Nadezhda Kurchenko | |
|---|---|
| Надежда Владимировна Курченко | |
 | |
| Born | 29 December 1950 |
| Died | 15 October 1970(1970-10-15) (aged 19) Soviet airspace |
| Occupation | Aeroflot flight attendant |
| Awards |  |
Nadezhda Vladimirovna Kurchenko (29 December 1950 – 15 October 1970) was aSovietflight attendant who tried to prevent the hijacking ofAeroflot Flight 244. Having warned the crew, Kurchenko sought to block the entrance to thecockpit, which at the time was not normally locked. She was killed in a struggle with one of the hijackers.
Kurchenko posthumously received theOrder of the Red Banner.[1] A mountain in theGissar Range, asteroid2349 Kurchenko, atanker, a park and a street inSukhumi were named after her.[1][2]
Kurchenko was born in the settlement of Novo-Poltava,Klyuchevsky District, then inRussian SSR. Later her parents moved to theUdmurtian village of Ponino, where she finished boarding school. Kurchenko aspired to enroll in law school,[2] but ultimately became a flight attendant. In 1968 she moved toAbkhazia and worked in the accounting office of the Sukhumi aviation unit.
On 15 October 1970 anAntonov An-24B, servicingAeroflot Flight 244, leftBatumi forKrasnodar. Ten minutes after takeoff, at an altitude of 800 m (2,600 ft), two men called Kurchenko. Showingsawed-off shotguns and a grenade, they demanded her to pass the pilots a note demanding them to divert the aircraft toTurkey.[2][3] The hijackers, Pranas Brazinskas and his teenaged son Algirdas Brazinskas, sought adefection from the Soviet Union.[4] Kurchenko rushed to the cockpit and shouted "Assault!"[2] The hijackers ran after her. Algirdas Brazinskas shouted to the passengers "Don't you get up or we'll blow up the plane!"[5]
Kurchenko shouted to the crew "Watch out, they are armed!", which were her last words.[2] She tried to knock away the sawed-off shotgun from one of the hijackers.[6] At that moment, Pranas Brazinskas[4] fatally shot Kurchenko in the chest twice and she fell backwards.[6]
In 1970, Kurchenko was buried in the center of Sukhumi, but 20 years later, due to unrest in that city, her grave was moved to the city cemetery ofGlazov.[3]
Following Kurchenko's death, almost allAeroflot flights were accompanied by employees of theSoviet Ministry of the Interior.[6] After repair, the hijacked aircraft returned to service with a photo of Kurchenko in the cabin.[3] A museum dedicated to Kurchenko was opened inIzhevsk.[1]
