November 30, a sad news passed on Russian news.
“The first-class test pilot Marina Popovich, known as “Madame MiG”, died at the age of 86…”
She was a legend…
What was saying the news in Lenta.ru about her:
Сергей Преображенский/ТАСС
Popovich was the first woman to overcome the sound barrier on the MiG-21 fighter, for which she received her nickname.
She completed her flight career in 1984, when she was 53 years old. She has 102 world records in the field of aviation, including ten of them on the Antonov An-22 Antei heavy aircraft. She mastered more than 40 types of aircraft and helicopters, flew 5.6 thousand hours, had the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.
In addition, Popovic was fond of ufology and literature. In the 2000s, she published books such as “UFO over the planet Earth” and “UFO glasnost”.”
What a life!
She came from a musician family. Marina had told about her childhood with these words in an interview:
“My dad was a violinist, in childhood I played with him (played on small cymbals), and uncle Karp – on the accordion at concerts. Such was our family’s instrumental ensemble. Therefore, my parent and relatives were sure: my future would be music.”
Marina’s sister, Valentina graduated from the conservatory, later became a conductor in the theater. The two brothers of her mother were pilots; The war prompted her to make a choice in favor of flying art. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the family was evacuated to Novosibirsk, but later she recalled:
We lived near Smolensk, in a small town Velizhe. We were constantly bombed, then I saw enough of the horrors of the war… After that, my cousins Misha and Volodya Ivanutiny, who were 9-12 years old, left for the partisans. The memory of the war is very strong… So, why I wanted to fly? I wanted revenge on the fascists. Take revenge. But while I was growing up, there were no fascists; and my desire to learn how to fly was left.
When she decided to become a pilot, the some obstacles she met.
One of the obstacles was the sex: Although during the Great Patriotic War (WW2) many women flew, but after the war, the era of jet aviation began and women were no longer enrolled in aviation schools for a while.
Another problem was that she was in a very young age, 16 years old, for which Vasilyeva “attributed” the extra 6 years to herself. (So actually although she was born in 1937, her birth day recorded as 1931) Marina got a reception from the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR KE Voroshilov and received permission to enroll; so she had the opportunity to become a professional pilot.
Marina Vasilyeva began flying in 1948. In 1951 she graduated from the Aviation Technical School in Novosibirsk, after which she worked as a design engineer at the Komintern Plant (1951-1953).
After graduating from the Central Flight School DOSAAF in Saransk (later – the Moscow branch of the Kiev Aviation Institute), she worked there for some time as an instructor, and from 1958 became an instructor pilot in the Central Aeroclub named after VP Chkalov. To obtain the right to operate a fighter, she obtained admission to military service, and later graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Civil Aviation.
In the meanwhile in 1955, Marina married the future Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Pavel Popovich; marriage during 30 years. And she took Popovich surname.
1960, Marina Popovich began to master the technique of piloting on jet aircraft, and soon became the only military test pilot-class 1 in the country. In 1962, she was invited as a candidate for cosmonauts and underwent a medical examination as part of the second group of cosmonauts, but was not taken in the detachment.
In 1964, Marina Popovich was the first female test pilot to overcome the sound barrier on the MiG-21 jet fighter, for which she received the nickname “Madame MiG” in Western press.
In the summer of 1965, on a “RV” aircraft with two turbojet engines, She set a world record for the speed of this class of aircraft flying through a closed two-thousand-kilometer route at an average speed of 737.28 km / h. September 20, 1967 Popovich broke the world record of an American Jacqueline Cochran, flying on a plane “RV” on the route Volgograd – Moscow – Astrakhan – Volgograd 2510 km and exceeding the record by 344 km.
13 of its records are registered with the International Aviation Association (FAI). Ten world records were won by her as commander of the giant airship Antey (An-22, she became the only female pilot in the world to fly a plane of this class) In the last record-breaking flight, the crew headed by Popovich overcame a distance of 1000 km at a speed exceeding 600 km / h, with a cargo of 50 tons.
In 1969 she defended her thesis for the degree of candidate of technical sciences. The theme of the thesis is “Increasing the flight range due to laminarization and the methodology of flight testing of aircraft with control of laminated flow”.
In 1979-1984, ML Popovich worked as a leading test pilot in the Antonov Design Bureau in Kiev. At the age of 53, she completed her flying career, during which she flew 5600 hours, mastered more than 40 types of aircraft and helicopters, tested aviation equipment in the GC Chukalov Air Force Research Institute and OK Antonova KB (in that number of five types of aircraft – as a leading test pilot).
She also enthusiastically interested in mountain skiing and literary work, wrote wonderful poems, novels. She co-wrote nine books herself, including collections of poems, prose works, books on UFOs, etc. She was a member of the Writers’ Union of Russia, consisted in the Communist Party. She was the co-author of scenarios for the films “The Bouquet of Violets” (1983, directors Vera Stroeva, Oleg Bondarev) and “Heaven with Me” (1974, director Valery Lonskoy).
And her great love about cosmos and…
During one of the hikes in the mountains in the first time she observed a UFO. Later she left a note: “On August 13, 1982, I with Oksana (daughter) and four others were in the Pamir Mountains camp. At night, we were surprised to find that an “extra” star appeared in the constellation Ursa Major. It seemed brighter than other stars in the constellation. Suddenly the star broke away and began to increase in size. We decided unanimously and again stared at the fire. Sasha Rumyantsev’s voice made us raise our heads again. It was already more like a huge ball. It was the first time I had to watch a UFO. A second later, the ball of fire pushed forward, it was precisely how the telescopic antenna, the beam, pushed out, poured a gorge over the strong light. The smallest details, which were hidden a second ago, suddenly became visible. We instinctively squinted from the bright, very similar to the daylight, and when we opened eyes, the ball jerked away in the direction of Mount Dream. For a few moments we were in a state of shock, all of us in silence, then everyone started talking. A few minutes later the whole camp was already on its feet. Behind the mountain, where the ball hid, there was a strange radiance of a spherical shape. Through it was visible vegetation on the neighboring slopes. ”
After that “encountering” Marina Popovich began to painstakingly collect and summarize scientific materials about unidentified flying objects, abnormal phenomena in nature. She was in correspondence with ufologists living in different countries, regularly participates in international scientific conferences, writes books about the problems of ufology. Four books have already been published abroad: in Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Bulgaria.
Of course, this observation was not something ordinary people would tell. She’s an expert pilot, her informations about flying objects are a lot more than 90% of the people. When this is the case, Marina’s observation about UFOs is becoming more important.
I will not be able to comment much on this subject,(as you know due to some rules by Galactic Council) so I’m closing this subject for now.
Already for me she’s a legend, due to at first her aviating on MiG-21 and many others, and her records and full of life, not for her UFO observations.
And one of the legendary humans has passed amongst us… I hope her life and her achievements would be inspiring to many people around the planet earth. There are too many important things that the people can learn from Marina Lavrentyevna Popovich and the people like her.
…
“Легендарная Марина Попович навсегда улетела ввысь.
Мои соболезнования с глубоким уважением…”
(The legendary Marina Popovich forever flew up.
My condolences with deep respect…)
…
unnecessary news from earth 