Aerial Ramming

[willedoo]

Today, September 12th., is seventy one years since the only known aerial ramming performed by a female pilot.

 

Lieutenant Yekaterina Zelenko, a Ukranian Soviet, piloting a Sukhoi Su-2 was attacked by a group of Messerschmitt Bf-109's in 1941. After running out of ammunition, she performed a top down ramming on one of the 109's, cutting it in half, but lost her life when her own aircraft exploded.

 

As with a lot of Soviet WW2 pilots, she was posthumously awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest Soviet award, forty years after the war.

 

The long delay in awarding honours seemed to be common with posthumous awards and in particular, returned POW's.

 

Senior Lieutenant Zelenko

 

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Sukhoi Su-2

 

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Bf-109

 

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Cheers, Willie.

 

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