Glafira Kashirina

Glafira Alekseevna Kashirina (Russian: Глафира Алексеевна Каширина, 1920 – 1 August 1943) was a mechanic and later navigator in the 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Airforce during World War II, commonly referred to as the Great Patriotic War in the former Soviet Union. After she was shot down on 1 August 1943 she was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class.

When the 588th Night Bomber Regiment was awarded the Guards designation in 1943, Kashirina was one of the three service members to carry the Guards flag at the ceremony; Natalya Meklin was designated as the primary flag bearer with Yekaterina Titova and Kashirina as assistants.

Before her death she participated in bombing missions as navigator over Mius, Seversky Donets, and Don rivers and on the outskirts of Stavropol. On the night between 31 July and 1 August 1943, Kashirina's plane piloted by Valentina Polunina was one of the four Po-2s of the regiment shot down by Luftwaffe pilot Josef Kociok over the Kuban Bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula. All eight members of the regiment that were killed that night were buried in the mass grave of Russkoe village and posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class.

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union Kashirina voluntarily joined the Soviet Air Force to serve in a women's aviation regiment founded by Marina Raskova. After graduating from Engels Military Aviation School she was deployed to the Southern Front in late May 1942 in the 588th Night Bomber Regiment as an aircraft mechanic, but she was eventually assigned to fly in squadron number one under the command of Serafima Amosova after passing navigation courses.

In August 1942 the regiment received orders to immediately relocate to a new airfield due to a German approach. A plane that she and a senior mechanic Sofiya Ozerkova were repairing was not airworthy due to serious issues with the engine, leaving them no choice but to burn the grounded airplane, forcing the both of them to walk on foot for three weeks until they arrived at a Soviet stronghold in Mozdok. During the three-week hike Kashirina had contracted typhus and was taken to a field hospital by Ozerkova after they arrived.

Kashirina was born in the year 1920 in the village of Sergievka before moving to the village of Semenetskoe where she lived until she moved with her mother to Perovo on the outskirts of Moscow. Having dreamed of becoming a pilot from a young age she joined the Moscow Aeroclub where she graduated flight courses before the German invasion of the Soviet Union.