Yekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko – The only woman ever known to have performed an aerial ramming

Yekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko – The only woman ever known to have performed an aerial ramming

Yekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko was a Soviet (ethnic Ukrainian)war pilot. She attended Military Flying Academy in Kursk. She is the only woman ever known to have performed an aerial ramming. During her last combat fly her Su-2 was attacked by seven German Me-109s. She ran out of ammunition, so she launched a top-down air ramming which tore an german plane into two as the propeller hit the German aircraft`s tail

Zelenko was born in 1916 to a Russian family in the village of Koroshchine, then part of the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire. She completed seven grades of school in Kursk before moving with her mother to Voronezh, where she entered the Voronezh Secondary Flying School. In October 1933 she graduated from the Voronezh Flying Club and was sent to the 3rd Orenburg Military Flying Academy named after Kliment Voroshilov.

In December 1934, she graduated with honors and was posted to Kharkiv on assignment to the 19th Light Bomber Brigade. From January 1936 until April 1938, she was assigned to the 14th Squadron of the Kharkov military district, after which she was assigned to the 4th Light Bomber Regiment, and from February to March 1940 she participated in the Winter War as a R-Zet pilot in the 11th Light Bomber Regiment. She flew eight missions during the conflict, for which she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

According to the official version of events in 1990, the events leading to her death went as follows: On 12 September 1941, Zelenko’s Su-2 was attacked by seven Bf 109s. After shooting down two of them she ran out of ammunition so she launched a downward ramming which tore a Messerschmitt Bf 109 in two as the propeller of her plane hit the German aircraft’s tail. According to some accounts the Su-2 exploded, while other reports state she maintained control of her plane until it was shot down by another Bf 109.