Raisa Gorbacheva Raisa Gorbacheva Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva ( "Raisa Maksimovna Gorbachyova", , Титаре́нко; 5 January 1932 – 20 September 1999) was a Russian activist who was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. She raised funds for the preservation of Russian cultural heritage, fostering of new talent, and treatment programs for children's blood cancer. Raisa Maximovna Titarenko was born in the city of Rubtsovsk in the Altai region of Siberia. She was the eldest of three children of Maxim Andreyevich Titarenko, a railway engineer originally from Chernigov in Ukraine, and his Siberian wife, Alexandra Petrovna Porada, originally from Veseloyarsk. She spent her
Raisa Belyayeva Tushino airfield, near Moscow. She took part in the Battle of Stalingrad and flew as an escort pilot for Nikita Khrushchev. Belyayeya died in a crash on July 19, 1943. Raisa Belyayeva Raisa Vasil'evna Beliaeva was one of the first Russian female fighter pilots. She fought alongside Lydia Litvyak and was credited with three aerial victories. She died in combat, from causes unknown, in 1943. Belyayeva attended a technical institute for tanners in Kirov. After graduation she asked her old friend Olga Yamshchikova, a Leningrad flight instructor, to teach her to fly. Belyayeva soon proved herself an enthusiastic and indefatigable