Pamyatnykh began flying
gliders at 16, and soon qualified for a private pilot's license and instructor's certificate at the flight school in
Ulyanovsk. When the
Second World War began, she signed up for the Soviet forces. When
Marina Raskova was asked to recruit female pilots in 1941, Pamyatnykh was sufficiently well known as a pilot that she was specifically approached. She underwent further flight training in
Engels, Saratov Oblast in October 1941, and was subsequently assigned to the 586th Fighter Squadron alongside other female aces such as
Lydia Litvyak, As a junior lieutenant, Pamyatnykh was on patrol with
Raisa Surnachevskaya over a railway junction on 19 March 1943. She bailed out and
parachuted to the ground. The nearby locals were shocked when they rushed to help and discovered that she was a woman. She was taken back to base, where Pamyatnykh learnt that the German attack had been prevented as the rest of the force had turned back. For her heroism, Pamyatnykh was awarded the
Order of the Red Banner and given a gold watch by
King George VI of the United Kingdom. During another mission she was downed by
friendly fire. In 1944, she married Nikolai Chasnyk, a
Hero of the Soviet Union and deputy squadron commander in the 148th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. They both survived the war, although he spent some time in a Nazi
concentration camp. Following the end of the war, they had three children. Pamyatnykh later went on to become the chairman of the women's war veterans' commission. ==References==