Perm Krai is rich in talented and famous people. On its land was born the Hero of the Soviet Union - Gasheva Rufina Sergeevna. She received her rank when she participated in the Patriotic War, which she ended as a guard senior lieutenant.
Motherland
Many fascists were destroyed by the squadron of the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment, in which Rufina Sergeyevna Gasheva was a navigator. Her birthplace was the village of Upper Chusovsky Gorodki. It happened on October 1, 1921. However, after her birth, she lived in the village of Vasilevo, Nizhny Novgorod Region, which later became the city of Chkalovsky. From 1927 to 1928, her family was in the village of Kasimovo in the Perm Region, then moved to Perm, and already in 1930 they lived in Moscow.
Instead of studying
When the Patriotic War began, Rufina Sergeyevna Gasheva was supposed to begin her third year studies at Moscow State University. After graduating from the 10th grade of the school, she entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics there. But already in September 1941 Gasheva Rufina Sergeevna left her studies and joined the defenders of the motherland. She liked aviation. Therefore, in February 1942, she graduated from navigational military courses. In the same month, she was accepted into the female night bomber aviation regiment as a gunner-bombardier. This regiment was formed in the city of Engels, in the same place as the military aviation school, which she graduated from.
Battle way
In many places Gusheva Rufina Sergeevna served during the war years. Gradually, she became the navigator of the bombardier, and then became the navigator of the squadron. She fought on the South, as well as the North Caucasian, Belorussian fronts. Liberated the Kuban and other territories. In total, Gasheva Rufina Sergeevna took 848 effective sorties; during these operations, enemy equipment and personnel were destroyed. She took part in the Berlin, Osovets, East Pomeranian, as well as the Crimean, Mogilev, Bialystok, Mlava-Elbing operations.
To remember
Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva, whose biography is described in this article, instilled patriotic worldviews in the youth after the war. Fortunately, many managed to hear and record stories about her military past. Gasheva Rufina Sergeevna admitted that initially young pilots, due to inexperience, had an accident. But experience gradually came, and with it skill. The personal qualities of Rufina Sergeevna helped her cope with the difficulties of military service. She talked about several cases when her plane was shot down by anti-aircraft gunners.
Tragic accidents
The first time this happened near Upper Agdum during a sortie. The crew made an emergency landing with the engine turned off. However, the Nazis noticed him and began to fire. The pilot and navigator found unexpected salvation in a swamp located nearby. But first, the girls had to crawl some distance, risking being spotted by the Nazis. Before they saw the saving swamp, they moved away from the front line to fool the enemy. Then they crawled over the railway embankment and hid in the reeds by the swamp. Then they moved east, periodically bypassing German patrols. Two days later they made their way to their own.
Last departure
The next time the plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft gunners, workmate Gasheva was not lucky. Another time they were shot down on the territory of Poland near the city of Naselsk. An incendiary bullet from an anti-aircraft gun got into the casing and set fire to it. Despite all the attempts of the pilot to bring down the flame, he was getting closer and closer to the gas tank. The girls decided to jump and land on parachutes. They were lucky, and they were in neutral territory. However, the partner of Gasheva, Olga Sanfirova, fell on anti-personnel mines and died.
Hero Awarding
The efforts of Rufina Gasheva to counter the fascist forces were noticed and highly appreciated. February 23, 1945 Rufina Sergeevna became a Hero of the Soviet Union. By the same Decree of the Supreme Council, she was also awarded the Order of Lenin, and plus the Gold Star medal. And already at the end of the war, Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva was serving in the Air Force for some time. She also served as the navigator of an aviation regiment in the Northern Group of Forces located in Poland.
Peaceful life
After this, Gasheva fulfilled her dream and graduated. But only not at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, and not at Moscow State University. She graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages at the Military Institute. She went to work at the Military Academy of Armored Forces. First she was a teacher, then a senior teacher at the department of foreign languages. In 1961, she got a job as a senior editor-in-chief at the Military Publishing House. Since 1967, she worked in the same position at the Publishing House, which produces military-technical literature in foreign languages under the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.
Gasheva Rufina Sergeevna over the years of her life has done a lot for the country. Also, her courage was rewarded with the orders of the Red Banner, she also received the orders of the Red Star, and plus the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the medal "For Military Merit". Rufina Sergeevna left this world on May 1, 2012 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.