Leutenant Valeria Ivanovna Khomyakova was the first woman pilot in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft. It was a German Junkers Ju-88 bomber, on September 3, 1942. Before volunteering for the Red Air Force, she was an engineer at the Frunze plant in Moscow, and also worked as a flight instructor at an aeroclub.

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Seen here is Lt. Khomyakova telling her comrades of 586th IAP how she downed her first kill, in front of a YaK-1 in the Autumn of 1942. From left to right are: G. Burdina, T. Pamyatnykh, Valeria I. Khomyakova, and V. Lisitsina.