Atyrau Int’l Airport named after Khiuaz Dospanova

ATYRAU. KAZINFORM - On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, Atyrau International Airport was named in honor of the legendary aviator, People's Hero of Kazakhstan Khiuaz Dospanova, Kazinform correspondent reports.

The Republican Onomastic Commission made an official decision that the International Airport should be named after the legendary pilot who fought in the Great Patriotic War.

NOTE: Khiuaz Dospanova (1922 - 2008) – served in the Great Patriotic War, pilot, navigator-gunner, People's Hero of Kazakhstan.

In 1940 she graduated from a secondary school No. 1 of the city of Uralsk and became certified as a reserve pilot. Khiuaz served in GPW in the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, nicknamed the «Night Witches». She was the only Kazakh woman to serve in the «Night Witches». She carried out combat missions on the Southern Front, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Ukraine and Belarus. The brave Kazakh pilot was seriously injured twice. Nevertheless, she returned to duty and met the Great Victory near Berlin.