Natalya Fyodorovna Meklin née Kravtsova was a much decorated World War II
combat pilot in one of the three women-only Soviet air regiments. They were
nicknamed the 'Night Witches' by their German opponents.
glider school at theKiev Young Pioneer Palace. When she was 19, in 1942 she
joined the Night Witches, piloting aPolikarpov Po-2 light bomber, and by the end of
the war had flown 980 night missions. In 1953 she graduated from the Military
Institute of Foreign Languages.
Subsequently she worked as a translator before retiring. She became a member of
the Union of Soviet Writers. It is rewarded with the Order of Lenin, with three, with
Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, of the Red Star, with
medals. Several schools are named after her inSmolensk, Poltava, Stavropol' and
other cities. She was entitled honorable citizen of the city ofGdansk (Poland). She
died in Moscow on 5 June 2005.
Awards and honors
- Hero of the Soviet Union
- Order of Lenin
- Order of the Red Star with sign of Honour
- Two Order of the Patriotic War
- Three Order of the Red Banner
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