Soviet Women Pilots in the Great Patriotic War Hammer and sickle

This page is optimized for viewing at 800 x 600 resolution or more, and your browser set to
10 pt. font; and looks better with Mozilla, dependng on stuff. Microsoft's Internet Explorer sucks.

June 13, 2005: Removed the Gimn Sovietskovo Soiuza. It was nagging. (Sorry if you did like it!)

Lilya and her posse
Fighter aces Lilya Litvyak, 12 German kills (left) and Katya Budanova, 11 German kills (center). They both died in combat. On the right is fellow pilot Mariya Kuznetsova.



Brief History

Thousands of Russian women and girls courageously fought for their Rodina (Motherland), serving with the Voyenno-Vozdushniye Sily (Air Forces, in Russian). In 1942, three air regiments were formed from female volunteers:
  • The 586th Women's Fighter Regiment (initially equipped with Yakovlyev YaK-1s and later YaK-7Bs)
  • The 587th Women's Day Bomber Regiment (flying Petlyakov Pe-2 2-engined bombers)
  • The 588th Women's Night Bomber Regiment, the famous "Night Witches" (flying Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes)
Many other women also served integrated with men with other aviation units. For example, in 1944, 1,749 girls served with Zabaikalsky Front, 3,000 women and girls served with the Far East 10th Air Army, 437 women served with the 4th Air Army of the Second Belorussian Front that comprised the crack 46th Guards Women Air Regiment that comprised 237 women-officers, 862 sergeants, 1,125 enlisted women and 2,117 auxiliaries. They also served flying and as gunners in the famous Il-2 and Il-2M3 Shturmovik tank busters, the "Flying Bathtub".

586th pilots Women-pilots of female air regiments engaged in dogfights, cleared the way for the advancing infantry and supported them in ground support missions. The fighter pilots of the all-women 586th IAP (Russian abbreviation for Fighter Aviation Regiment, same as Fighter Air Regiment) flew a total of 4,419 sorties (per pilot) and participated in more than 125 separate air battles, in which they massed a total of 38 confirmed kills. That is, the sorties when the enemy was actually encountered.

Sexism in the V-VS was high initially, male pilots refusing to fly with women as "wingmen", or fly airplanes that had been repaired or serviced by women mechanics and ground crew. But the demonstrated, and often superior, courage and great skill of these female soldiers proved their better than average competence to fullfil their duty. The USSR highly praised the combat deeds of female pilots: thousands won orders and medals. 29 won titles of Hero of the Soviet Union. 23 of these went to the Night Witches.


Any comments or suggestions?

Please sign in the GUESTBOOK
Write in the Guestbook. Read the Guestbook.

E-mail me


This website is a member of The Aero Ring, a linked list of aviation websites.
To visit other sites in the ring, click on one of these links.

[ Next Site | Skip Next | Next 5 | Previous | Skip Prev | Random ]

Click Here for information on how to join the ring
or look at a complete list of Aero Ring members.

Za Rodinu!

IF YOU DON'T SEE THE BUTTONS AT THE BOTTOM AND RIGHT, CLICK HERE:
http://pratt.edu/~rsilva/sovwomen.htm