completing her first 773 sorties she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945.
After the war
After the war
Zhigulenko remained in the air force on active duty until 1955 when she graduated the Lenin Military-Political Academy in 1955; she was the second woman to graduate from the school. In 1976 she graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography after which she worked as a film director, and created two major films: "In the Sky of the Night Witches" (1981) and "Without the Right to Fail" (1984). She died at the age of 73 on 27 February 1994 and was buried in the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1994
Yevgeniya Zhigulenko died at Moscow.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Krasnodar.
Birth place
Moscow.
Death place
Awards
• Hero of the Soviet Union (23 February 1945) • Order of Lenin (23 February 1945) • Two Orders of the Red Banner (19 October 1942 and 15 June 1945) • Two Orders of the Patriotic War in the 1st Class (30 October 1943 and 11 March 1985) • Two Orders of the Red Star (26 April 1944 and 5 November 1954) • Medal "For Battle Merit" (17 May 1951) • campaign and jubilee medals
References ===== Bibliography =
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Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Shkadov, Ivan. Герои Советского Союза: краткий биографический словарь I, Абаев - Любичев. Voenizdat. 502. 1987. 5203005362.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Cottam, Kazimiera. Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers. Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co. 1998. 1585101605.
- Simonov, Andrey. Женщины - Герои Советского Союза и России. Russian Knights Foundation and Museum of Technology Vadim Zadorozhny. 2017. 9785990960701.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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