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Fighter pilot Antonina Lebedeva (1916-1943)

Before the war, she studied at the Moscow State University and has been an instructor of one of the capital's flying clubs. Her military career began in the women's 586 th Fighter regiment, protecting the sky of Saratov. In aerial combat the brave girl was hit, personally and in the group with his friends, three enemy aircraft. July 17, 1943 in an unequal battle Quartet of our pilots against 30 enemy aircraft, she was shot down and her fate remained unknown for a long time. In 1982 near the village Betovo, Oryol Region, was a plane excavated, that crashed in the summer of 1943. The remains of the pilot, his parachute, a pistol, a knife and documents were found. Among other documents were flight and medical books, where clearly was written the name of the holder: Antonina Lebedeva. More than that - there was the headset with fragments of a skull and two girlish pigtails.