Zvereva, Lidiya Vissarionovna
From OnAirpower.org
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[edit] Biography
Zvereva studied flying with instructor Vladimir Slyusarenko at the Gatchina aviation school (a civilian school alongside the Gatchina Military Aviation School at Gatchina Airfield). She took her pilot's exam in August, 1911 and received Russian Pilot's License #31, making her the first licensed Russian female aviator[1].
Starting in the beginning of 1912, Zvereva accompanied Russian aviators Pyotr Evsyukov, Alexander Agafonov, and Vladimir Slyusarenko on an exhibition tour that visited Baku, Tbilisi, and Riga. She suffered a crash during the exhibition at the Riga Hippodrome in April, but survived with injuries including a nearly broken leg[1].
Zvereva married her former instructor Slyusarenko in 1912, and by spring of 1913 the two had opened a small aircraft factory building Farman biplanes in Riga[1].
After the outbreak of World War I, Zvereva and Slyusarenko moved their factory to St. Petersburg and began building airplanes for the military[1].
In the spring of 1916 Zvereva contracted typhoid and passed away on May 2, at the age of only 26[1].
[edit] Sources
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