The story of the first Russian female pilot full of talent in the tsarist era

Russia’s first female pilot Lydia Zvereva many times nearly lost her life in plane crashes. However, in the end, her death was not caused by the plane…
“To help Russian women enter the aviation industry, I invite them to join me in conquering the skies,” asserts Lydia Zvereva, who became the first female pilot in Russian history. In her short life, she was known not only as a pilot, but also as a talented tsarist aircraft builder.

Dream of the sky The daughter of a tsarist general, Lydia Zvereva was obsessed with planes from an early age. She read a lot of books about aviation, took complex mechanical toys to pieces, and talked for hours about hot air balloons and airplanes. She even performed “test flights” by jumping from the roof of the storage shed to the ground. “Ever since I was a little girl, I was very interested in the hot air balloons at Osowiec Fortress, so I built models. At that time in Russia no one could fly, and in the press only occasionally began to appear the first information about the achievements of foreign manufacturers,” recalls Lidya Zvereva. Russia’s first female pilot Lydia Zvereva on the plane “Farman-4”. Photo: Karl Bulla/russiainphoto.ru What worries Lydia is certainly not that the early twentieth century aviation industry is still in its infancy, but that flights are very dangerous to life. Flimsy, unreliable planes are prone to capsizing and breaking the wind, claiming the lives of dozens of pilots around the world every year. However, Lydia Zvereva enrolled in the private aviation school “Gamayun” near Saint Petersburg. The local newspaper wrote about the first woman who wanted to learn to be a pilot, calling her “Miss Z” because she wanted to respect her private life. “Lydia Zvereva flew without hesitation and very decisively. I remember everyone paying attention to her masterful flights, including the very high ones. Because at that time, not everyone dared to take the risk of flying to such a high altitude,” said her classmate Konstantin Artseulov. There were a few times when Lydia Zvereva had a serious accident, but always luckily only minor scratches. On August 23, 1911, after passing all the necessary exams, the 21-year-old “Miss Z” was granted a pilot’s license, becoming the first female pilot of the Russian Empire. Talented Aircraft Builder In 1912, Lydia Zvereva, along with her husband, pilot Vladimir Slyusarenko, practiced aerobatics. They attended Aviation Week in Baku, performed in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), where female pilots performed flights in difficult weather conditions. The trip to Riga almost became Lydia Zvereva’s last. While flying, the wind started to pick up and threw her “Farman” plane into the stands. She tried to fly up, but she was thrown into the stronger wind, and her plane was eventually overturned. When she fell to the ground, the female pilot was thrown forward and was crushed by aircraft debris. Not long after, in one of her letters, she wrote: “When the plane went down, I almost broke my leg. It still hurts to this day. My lung condition is very bad. The doctor told me not to go anymore, but I still wanted to fly. They warn, if you do not obey, you will get tuberculosis. Indeed, that is the fate of the pilot profession!”. Lydia Zvereva with the first Russian-made aircraft “Kudashev-1”. Documentary photo Despite the accident, perhaps thanks to that, Lydia’s performances were so successful. She and her husband were invited to stay in Riga and they happily accepted. This large city on the Baltic coast was at that time the center of the Russian aviation industry. Here they built the first aircraft engines in the country. In 1913, she and her husband opened their pilot school in Riga with the lowest tuition fees in the country. In addition, they also organized aircraft repair and design classes, at which time Lydia Zvereva was an aircraft builder who upgraded aircraft manufactured in Western countries. This particular woman was invited to work in Austria-Hungary, but she decided to stay in her homeland. Female pilot with no number Teaching and crafting did not make Lydia Zvereva more cautious. This first Russian female pilot is still actively flying as before, even though it is very dangerous to her life. She even had the courage to participate in the “death” twist when sitting on the plane. That flight took place on May 19, 1914 in a monoplane “Moran” piloted by experienced male pilot Evgeny Shpitsberg. The newspaper “Riga Messenger” wrote: “The “Moran” quickly soared into the air. 500, 600 then 700 meters. At an altitude of 800 meters, the plane suddenly stopped in the air and then dived. Almost simultaneously, the spectators gathered below all fled. But after a few seconds, there was a rumble of the engine, the plane soared high and then took a sharp turn. The crowd held their breath with applause. After a while, the plane flew along a beautiful spiral and then landed in the grandstand area. “Hooray! Hooray!” – everyone chanted.” Lydia Zvereva’s admirer is the male pilot Pyotr Nesterov, the first person in the world to perform this complex flight. At the outbreak of World War I, the couple’s pilot school was evacuated to the city of Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg). In fact, this school has become a manufacturing workshop, where 300 employees carry out orders from the Ministry of Defense. Fate did not allow Lydia Zvereva to live until the end of World War I. Many times she escaped death while flying, but she died of typhoid on June 16, 1916 at the age of 26. The female pilot’s friends and students saw her off to her final resting place by flying around in “Farmans” over Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Petrograd.