Born on October 20, 1913, in the village of Bogdanovka, now part of the Yagotyn district of Kyiv region (Ukraine), Mikhail Zakharovich Bondarenko came from a peasant family. He completed the FZO school and worked as a blacksmith at the “Arsenal” factory in Kyiv.
He joined the Red Army in 1936 and graduated from the Kachinsk Military Aviation School in 1939. Bondarenko participated in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940, completing 17 combat sorties aboard an I-16.
Hero of the Soviet Union
From June 1941, Bondarenko was an active participant in the Great Patriotic War. He served as a flight commander, squadron commander, and later as a regimental navigator. By April 1942, as a squadron commander of the 198th Assault Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Bondarenko had completed 112 combat sorties.
His missions included assaults on airfields, railway junctions, and enemy manpower and equipment. During these operations, he personally destroyed four aircraft on the ground. For his merits, Mikhail Zakharovich Bondarenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, and the “Gold Star” medal on June 6, 1942.
Double Hero of the Soviet Union
On August 24, 1943, Major Bondarenko, then navigator of the same regiment, was decorated with a second “Gold Star” medal. This second recognition was for 106 subsequent combat sorties, during which he destroyed an additional 20 enemy aircraft on the ground.
He carried out his last combat sortie in November 1943. Subsequently, from late 1943, he studied at the Military Air Academy, from which he graduated in 1946. After his graduation, he commanded an aviation regiment.
Legacy and Demise
Mikhail Zakharovich Bondarenko passed away on July 27, 1947, and was buried in his native village of Bogdanovka. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, and several medals. In his honor, a bronze bust was erected in his birthplace, and a street in Bogdanovka bears his name.