Valentin Vasilevich Markov (Russian: Валентин Васильевич Марков; 21 January 1910 – 1 July 1992) was the Soviet Air Force officer posted to command the women's 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment (later honored with the guards designation and renamed as the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment) after the death of its original commanding officer and founder, Marina Raskova.
When he arrived to his new post, the aviators were conducting a sortie, giving him the opportunity to watch them land their complex Pe-2 aircraft safely before calling for the regiment to formation for a speech in which he stated his intentions to improve discipline and maintain high expectations; the women were offended by the contents of the speech, as they felt they already had good discipline and considered themselves experienced pilots.
Initially, the women referred to him as "bayonet" behind his back, an unsavory nickname chosen because of his tall and thin stature and stern expressions.
However, he left the regiment in March 1945 for the post of deputy flight commander of the 326th Bomber Aviation Division and was replaced by Semyon Titenko.
He then served as acting commander of the division and supervised its redeployment to the Russian Far East, where it was stationed during the subsequent war with Japan.
While they interacted with each other on a strictly formal basis as military personnel during the war, the two grew to develop feelings for each other, something that other members of the regiment suspected and was confirmed to many after Markov personally helped carry Galina when she had been badly burned in a combat mission.