Female Soviet WW2 Pilots near a US-built P-39 Airacobra
A reader sends a link to a BBC audio slideshow about the 588th Night Bomber Regiment (later called the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment) in the Soviet military, an all-female attack unit.
Despite the photo above and an IL-2 in the slideshow, the Night Witches actually flew Po-2 biplanes.
The graphic novel mentioned in the slideshow is available from Amazon.
6 Responses to “Night Witches”
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Hah! The caption is wrong! That’s a Yak-1.
You’re absolutely correct. Fixed it.
Story of them here, among other places:
http://www.seizethesky.com/nwitches/nitewtch.html
These ladies are no Night Witches. They are with the 586th Fighter Regiment, not the 588th Night Bomber Regiment.
Not all of these pilots were Russian. In fact, according to the stories I rememer my father telling us about the war, the women pilots were quite a mix of nationalities from all parts of the Soviet Union.
I was totally blown away by all the amazing content on the Night Witches.
I was left hungry to learn more. Can you refer me to books, articles, etc on these wonderful “girls”.
I am 77 years old and remember WWII, but never heard of the heroes.
Thanks