W.W.II Soviet women aircrew

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/lisikova/index.htm

The link above presents the story of Olga Mikhaylovna Lisikova, who flew Po-2 aero-ambulances and Li-2/C-47 transports.

Regards,
…geoff

(that Pe.2 thing is frustrating me more than ever, as I recall THREE seperate Pe.2 crews being mentioned in graphic detail & how impressed I was by their dedication)

How do you feel about undergoing hypnosis? 😀

Indeed. The links provided at the start take us to the units. There was a medium bomber group, a fighter group, and a night harassment group; am I alone in finding it odd that the majority of modern commentary focuses on the (interesting and brave) tactically most minor of the three?

Aaaaaahhhhhhrrrrrrggggghhhh… 😀

If you remember, please share.

Regards,

`

James, if only I could mate, if only I could 😮

BTW, I never even looked at the opening links ~ just breezed thru the thread & chimed in !

(that Pe.2 thing is frustrating me more than ever, as I recall THREE seperate Pe.2 crews being mentioned in graphic detail & how impressed I was by their dedication)

.

Thanks to all for the input so far.

After a bit of digging around, the home page for the link AlphaChi kindly shared is:
http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/sovwomen.htm

With links to specific airwomen and units, from this page. Pity the link at the bottom of the home page self refers and fails to bring up the frames as it’s supposed to. :rolleyes:

OK. Someone mentions Night Witches, I heard they were called Strike Witches?

It was a nickname, and most accounts I’ve come across say ‘Night Witches’. Of course nicknames aren’t reliably definitive. Can you recall where you saw that?

Let’s get some photos of the Russian female pilots on here? Showing flight gear worn from this era.

Plenty on the links, and of course it’s exactly the same as worn by the men.

Note most have flying helmets so the ‘long blonde hair’ bit remains as suspicious as you’d expect.

Regards,

I remember reading in some detail about ten years ago, an in-depth article on Russian Petlyakov Pe.2 Bomber pilots & it was an ALL Female Aircrew unit

Indeed. The links provided at the start take us to the units. There was a medium bomber group, a fighter group, and a night harassment group; am I alone in finding it odd that the majority of modern commentary focuses on the (interesting and brave) tactically most minor of the three?

It was beyond question the most interesting ‘Soviet-Female-WW.II’ article I’ve ever seen or read, but for the life of me I can’t recall the source.

Aaaaaahhhhhhrrrrrrggggghhhh… 😀

If you remember, please share.

Regards,

I’d be interested in more detail on this too.

I only know of one female VVS WWII pilot by name, that one being Lt. Lilya Litvyak, who flew a Yak-1 coded “44” and scored, iirc, about ten kills before being killed in action. Did a painting of Lt Litvyak’s Yak on takeoff once.

S.

`

I remember reading in some detail about ten years ago, an in-depth article on Russian Petlyakov Pe.2 Bomber pilots & it was an ALL Female Aircrew unit

There were pictures & detailed text about the female aircrew & their achievements & exploits & naturally the fates of some of them…..

It was beyond question the most interesting ‘Soviet-Female-WW.II’ article I’ve ever seen or read, but for the life of me I can’t recall the source.

I also used to have a decent quality Fw.190 book (Harleyford-Press) & there was a section where one of the (J.G.54) pilots intercepted some Yaks low down over a woodland & he latched onto a female pilot with blonde hair (he’d drawn alongside as he was out of ammo’) & signalled for her to force-land & alongside that chapter were pix & a mention of Litvyak, although of course that encounter may well not have been her)

IIRC they found her plane in the late 1990’s, or maybe it’s the investiture of an award that I remember her pothshumously recieving, but I’ve also (again) seen pictures of one or two other female-Fighter-pilots besides her.

But it’s that Pe.2 article that’s bugging me the most, as it was superb & so were the pictures & related anecdotes ~ definately an all female flightcrew unit, too.

.

Soviet Aircraft:
http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/aircraft.htm

“Nachthexen” (Night Witches)
Bombed at night in wooden Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes
http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/witches.htm

Soviet Female Pilots:
http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/litvyak.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/khomyako.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/budanova.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/raskova.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/myeklin.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/zelyenko.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/yegorova.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/nechayev.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/others.htm

http://mysite.pratt.edu/~rsilva/main.htm

Sorry, I can’t really add much fact to the thread only some circumstantial evidence to help answer two of the questions that you posed.

I’ve read an account by a female Russian tank driver from WW2; she served in a tank unit where she was the only female. Apparently she was treated very well by the rest of the unit, maybe too well; there was some suggestion of favouritism, understandably.

I’d guess it would be quite difficult to have female-only flying units; it would massively complicate the organisation of such a unit if each ground-crew technical specialty had to be female too. Of course, ‘female-only’ makes much better propaganda.

OK. Someone mentions Night Witches, I heard they were called Strike Witches?

Let’s get some photos of the Russian female pilots on here? Showing flight gear worn from this era.

Speaking personally, I think on several levels that it is a very bad idea. :dev2::dev2: Doubtless I will be covered in ordure for that remark, but I stress that it is my personal opinion.
Intellectually they are doubtless more than equal to the task, BUT.

To be CRYSTAL CLEAR I’m NOT asking for a polarised debate about the rights and wrongs of women in armed forces, I’m asking for informed insight to the facts of women serving in the Soviet forces of W.W.II. I’d appreciate the thread not getting derailed and locked.

Thanks.

I’d be interested in more detail on this too. I think the story could make a fine film (and with all the newbuild Yaks, Fw190s et al, now on the scene, the flying in such a flick could be breathtaking…) I only know of one female VVS WWII pilot by name, that one being Lt. Lilya Litvyak, who flew a Yak-1 coded “44” and scored, iirc, about ten kills before being killed in action. Did a painting of Lt Litvyak’s Yak on takeoff once.

I also find it hilarious that the pop-up ad at the bottom of the thread is for a Russian dating service…! How topical can you get.:rolleyes:

S.

I am female, and agree with Peter Verney.

SEX will always rear it’s ugly head (so to speak) And that’s the way it will always remain.

I wonder if we have any female viewers of this forum ? Perhaps a few have been roped in to view this particular thread.

Whatever, I would be very interested to hear the view from the distaff side 🙂

Speaking personally, I think on several levels that it is a very bad idea. :dev2::dev2: Doubtless I will be covered in ordure for that remark, but I stress that it is my personal opinion.
Intellectually they are doubtless more than equal to the task, BUT.

There was a documentary covering the subject, on Discovery a few years
ago. I think it was called “Wasps and Witches”, regarding the part played by
US women in the ATA role, and Russian women in the combat role.

Good post Nachjagd. I don’t what to devolve into the rights and wrongs of women in combat currently, that’s another topic, but I would appreciate and details from the period.

Regards,

An interesting post and a very contentious subject. There are some very detailed reports in existence (unfortunately not too much of it available on the www, more in military academies really) about the roles of women in the front line. Most of the material comes from the Soviet Union and Israel; both nations have been compelled to fight ‘wars of national survival’ when every possible resource had to be used. (Amazingly this was something that Herr A Hitler refused to ever consider) But the analysis from both countries clearly states that it was something they would never willingly do again. So PR, especially from the Soviet side, seems to have been more important, although this should not detract from some incredible individual achievements. Just a thought: think back to 17 January 1991 and watching two abused RAF aircrew on Iraqi TV. Now fast forward to a future war and imagine two abused female RAF aircrew on someone else’s state TV. Are we all ready for that?

The Soviet Union was aggressively ‘progressive’ in one sense with the relentless five-year plans; but as to ‘progressive’ as in allowing women to do what they wanted, or as you’re rightly touching on, was the Soviet pushing them into what the state needed?

“The Russians were far more progressive in World War 2, allowing women to fly in a combat role and creating entire female bomber and fighter regiments.”

Progressive, or was it down to requirment of needing more skilled pilots and having to look outside of the normal resources?
This is not in anyway to take away from their achivements, but it reminds of the old line of how good wars are for women as they got them into skilled jobs – without usually mentioning to who’s benefit.