Ludmila Gorbunova

Lieutenant Ludmila Gorbunova (c 1920-1965) was a Soviet fighter pilot. At the beginning of World War II, Gorbunova flew a small biplane. When the Race's Conquest Fleet invaded Earth in 1942, Gorbunova's small biplane became an asset, as it was so small as to be beneath the Race's notice.

Originally from Kiev, Gorbunova fled to Rossosh when the Germans attacked the city. She went through Osoaviakhim flight training and was enrolled in the Soviet Air Force. When the Race came, Gorbunova was often assigned important missions to aid the Soviet war effort. In her travels, she frequently crossed paths with Heinrich Jäger, a German tank commander. The two eventually fell in love.

At the end of the war, she, Jäger and Jewish freedom fighter Mordechai Anielewicz stopped the Germans from destroying the Polish city of Łódź. During the battle, all three were exposed to nerve gas. Gorbunova was crippled by her exposure. She and Heinrich married, and settled in Łódź, but Heinrich's exposure to the gas was much heavier than Gorbunova's. He only lived a few years longer.

When Germany declared war on the Race in 1965, it deployed nuclear bombs against several Polish cities, including Łódź. Gorbunova died during the bombing.