[3][4] Mammadbeyova's father Alasgar Zeynalov was the cousin of one of Azerbaijan's pioneer film actors, Huseyn Arablinski.

On 17 March 1933, Mammadbeyova became the second woman parachutist in the Soviet Union (after Nina Kamneva) having jumped from a Polikarpov Po-2 aeroplane at Moscow's Tushino Airfield.

Despite the Baku Airclub closing down due to war conditions, Mammadbeyova managed to launch glider and parachutist courses of her own, where she trained hundreds of combat pilots and around 4,000 paratroopers.

Her character inspired the literary works of Mikayil Mushfig (Afshan, 1933 and Shoyla, 1934) and Samad Vurgun (Leyla, 1935), as well as the movie Ismat (dir.

[1] In 1995 a documentary on Mammadbeyova's life and career entitled Leyla and directed by Nazim Rza Israfiloglu was released by Azerbaijantelefilm.