Blinova, Klavdia Mikhailovna

Claudia Mikhailovna Blinova (married to Kudlenko) was born in 1920 in the village of Mitinki, Borovsky district, Kaluga province, in the family of a peasant Mikhail Pavlovich Blinov. Russian . Education is incomplete secondary. In the 30s of the XX century, the Blinov family moved to the village of Ochakovo, Kuntsevsky District, Moscow Region . Claudia Mikhailovna graduated from the Moscow flying club Osoaviahima . Before the war, she worked in it as a pilot instructor.

K. M. Blinova joined the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army voluntarily in 1941. During the war years she flew on airplanes U-2 , UT-1 , UT-2 , Yak-1 and Yak-7 . Sergeant Major Blinova began to fight as part of the 586th female fighter aviation regiment . Defended the sky of Saratov . In November-December 1941 was retrained on the Yak-1 fighter . In mid-September 1942, Claudia Mikhailovna arrived in the 434th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 16th Air Army of the Don Front . Participated in the Battle of Stalingrad , having made several sorties to cover the ground forces, escorting attack aircraft and bombers .

On October 3, 1942, the 434th Fighter Aviation Regiment, bloodless in battles near Stalingrad, was withdrawn for reorganization at the Lyubertsy airfield. Claudia Mikhailovna was offered to take special courses in air combat, but she preferred real combat work and was soon enrolled in the 653rd Fighter Aviation Regiment ( 274th Fighter Aviation Division , 1st Fighter Aviation Corps , 3rd Air Army ). On the Kalinin Front, Sergeant KM Blinov participated in the Velikiye Luki offensive operation , having completed 37 sorties on the instructions of the command, of which 12 were combat. For the difference during the operation, Claudia Mikhailovna was awarded the medal “For Courage” . In February 1943, the air corps, in which K. M. Blinov fought, was transferred to the North-Western Front and became part of the 6th Air Army . On the Northwestern Front, Klavdia Mikhailovna participated in the liquidation of the enemy’s demy group .

On March 18, 1943, by Order of the USSR NCO No. 128, the 653rd Fighter Aviation Regiment was transformed into the 65th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment as part of the ( 4th Guards Fighter Aviation Division of the 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Corps ). On March 20, 1943, the air corps, in which K.M. Blinov served, was put into reserve and stayed there until May 1943. Claudia Mikhailovna during this time passed re-certification and received the rank of guard of the second lieutenant . On May 9, 1943, the 1st Guards Aviation Corps arrived at the Bryansk Front and was included in the 15th Air Army . Since July 12, 1943, the 65th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment participated in the Battle of Kursk . On the very first day of the battles on the Kursk Bulge of Guards, Junior Lieutenant K. M. Blinova participated in an air battle, during which Soviet fighters shot down 2 Yu-88 and 1 Me-109 . Among other pilots who distinguished themselves in this battle, Klavdia Mikhailovna was awarded a cash prize of 5,000 rubles. In total, by the beginning of August 1943, K. M. Blinova made 48 sortie missions, including 23 combat ones, participated in 15 air battles and shot down 3 German planes as part of the group.

On August 4, 1943, the Yak-1 of the Guard of the Second Lieutenant K. M. Blinova was shot down in an air battle. She landed with a parachute in the territory occupied by the enemy, and was captured. Together with other prisoners of war she was sent by train to Germany , but on the way she managed to escape. Recalling the circumstances of the escape, Claudia Mikhailovna subsequently wrote:

Soon all of us were loaded into two freight cars and taken. Everyone who was in our car decided to run away. Someone had a penknife, and we started to cut a hole in the wall of the car to them to open the bracket on the doors. They all worked in turn. After two days, the hole was ready. At night, we opened the door of the car and all one after another jumped out on the run of the train downhill.

- K. M. Blinova. When friends are nearby ^[1]

On August 25, 1943, Blinova was able to cross the front line and go to her own. Then came the SMERSH check and the NKVD camp for former prisoners of war, from which she was rescued by Vasily Stalin . Claudia Mikhailovna was sent to the Higher Officer School of Air Combat in the city of Lyubertsy , after which she returned to her unit. She fought on the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts . Lieutenant K.M. Blinova completed the combat path of the guard by participating in the Berlin operation .

In the post-war period, she married Grigory Danilovich Kudlenko, a former navigator of the 65th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. She lived in Kiev . She worked as a senior stewardess at Kiev airport . She took an active part in the veteran movement.

• Order of the Patriotic War II degree (12/23/1943).
• Order of the Patriotic War II degree (04/06/1985).
• Medal "For Courage" (02.22.1943).

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  Award sheet for the Order of the Patriotic War II degree

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  Award sheet for the Order of the Patriotic War II degree

• Blinova K. M. When friends are nearby // In the front-line sky. A collection of memoirs of Soviet pilots - participants in the Great Patriotic War / Compiled by M. A. Kazarinova, A. A. Polyantseva. - M .: Young Guard, 1962. - S. 263-264. - 296 p. - 115,000 copies.
• Blinova K. M. Blue handkerchief // On Earth, in Heaven and at Sea: a collection of memoirs / ed. exec., ed. L. M. Panteleeva; ed. S.V. Gribanov, F.P. Vodynin, M.D. Konyushenko [et al.]. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1983. - S. 94-119. - 364 p. - (The front-line soldiers tell, 1941-1945). - 75,000 copies.

We did 14-16 hours a day. The war dictated its conditions. We knew that at that time every pilot was counted ... We all dreamed of getting to the front.

- Claudia Blinova ^[2]

Fighter pilot E.U. Chalbash ^[3] :

Klava Blinova was not particularly distinguished by anything, she was a modest and young girl, and, not knowing that she was a fighter pilot, I would never have thought that this thin blonde, who is surrounded by many pilots and talks animatedly about something - pilot, not like a fighter pilot!

Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel General of Aviation V. N. Kubarev ^[4] :

... she was attacked by the six FV-190 . She dodged the first attack, then the second. Itself went on the offensive, directing its fighter at the wing of one of the pairs. But she failed to complete the attack. From above other "fokkers" piled on it. The plane caught fire, I had to use a parachute.

“And here I was really scared,” Blinova said. - When I looked around, I realized that I was over enemy territory. There is no wind, which means there is no way to pull over the front line. She landed, freed herself from the suspension system, grabbed the gun from the holster and ran to the small fishing line that could be seen in a kilometer. And to meet me from this same fishing line - the Nazis. Run and shoot from machine guns. One bullet hit a leg ...

- In general, captivity. Interrogations, beatings, concentration camps . A week later, we were loaded into wagons and taken to the direction of Smolensk . A group of pilots on the way agreed to escape. They made a hole in the carriage doors, opened them, jumped out on the train and ran.

We silently listened to her and involuntarily surprised and at the same time rejoiced at the stamina, the courage of Blinova. It turns out that even in captivity in her soul the fire of struggle did not go out, she broke free to beat the fascists again. Not every man succeeds, not everyone withstands tortures, but she, a woman, withstood, overcame all difficulties. She had to go hungry, she walked hundreds of kilometers. But she did.

• Public electronic document bank “The Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” (neopr.) . Archived March 13, 2012. No in the database 18975938 (neopr.) . 16226738 (neopr.) . Archived October 24, 2012.
• Generalized database “Memorial” (neopr.) . Archived on May 10, 2012. , TsAMO, f. 33, op. 11458, d.118 (neopr.) . , TsAMO, f. 33, op. 11458, d.204 (neopr.) . Archived October 24, 2012. , TsAMO, f. 33, op. 11458, d. 75 (neopr.) . Archived October 24, 2012. , TsAMO, f. 33, op. 11458, d.61 (neopr.) . Archived October 24, 2012.

• Ovchinnikova L.P. Fighters // Women in Soldier's Overcoats. - Volgograd: Lower Volzhsky book. Publishing House, 1987 .-- S. 6-8. - 269 p. - (The feat of Stalingrad is immortal).
• Chalbash Emir-Usein. Girl - military fighter pilot // Bound by battle !: Soviet aces against the Luftwaffe. - M .: Yauza: Eksmo, 2010 .-- S. 263-266. - 384 p. - (World War II. The Red Army is all the strongest!). - 4000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-43092-5 .
• Isaev S. M. Pages of the history of the 32nd Guards Vilnius Order of Lenin and Kutuzov, 3rd class, fighter aviation regiment . - M .: Publishing Group ARBOR, 2006.
• Kostenko F.A. Corps of the winged guard. - M .: Military Publishing, 1974.- 269 p.
• Drabkin A. MILITARY LITERATURE I fought in a fighter. The first hit.

• Blinova Klavdiya Mikhailovna (neopr.) . Site "Red Falcons". Archived October 24, 2012.
• Women aviators of the Second World War (neopr.) . Archived October 24, 2012.