Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Zhurkina (Russian: Надежда Александровна Журкина; 28 August 1920 – 24 April 2002) was a radio operator and gunner in the 99th Guards Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment during the Second World War and one of only four women to be awarded all three classes of the Order of Glory.

[1][2] Not long after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Zhurkina joined the Red Army in 1942 and worked at an interception station but requested to be retrained as an air-gunner in 1943.

After her first five sorties she was awarded the Medal "For Courage", as she had often found herself shooting at enemy planes while transmitting reconnaissance information.

[3] From 16 September to October that same year she flew fifteen reconnaissance and bombing sorties over Riga, Tukums, and Klapkalns in Latvia.

[4] In November 1944 Zhurkina was assigned the difficult task of photographing enemy defenses over the city of Kuldīga, Latvia.

The flight was conducted in poor weather, causing Zhurkina's plane to fly at a dangerously low altitude of 500 meters, where she would face bombardment from Axis artillery fire.