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8. From the Mine to the Sky
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8 From the Mine to the Sky One day an announcement about a meeting of the Metrostroy Aeroclub appeared at the mine cafeteria. All the newspapers had trumpeted the recent appeal by the Ninth Komsomol Congress: "Komsomols-to the planes!" Our in-house newsletter, the Metrostroy Shock Worker, reported that the Metrostroy Aeroclub had acquired four U-2 planes, three gliders, and a plot of land for an aerodrome not far from the Maliye Vyazmy station. The article invited prospective airplane and glider pilots and parachutists to help clear land for the airfield and build hangars. I had always, in my most furtive imaginings, dreamt of flying, like one dreams of a captivating, but ever-unattainable distant land. So when I read the announcement in the cafeteria, I gathered my courage and headed for the advertised address- Kuibyshev, 3. I found the place, but I was too nervous to go inside. I read every word of the posters, announcements, and wall-newspapers in the corridor, but I still couldn't summon the nerve to approach the door I so wanted to enter-the one marked "Selection Committee." "Who are you waiting for, young lady?" asked a man in a military pilot's uniform. I didn't see his face. I fixated instead upon the gold-embroidered badge on his sleeve-the emblem of the Soviet Air Force. That image remains burned into my memory to this day, for it was the same insignia that, years later, the pilots interned at the Kiistrin POW camp gave me as a gift. They wove a small purse out of the straw they slept on, embroidered the Air Force emblem (a propeller) on it with my initials, A.Ye, and slipped it to me secretly. I struggled to answer the Air Force officer, stammering that I hoped to enroll in the aeroclub's flight school and had even filled out an application. "You'll need more than just an application," he said. "You'll need a recommendation from the mine and the Komsomol organization, permission from the medical board, and birth and education certificates. Once you collect all those, take them over to the Credentials Committee. They'll make the final decision." After thanking the pilot, I flew into the street witl1 renewed zeal. I rushed straight to the Red Gates mine, my feet barely touching the ground. The Komsomol Committee approved my admission to the club, but the brigade foreman objected. "What do you want to do that for, Yegorova?" he 26 RED SKY, BLACK DEATH demanded morosely. "You'd be better off enrolling in an institute. Let men do the flying." "What's she playing at?" chimed in Tosya Ostrovskaya. "She's overreaching , trying to be a pilot, sickly as she is. She still hasn't recovered from the accident!" This, from Tosya, my closest friend in the world! We slept side by side in the dormitory, worked in the same brigade, and studied together at the Metrostroy school. We even shared clothing-what was mine was hers. One day she would wear the skirt and blouse and]'d wear the dress, and the next day we'd switch. Antonina Sergeyevna Ostrovskaya dreamt of becoming a doctor. I hadn't decided yet about my future, and that's the one thing we always argued about. She hoped I'd study medicine with her. In that, she didn't get her wish. But we did both make it to the front when the war came-she as a surgeon, and I as a pilot. On this occasion, our brigade foreman settled our dispute. "She's wiry. She can handle it. Let her enlist," he declared, and, to my surprise, gave me a recommendation! I still had to pass two medical board examinations. I had serious doubts. Rumors of a labyrinthine system of tests flew around the aeroclub. I imagined some fearsome panel of devious doctors throwing pitfalls and barriers into the paths of unwitting would-be pilots. But to my relief, it wasn't like that at all. Ordinary doctors sat in ordinary rooms, tapped and prodded us, spun us on special stools, and checked our inner ears. Anyone who had no significant defects, they pronounced "fit." Everything went well for me, and the doctors unanimously declared me "healthy" -to me, the most wonderful word in the entire Russian language. I then had to go before the Credentials Committee. All manner of people -some grey-haired and some young, a few wearing military...