When she heard of the recently formed all-female aviation regiments commanded by
Marina Raskova, she applied to the aviation college in Saratov. In 1942 she was placed in the
588th Night Bomber Regiment under the command of experienced pilot
Yevdokia Bershanskaya; the unit was later awarded the Guards designation and renamed as the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. While landing after a mission on 1 April 1943, the
Polikarpov Po-2 Dospanova and pilot Yuliya Pashkova were flying was hit by the plane of
Polina Makagon and Lydia Svistunova. Both pilots in the other plane were killed in the crash and Pashkova died during surgery; Dospanova was assumed to be dead after not moving for a while, but nurses eventually realized she was still alive because she was not showing signs of
pallor mortis long after they assumed her to be dead, so she underwent a series of surgeries over several days. Her legs developed
gangrene, but one doctor refused to amputate her legs, saying that she would need them. Dospanova had to wear casts on both of her legs for weeks and walked with a cane quite a while after the casts were removed. Six months later she returned to her unit, but was soon promoted to work as regiment's head of communications, since she continued to have difficulty using her legs, resulting in her needing assistance getting in and out of aircraft. Nevertheless, she still flew as navigator in combat missions, and tallied an estimated 300 sorties by the end of the war, taking part in the battles throughout Eastern Europe including in
the Caucasus,
Kuban,
Taman,
Crimea,
Poland, and
Germany. == Postwar ==