Marina Raskova (March 28, 1912 – January 4, 1943) was a pioneering Soviet aviator, navigator, and military commander, often compared to Amelia Earhart for her fame and achievements. Born in Moscow to a middle-class family, she initially pursued music, dreaming of becoming an opera singer like her father, Mikhail Malinin. After his death in 1919 and a middle ear infection that ended her singing ambitions, she turned to aviation. Raskova became the first woman in the Soviet Union to earn a professional air navigator diploma in 1933 and the first female instructor at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. She set...