Logan Blazian
Female Combat Pilots of WWII: Women Warriors

The storm clouds have thinned and separated, leaving large pockets of cold blue sky, and pale, distant sunshine that casts light in a sparse pattern on the ground far below. It is cold down there, the banks of snowdrift are testament to that, and at 15,000 feet, it is 40 degrees below zero. In this unforgiving environment, there are machines of war hunting for their enemy, controlled by persons who have trained not just to fly their machines, but also to do battle in them, and to destroy their counterparts who are seeking to do the same. Not every person is able to take the intense stress, fear, exhaustion and technique required to be a fighter pilot in this war. They are selected for their intelligence, strength, courage and general flying ability, and from those, the lesser candidates are strained out and only the very best are chosen. This pilot is no exception, and is out on patrol for the umpteenth time, scanning the skies incessantly for a speck in the distance, for a hint of prey. Suddenly out from under a cloudbank, the prey appears, six JU-88 twin-engine dive-bombers, also hunting for targets, only their quarry is stuck on the ground. The pilot reacts instantly, calling ‘Tally-Ho’ and banking into a steep dive to intercept the enemy bombers. As the pilot nears the rear of the bomber group, the rear-facing gunners aboard the German bombers open up with their defensive machine guns, making clear that they are aware of the danger upon them. Our pilot presses on, closing in to ensure accurate gunnery. When the first enemy bomber fills the fighter’s windscreen, the pilot opens up the Yak-3’s two 7.62mm machine guns and the single 20mm cannon. The bomber disappears in a monstrous ball of fire. ‘Must have hit the fuel tanks’ the pilot thinks, before moving on to the next bomber. This time the accurate fire has torn off the tail section of the bomber, dooming its crew to a horrifying plunge 10,000 feet to their deaths, the violently spinning aircraft and centrifugal force pinning the crew against its thin walls, making getting out and parachuting to safety an impossibility. The fighter pilot has long since stopped feeling for the dead, having seen too many fellow Russians die under the same circumstances. The four remaining German bombers, seeing the hopelessness of trying to repel the attack with defensive fire, have split up and dived for the relative safety of low cloud-cover. The Russian pilot, low on machine gun and (completely out of) cannon ammunition orders the flight back to their home airstrip. Half an hour later the flight lands and they climb out of their nimble fighter planes. They remove their flight helmets and out spills hair of lengths contrary to regulations; and if one were there, on a dirt airstrip in Russia in 1943, one could see soft features on the faces of these warriors. An unmannered fellow could make out the feminine lines upon the pilots now walking in a group to the debrief hut. Suddenly it clicks. They are women! And this is their story.

Sixty-one years ago, after Hitler and his armies had smashed through most of northwest Europe, and had achieved the more diplomatic tasks of the annexation and/or military occupation of Czechoslovakia, Austria, Romania and Hungary; he felt his German "Reich" needed a bit more "Lebensraum" ; and so he turned his eyes to the East, to the vast lands of Russia. On June 22, 1941 Hitler launched his forces at yet another European nation, under Operation Barbarossa. Breaking the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in a shameful display of diplomatic double-crossing, Hitler's tank and infantry divisions crossed the borders of Poland, East Prussia and Romania into the vastness of the Russian countryside, smashing whatever hastily assembled resistance the Russians put up. The German army (the Wehrmacht), for its part, had employed the largest invasion force yet, including around 3 million soldiers, 3,350 tanks, approximately 7,000 field guns , and more than 2,000 aircraft. With that amount of military buildup, it came as no surprise that by the 14th of October 1941, the Germans were only 70 miles from Moscow, and other groups had also struck deep into Russian territory further south. Russian armies had been woefully unprepared to defend against such a massive and well-organized blitzkrieg. As the German armies surrounded Moscow and Leningrad, they began to anxiously expect the quickly approaching Russian winter, infamous for smiting invading armies for centuries (most notably Napoleon Bonaparte’s). The German army’s lifeblood was the supply line, now over-extended, slow and vulnerable to partisan attack. Food, ammunition, men and fuel were being consumed at monstrous rates and the sheer magnitude of the resupply effort was a logistician’s nightmare realized.

The German offensive on Moscow was halted just miles from the city by the cruel Russian winter and the lack of supplies. The German troops throughout the Eastern Front dug in for the winter, and the Russians made use of the halted onslaught, and built up their ill-prepared armies for the inexorable spring offensives. Russian industries previously endangered by close fighting were disassembled and moved East to Siberia, where they could pump out tanks and airplanes and all other weapons and supplies of war at a blazing pace, far from danger. This Eastern Front was a war of attrition; the victor would be the nation that out-produced the enemy, in tanks, in planes, rifles, bullets and men. The Soviet Union, despite the major setbacks of 1941, had not been defeated by the New Year, as Hitler had planned, and was still wholly capable of raising an army of industry, and blessed with an abundance of the raw materials to do so.

Among the myriad mobilization efforts the Soviet Union undertook, one included the gathering of pilot’s for the Red Army’s Air Force. Veteran pilots of the Air Force had been suffering atrocious losses at the hands of the skilled and well-equipped pilots of the Luftwaffe. Men could easily be plucked off farms and out of factories to swell the ranks of the army, but the Air Force demanded the best, most preferably those with previous flight experience. Therefore recruitment officers scoured the civilian flying clubs and airstrips for suitable pilots; however, most eligible male pilots had already volunteered for the air force, this was most probably the reason for looking through the gender barrier in search of more pilots. They had no trouble finding willing candidates, as nineteen-year-old aviation instructor Nadia Popova attests: “the day after the war broke I joined everyone else trying to enlist. I was flatly refused; they weren’t taking women pilots.” Evgeniia Zhigulenko, another pilot veteran of the war, remembers: “It’s true that in the first months of the war women were not enlisted in aviation units. Women could only serve as nurses, communications operators, or antiaircraft gunners, even though many of them had been members of aviation clubs before the war.”

Although the reason behind the decision to allow females to fly combat missions is unknown, it can be presumed that with his iron rule, Soviet Premiere Joseph Stalin had to have approved such a novel policy. Much of the optimism necessitated by such a drastic shift in military, cultural and political paradigms most likely emanated from the popular sensation surrounding Marina Raskova, a famous long-distance-record-breaking aviator, often called in the West the ’Russian Amelia Earhart’. On September 24th, 1938, Marina Raskova, Polina Osipenko, and Valentina Grizodubova took off in a converted military bomber from Moscow and began their historical 6,450-kilometer flight. At the end-leg of their journey, low on fuel and in poor visibility they were forced to crash land in the Siberian wild. After a massive search lasting 10 days, they were rescued and taken back to Moscow as national heroes. After such nation-wide recognition, it had been proven to most that women could indeed ‘handle the complexities’ of flying and navigating an airplane under extreme circumstances. Whether or not women could fight in airplane, however, was still very much an unknown in the minds of most Russian military leaders.

Whatever the origin or reason for recruiting and training women’s aerial combat regiments, Marina Raskova, after some tentative agreement with air force leaders, gave a speech on September 8th, 1941 at a women’s anti-fascist meeting where she said: “…the Soviet woman- she is the hundreds of thousands of drivers, tractor operators, and pilots, who are ready at any moment to sit down in a combat machine and plunge into battle… Dear sisters! The hour has come for harsh retribution! Stand in the ranks of the warriors for freedom…!” This emotional speech was well received by many women, and her office was inundated with requests by women who wished to fly and fight. Soon after, during a conversation with a colleague Raskova let spill some exciting news: “Now listen, it’s most important! This conversation is strictly between us. The decision has been made about the formation of women’s combat aviation regiments. The formation will be accomplished on a strictly volunteer basis, with a call-up of women pilots from the Civil Air Fleet, air clubs, and the Osoaviakhim schools, and of women among regular VVS personnel. Here in the VVS this matter has been dragged out for an incredibly long time. I had to appeal to Commissar Aleksei Ivanovich Shakhurin, to ask him to speed up the decision on this question. He promised to support the proposal, and he fulfilled his promise. Now it can only turn out successfully!”

She proved to be correct. On the 8th of October, 1941 an Order No. 0099 of the People’s Commissariat of Defense, a caveat that provisioned the forming of 3 regiments, to be trained for combat. The regiments would be the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment (with Yak-1 fighter aircraft), the 587th Short-Range Bomber Aviation Regiment (Su-2 Bombers), and the 46th Night Bomber Regiment (Po-2 biplanes) . They were to be staffed with women from the military and civilian Air Fleets. Not just the pilots were women, but navigators, mechanics, armorers, and all other support personnel. The 3 Women’s Air Regiments came under the umbrella the 122nd Aviation Group. On October 22nd the entire group of pilots, commanding officers, and ground support personnel, boarded a train and headed East away from the fighting to train. They arrived in at the airfield of Engels on the night of the 25th where they trudged wearily off to their bunks, which had been hastily thrown together in an auditorium. The next day the first order was for all personnel to report to the garrison barbershop for a “boy-style” haircut. After some heart-felt farewells to their locks, they began to train for war.

With the outcome of the war in such a dismal state, the normal training program of three years was condensed to six months. The trainees undertook 14-hour days, usually completing 500 flying-hours before graduation. Urgency was the overbearing sensation found throughout the Engels airfield. Raskova directly supervised the training of all 3 pilot groups, frequently leading in training flights. She accepted only the best from her pilots; there were already too many naysayers watching the women closely, there was no room for error which would only fuel the critics. This is not to say that Raskova was overly disciplinarian, she had a sense of humor too. When addressing her fighter pilots clad in their new winter uniforms, one pilot stood out. Lilya Litviak had sewn “white, fluffy ringlets” on the collar of her coat, presumably to beautify the drab, military-issued garment. Raskova bantered sternly with this lively young pilot-recruit about the “improvements’ she had made to her uniform, getting some chuckles from the other pilots in line. This girl, Lilya Litviak, turned out to be the most famous of the female fighter pilots, over her short career shooting down 12 enemy aircraft, before she herself was killed in combat on August 1st, 1943.

After training at Engels the three separate regiments parted to serve at different areas of the front. The 587th Bombing Regiment, shortly after their arrival at Engels had switched from the single engine Su-2, to the modern twin-engine Pe-2, a plane that possessed both great speed and difficult flying characteristics. The women were intimidated at first at these large, unforgiving airplanes, but soon mastered them and were flying them into combat for the first time on the 15th of October, 1943, during the battle for Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles in human history. They flew over the city ruins, using large factories and city parks as landmarks to pinpoint their targets, usually troop trenches or fortifications. Avoiding anti-aircraft fire from the batteries located throughout the city, they dropped their bombs with precision, often staying on course through intense explosions all around, with little regard for their own safety. This dedication to mission above all else is the major reason the regiment was given the award title of the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, a decoration similar the U.S.’s Unit Citation award. Zhenya Timofyeva gives an example of the type of fighting her regiment faced:

“…To our starboard appeared another group of enemy fighters… Expecting that they would eventually attack us, I decided then to decrease our speed, close the formation, and with well-coordinated fire repulse these fighters’ attacks. The radio operator/air gunner kept in touch with the group and transmitted my orders. The girls understood my intent and followed my orders exactly, regardless of the fierce fire of anti-aircraft guns… We continued to make our target approach in this hell. Finally, we dropped our bombs. I flew straight for a while to photograph the results, when suddenly this second group of fighters, which we had noticed earlier, tumbled out of the clouds. ‘How many of them are there? I can’t tell…’ I asked. ‘Many,’ replied Grishko. ‘Fire!’ I ordered, and put the aircraft into a turn, to go back. ‘There are eight Messerschmitts,’ reported the navigator… Our escorts were nowhere to be found. We were left to fend for ourselves… I saw how one ‘Messer’ went down like a stone, and a trail of black smoke behind it. It was shot down by Dolina’s crew… Dolina’s aircraft caught fire and Sholokhova’s began to lag behind. A white jet escaped behind Skoblikova’s machine—this meant that her fuel was leaking… We were in bad shape… However, everyone tried to stay together in the formation, delivering fire at enemy fighters, as they—their black crosses flashing—kept attacking our group. I was hoping that their machine guns would fail and ammunition would soon be exhausted. Then two more enemy fighters caught fire and one by one went down… Finally, we reached the front line. Then the ‘Messers’ began to lag behind; apparently, they were afraid to venture too far over our territory. Each crippled machine attempted to land at the nearest alternate airfield, while Anya Yazovskaya joined the leader flight… Our nine bombers emerged victorious from their difficult engagement with eight enemy fighters. Without losing a single aircrew, our girls fulfilled their combat mission and shot down four enemy fighters. The famous battle went down in our history as an instructive example of valor, good judgment and skill, and was studied by Soviet combat pilots in every sector of the Eastern Front.”

It was that type of good judgment and skill that lead to the Regiment’s honorary Guards title. The dive-bombing regiment was not the only women’s regiment to receive the prestigious unit award. The 588th Women’s Night Bomber Regiment also received the honorary title of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment. Though they flew obsolete biplanes, they did more than their share of courageous missions, flying night attacks against German troop concentrations, frequently robbing the tired troops of sleep, led to the Germans calling the Regiment’s pilots, ‘the night witches’.

Here squadron leader Marina Chechneva recounts one of her harrowing missions:

“We crossed the front line at an altitude of 1,200 meters. As we were approaching the target, I nosed down on the stick and throttled forward. Enemy air defense was suspiciously quiet, but we were anxious for it to open up. Of course, it was unpleasant when searchlight beams blinded you and the flak came from all directions. But the moments during which you didn’t know what to expect next were even worse. No matter how many missions I have flown and the predicaments I was in, I always feared the presentiment of danger more than the danger itself. In a few seconds we found ourselves under a veritable hail of anti-aircraft fire. The searchlight beams went berserk in the sky. I flew in a weaving pattern, making evasive lateral maneuvers—now to the left and now to the right. We couldn’t let the enemy catch us with two intersected beams and, at the same time, regardless of the risk, we had to ‘lead on’ the searchlight operators as long as possible. After all, our most important task was to ensure that Popova’s aircraft was not located by searchlights on making the target approach. As the shell explosions were getting more and more dense, Nadya Popova and Katya Ryabova glided toward the crossing and damaged it with their bombs. However, it was necessary to finish off the target. So we exchanged roles. Now Popova rammed on full throttle and drew the enemy fire to herself. I climbed and then glided on to the target (to prevent attracting unwanted attention due to engine noise). Olga Kluyeva bombed the crossing, while anti-aircraft guns thundered and searchlight beams ripped up the sky, as it were, but to no avail. That same night several of our two-plane elements imitated us, showing that the tactic was entirely effective.”

She continues with a description of the heroism they showed and disregard for self displayed when trying to save a comrade: “…Almost above the target the aircraft of Olga Sanfirnova came under a strong anti-aircraft crossfire. No matter how many evasive actions she took, the pilot could not break out from the area lit up by searchlights. The situation of the aircrew seemed hopeless. Around this time, pilot Nina Raspopova was approaching the same target. Having noticed our aircraft at an intersection of searchlight beams, she rushed to the rescue. Olga managed to get her machine out the gunfire area, but now the aircrew of Raspopova found themselves in the thick of the fire. Suddenly, Raspopova’s aircraft began to descend, gliding toward home territory. It proved impossible to determine what had happened to it—whether it was knocked out or the pilot had been wounded. As soon as new aircrews arrived, they fired, in turn at enemy anti-aircraft gun emplacements, searchlights, and concentrations of men and equipment. After bombing, the aircrews returned to the airfield; however, Raspopova (and her navigator) were still missing.”

The most famous (as fighter pilots usually are, regardless of gender) all the women’s regiments was the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, whose task it was to seek out enemy aircraft and destroy them. Flown by the women were the Yakovlev model 1, or Yak-1, a high-speed monoplane design with good maneuverability and an armament of two 7.62mm machine guns on the nose cowling in front of the windscreen, and one 20mm cannon, firing through the hub of the propeller. It gave the Yak some bite and was usually the exact same armament set up used by their chief opponents, the Me-109. A fighter pilot is said to be many things but perhaps chief among all required traits, is the ‘killer instinct’ as it’s called, the urge to attack first, to be the aggressor in the skies, as timidity may well lead one to her death faster than cavalier action. Could these ‘girls’ kill as is required of a fighter pilot? These 19, 20-year-old girls from farms and villages, who knit scarves on their downtime?

Yes, they could. “’…She is coming!’ …Both hugging the ground and accelerating, a swift machine with a bright lily painted on its cowling and visible from afar, passed over the pilots’ heads…” Lily Litvyak, the famed girl-ace of the Soviets was a beautiful, well-liked person with a kind soul and determined heart. She gained twelve victories against enemy aircraft and is the most well known of the female combat aviators. In this account, we get a feel for why that was: “…After shooting down one Ju-88, Junior Lieutenant Litvyak felt a sharp pain in her leg. She turned around and saw two Messerschmitts were gaining on her tail. She could scarcely breathe. Clenching her teeth, she flung the machine into a turn. However, an enemy burst had already pierced her wing and she was wounded by shrapnel for the second time. As she was turning, she noticed four more Me-109’s making an attack. Without a moment’s hesitation, Lily hurled herself into mortal battle with the Nazi pack. The warm stream of heated air, breaking into the cockpit, played with her blond curls. The slightly swollen lips of the girl whispered stubbornly and persistently:’ I won’t let them pass!’ And six Messerschmitts rushed at tremendous speed toward the lone aircraft. 500…400…300 meters separated them. The outcome of the battle depended on the girl’s self-control. Should she lose her nerve and turn away, streams of lead would pierce her body like white-hot daggers. The center Messerschmitt opened fire. The light haze of its trace went past Lily’s head. However, she knew she must bide her time. She must hold her ground in this battle; she mustn’t yield to the impudent Fritzes at all costs. Soon the solid wall wavered. Opening up like a fan, the thin fuselages marked with crosses moved aside. One of the Nazi planes suddenly shot up, its white belly flashing in the woman pilot’s sight, and in that moment was blasted to smithereens by her malevolent, brief cannon burst. Lily’s fighter was difficult to control. Riddled with shrapnel and with its pneumatic system smashed, it passed over the airfield without its usual ardor, smoothly and quietly circled, and touched down carefully. After reporting that she had carried out her mission, Lily fainted. The wounded girl resisted six Messerschmitts for 15 minutes.”

The stories of the courage and determination of these truly marvelous women are numerous and awe-inspiring. The monumental sacrifices and bloodshed endured by the airwomen are just as jaw-dropping today as they were sixty years ago. These pioneering souls, who rose to fight alongside men as equals on the battlefield, have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt the capabilities of womankind on more than just the ability to efficiently kill in machines of war; the long lasting generalities concerning the natural meekness, nurturing, decorating propensities of femininity that have preempted so many women, should have been literally blasted away. Sixty years ago, no less.
In a time of unjust, frivolous war our nation has already chewed up and spit out the notion of the fighting female. Jessica Lynch the supply private was “rescued” and rushed home from the battlefield to a life of book deals and low-rent movies. Meanwhile most of us have never even heard of those real women who proved so much to alas, so few.