Yekaterina Zelenko

Infobox Military Person
name= Yekaterina Zelenko
lived= 1916–1941
placeofbirth=Koroshchin, Rivne Oblast, Ukraine
placeofdeath=Sumy Oblast, buried in Kursk


caption= Photograph of Yekaterina Zelenko
nickname=
allegiance= Soviet Air Force
serviceyears=
rank=Senior Lieutenant
commands=
unit=19th Light Bomber Brigade
3rd Squdron (11th Light Bomber Regiment of 8th Army)
135th Bomber Regiment (16th Mixed Flying Division of 6th Army)
battles=Winter War, World War II
awards=Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
Order of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner
laterwork=

Yekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko (September 14 1916—September 12 1941) was a Soviet (ethnic Ukrainian) war pilot. She is the only woman ever to have performed an air ramming. [cite web|url=http://www.sukhoi.org/eng/company/history/war/|title= Sukhoi Company (JSC)|author= |accessdate=2007-10-19] [ru iconcite web|url=http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/rytov/07.html|title= Rytsari pyatogo okeana|author=Rytov, A.G |accessdate=2007-10-19] [Suvorov, V. "M-Day"]

Zelenko attended seven school classes in Kursk. With her mother's move to Voronezh, Yekaterina entered the Voronezh Secondary Flying School. In October 1933 she passed through Voronezh Flying Club and was sent to the 3rd Orenburg Military Flying Academy named after Kliment Voroshilov. Later she found herself in Kharkiv, assigned to the 19th Light Bomber Brigade. In the Winter War Zelenko was the only female pilot. [ru iconcite web|url=http://www.old.mil.ru/viz-05-05-71-75.pdf|title= Voyenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal, №5 2005|author= |accessdate=2007-10-19]

On the eve of the German invasion of the Soviet Union Zelenko was taking part in the retraining of the leading personnel of seven flying regiments in use of the Sukhoi Su-2. Following the German invasion, Zelenko made forty flights (also at night) and participated in twelve air combats with enemy fighters. [ru iconcite web|url=http://www.peoples.ru/military/aviation/ekaterina_zelenko/|title= Yekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko|author= |accessdate=2007-10-19] On September 12 1941, Zelenko's Su-2 was attacked by seven Me-109s. After Zelenko ran out of ammunition, she launched a top-down air ramming which tore an Me-109 into two as the propeller hit the German aircraft's tail. The Su-2 she was piloting exploded though, and Zelenko was pulled out of cockpit. The air combat was observed by local residents who identified her body. On May 5 1990 Zelenko was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. A minor planet, 1900 Katyusha was named after her. Zelenko's husband Pavel Ignatenko also died in air combat in 1943.

Notes