Hero of the Soviet Union Lydia Litvyak. Hero of the Soviet Union, "White Lily of Stalingrad" Lydia Litvyak

By the Decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990, for the exemplary fulfillment of command assignments and the courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, the famous pilot Lilia Litvyak, who fought in a combat fighter during the Great Patriotic War, was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. This high rank was awarded to the brave pilot very late, 47 years after her death, and the reasons for such a late recognition of her merits are considered to be the unclear circumstances of her last battle on August 1, 1943, from which she did not return and was declared missing. But, apparently, there were some other, unknown to us reasons ...

In general, I must say, in the biography of Litvyak, unlike all our other pilots, there is a lot of obscure and mysterious. Let's start with the fact that the real name of our heroine is not Lily, under which everyone knows her, but Lydia. However, for some reason, the girl herself did not like this name, and therefore she called herself Lily or simply Lily. Over time, everyone else began to call her Lily, and it was under this name that she went down in history.

There is a lot of mystery in the Litvyak family. Where her parents come from is unknown. Her mother, Anna Vasilievna, was either a dressmaker or worked in a store. True, who she worked in the store - as a saleswoman, cleaner or director - history is silent. Almost nothing is known about the father of the pilot, whose name, according to some sources, was Vladimir Leontyevich. Suspiciously muffled about him, only that he left the family, that he worked on the railway, either as a simple railway worker in the depot, or as a controller, or as an inspector, and in 1937, allegedly, “was repressed on a false denunciation , tortured and shot." Perhaps the legend of the "tortured father" was invented by Lily herself, who was having a hard time breaking up her father and mother. Be that as it may, it is believed that for the sake of heaven, Lily was forced to abandon her own father, who was declared an "enemy of the people."

Almost everyone who knew Lilia Litvyak notes that she was silent and secretive. Perhaps this was due to rather vague family circumstances. Although, by and large, to hide something from the employees of the special department of the NKVD, who were in all military units of the Red Army, was unrealistic and, as they say, very fraught. Therefore, without a doubt, the special officers of the regiments in which Lilia Litvyak served were well aware of all the members of her family, but, apparently, they did not find anything reprehensible and dangerous in their actions. Otherwise, she would hardly have been entrusted with a combat aircraft. Or maybe she was just hiding her origin? There is an assumption that Litvyak was not Russian by nationality, as recorded in the documents, but Jewish. And much of today's media is explicit about this. By the way, the surname Litvyak itself, as well as Litvak, literally means “Lithuanian Jew”. Apparently, it was for this reason that the younger brother of the pilot Yuri, being already an adult, changed his native surname Litvyak to a more tolerant one - Kanavin. And this is despite the fact that his sister Lily became famous under the name Litvyak. It would seem that such a name should be proud of. And he took, and changed it. Why would that be interesting?

Even Lilia's face was peculiar, and the point here is not beauty, but her unusually straight nose, clearly not corresponding to the snub-nosed Russian. Such a straight line, the so-called "Greek nose", is more typical for persons of Jewish nationality.

To the features of Litvyak's appearance, one can also add the generally accepted opinion about her as a blonde. In fact, she was brown-haired, that is, she had naturally dark blond or brown hair. But, being a very feminine girl, for whom external beauty was the main criterion, Lily considered only blondes to be beautiful, therefore, for greater attractiveness, she dyed her hair blonde with hydrogen peroxide.

To the above, we also add that there is absolutely no information about Lily's other closest relatives: neither about grandparents, nor about uncles and aunts, nor about cousins. Nothing is known about her childhood and youth friends either. There are no memories of her childhood, school years and so on. Even her own younger brother Yuri never mentioned any details of the family history. In general, almost nothing is known about Lily's personal life before the war.

However, for us, the pre-war life of Litvyak and her family is not so important. Much more important for us are the facts of Lily's participation in the Great Patriotic War, in which she, no doubt, proved to be an outstanding pilot.

By the way, her outstanding and indomitable character is evidenced by at least the fact that, wanting to get into the female fighter regiment at all costs, she somehow attributed 100 missing hours to the existing flight time.

At first, the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, in which Litvyak served, operated in the area of \u200b\u200bthe rear city of Saratov, where Lilya, like all other pilots, was patrolling over the city and escorting transport aircraft. Such routine activities did not bring much joy to either Lilya or other pilots. Therefore, in early September 1942, eight pilots of the regiment, including Lily, under unclear circumstances, in fact, arbitrarily "flew" to the front near Stalingrad and began to fight as part of the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Since then, the name of Lilia Litvyak has become known throughout the country.

In almost all modern media, including the Internet, it is claimed that already in the second or third sortie on September 13, 1942, she, participating in an air battle as part of a group, personally shot down one Yu-88 bomber, and then finished off a fighter Me-109 damaged by Raisa Belyaeva. It is curious that the details of this battle were overgrown with incredible legends, according to which the German fighter pilot escaped by parachute, was captured and was taken to the 437th air regiment, where he was given a meeting with the pilot who shot him down. True, the witnesses of this meeting describe it in different ways.

Here, for example, there is such a description: “A German, a pilot from the Richthofen squadron, asked me to show him a pilot who demonstrated high skill and managed to shoot him down. For some reason, the command granted his request. With a swift, light gait, Lilia Litvyak entered the headquarters dugout in a dark blue overalls in a headset with glasses and reported to the general: "Junior Lieutenant Litvyak has arrived." The fascist ace looked at Litvyak with curiosity, then curiosity was replaced by bewilderment: “Why are you laughing at me? I am a pilot who shot down more than thirty aircraft. I am a holder of the knight's cross! It can't be that this girl hit me! That pilot fought masterfully.” The people in the dugout silently looked at the winner and the vanquished. The German asked for proof - Litvyak recalled the details of the battle, known only to the two of them. At first, he listened incredulously, then, apparently, he understood - it was she who knocked him down. The German suddenly jumped up and stretched out into the front, they said something else - he took off his gold watch and handed it to the winner.

And here is another testimony: “Somehow after a flight in which she shot down another fighter, Lilia was urgently called to the headquarters of the regiment. It turned out that the German pilot of the Messerschmitt-109E shot down by her in the style of the Teutonic Knights expressed a desire to see the one who threw him down. The well-groomed baron, colonel of the elite squadron of the Luftwaffe "Richthofen", holder of three Iron Crosses, seeing his winner, was so shocked that he could only stand up in front of Lilia, bowing his head in a respectful bow.

And there is such a testimony: “In the evening, she again met with her opponent, but already on the ground. The pilot of the Messer shot down by her, a captured German baron, a colonel from the elite squadron of the Richthofen, awarded three Iron Crosses, asked to show him his winner. Could the seasoned imperial Ace have imagined that by the great Russian river retribution would come to him from the hand of a Russian girl. When he found out who shot him down, he was shocked and predicted for her, as a pilot, a great future.

Here is someone else's testimony: “One of the fascist aces miraculously escaped by jumping out of a burning plane with a parachute. During interrogation, he asked to show him that Russian who managed to defeat him, who was not defeated by anyone either in the skies of Spain, or in the skies of France and Italy.
Seeing in front of him a small slender blond girl with dark blue eyes from hatred (it was Lilya), he shouted in a rage:

Not true! Not! Can not be!

Lily showed the elements of the battle with gestures, and the fascist understood - she. And then, tearing off numerous awards from his chest, including four crosses, he threw them at the feet of the Soviet pilot and knelt before her, paying tribute to her courage and heroism.

Well, and so on. In general, there are different descriptions of this meeting, however, in none of them, for some reason, the specific names of the persons present at the same time, including the aforementioned general, are not indicated. It seems that all the "eyewitnesses" simply repeat the story they heard from someone, supplementing it with clearly invented details. As the saying goes, "they heard the ringing, but they don't know where it comes from." Indeed, neither in the front-line press, nor in awards, nor in other documents, there is any mention of this episode.

For example, in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda No. 256 dated October 30, 1942, under a photograph of Litvyak, her first successes are briefly reported: “Fighter pilot senior sergeant L. Litvyak, who shot down Yu-88 in a single battle and in a group -“ Messerschmitt-109".

Almost the same thing, under another photograph of Litvyak, is written in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper No. 277 dated November 25, 1942: “The glory of the fighter pilot L. V. Litvyak is thundering: in an air duel she shot down an enemy Yu-88 aircraft, and in a group battle she shot down an Me-109 aircraft.

That's all! No mention of the downed German ace and Litvyak's meeting with him in the headquarters dugout! What if this really happened? Can you imagine how much it would have been written about in the press of those years?! In short, all descriptions of this rendezvous are exclusively in modern fiction and in modern media. Where did the beautiful legend about the young beauty come from, who defeated one of the best aces of the Luftwaffe in a duel? Judging by some publications, this story was composed in the mid-60s by the writer S. V. Gribanov, who, by the way, was born in 1935 and could not have been present at the amazing meeting.

By the way, at that time Lilya was in the rank of sergeant, and not a junior lieutenant, and her eyes were green, and not "dark blue with hatred."

In fairness, it must be said that on September 13, 1942, one German pilot was actually captured in the Stalingrad region: non-commissioned officer Erwin Mayer from the 53rd Ace of Spades fighter squadron, who accounted for 11 downed Soviet aircraft. But it was not Litvyak who shot him down, but the pilot of the 620th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Captain G.V. Kryukov. Here is how this is reported in the award document for Kryukov (spelling preserved): “Captain Kryukov fought an air battle over the Proleyskaya area at the end of fuel, shot down an enemy aircraft Me-109F at 10 hours 5 minutes, which fell 2 km east of Proleyskaya and without fuel landed the plane at his airport. The captured German pilot was sent by the headquarters of the 283rd IAD to the headquarters of the 16th Air Army.

However, the most striking thing is that, according to official documents, that day, Litvyak did not shoot down the Me-109: September 13 in a group battle, along with her friends - senior lieutenant R. V. Belyaeva, junior lieutenants E. V. Budanova and M M. Kuznetsova - she shot down a Yu-88 bomber. But in another air battle, she already personally shot down another Yu-88 and, indeed, finished off the Me-109 fighter, damaged by Raisa Belyaeva. But this happened, according to the same headquarters documents on September 27, and on this day the German fighters near Stalingrad did not lose a single pilot!

In general, there was no sleek baron-colonel with a Knight's Cross or three or four Iron Crosses from the elite Richthofen squadron. No one gave Litvyak a gold watch, no one shouted furiously and threw his awards in front of her, no one stretched out in front of her, bowed his head in a respectful bow, and, moreover, did not kneel before her. And all this is just one of the most beautiful front-line legends.

In modern books and media, there are many other equally beautiful legends about Litvyak. They say that after defeating the German ace on the hood of her Yak, she painted a large white lily or rose, and many German pilots, seeing this flower, evaded the fight. They say that after each downed enemy car, a young attractive Muscovite painted white lilies on the fuselage of her plane. They say that her call sign was "White Lily", that everyone called her nothing more than "White Lily of Stalingrad". Many are convinced that Litvyak, along with five other girls, created a squadron called the “White Roses of Stalingrad” and that this squadron became a real nightmare for German pilots, that Lily Litvyak herself was a thunderstorm for the Luftwaffe over Stalingrad and Rostov, the queen of aces of all times and peoples that, when they saw her plane, the frightened Germans yelled: “Akhtung! In the sky - "White lily!!!". And so on and so forth. Do I need to explain that all these rumors and high-profile titles have nothing to do with reality. For example, not a single photograph of the Litvyak aircraft with the image of a white lily was found, although front-line correspondents photographed it several times next to the aircraft. The former technician of the 73rd Guards Regiment N. I. Minkov, who served the Yak-1, on which Litvyak made 42 sorties, did not mention any drawings on the Litvyak aircraft. In particular, talking about Litvyak and her plane, he reported the following interesting details: “Two letters “LL” were scratched on the aircraft control stick (on its upper part) (that is, Lilya Litvyak, she scratched it with a knife during duty), and the word "mom" is scratched into the dashboard at the top. The color of the skin of the aircraft is greyish. The tail number of the aircraft is 18. That's all. Nothing is said about any "White Lily" ...

By the way, about the tail number of Lily's plane, on which she flew recently. As we already know from the above text, the technician of her aircraft N. I. Minkov mentioned the number 18, while other sources call the number 23 ...

And here's another, composed by someone, amazing stories about Litvyak: allegedly, in battles, she was shot down twice over enemy territory and miraculously escaped both times. The first time she allegedly made her way through the front line for three days. The second rescue was even more amazing and, in post-war literature, this story is described approximately as follows. Allegedly, the soldiers of the “field gendarmerie with dogs” tried to capture the pilot who made an emergency landing and jumped out of the cockpit. Getting bogged down in the snow, Litvyak fired back with a pistol, naturally, "saving the last cartridge for herself." The pilot was already saying goodbye to her life, when suddenly our attack aircraft flew over the heads of the enemy. Pouring fire on the Germans, he forced them to rush to the ground. Then he glided next to Litvyak and stopped, and the pilot "with a large full gypsy beard", without getting out of the cockpit, waved his hands at her. Running up to the attack aircraft, Litvyak squeezed into the cramped cockpit and perched on the pilot's lap. Under fire from enemy soldiers, the plane took off, and soon landed at the airfield of the Lilin Regiment. Then the pilot of a single-seat attack aircraft, for some reason, immediately flew away. Of course, no one had time to ask his name, and everyone somehow forgot the date of this miraculous Lily's salvation. This is such a sentimental story. True, in the award documents about the forced landings of Litvyak, it is said in a completely different way. So, according to the documents, on July 16 and 21, 1943, Litvyak did make emergency landings on the fuselage, but not on enemy territory, but on the territory occupied by Soviet troops, in the Kuibyshevo area and the village of Novikovka. Newspapers and wartime magazines also did not report anything about Lily's miraculous rescues, although they wrote about her and her exploits quite often.

By the way, about the battle on July 21. There are allegations that Litvyak was shot down in that battle, and she escaped by parachute: “... her plane catches fire from enemy fire and flies to the ground like a stone, rotating randomly. The pilot is pressed against the side of the fighter. The counter flow of air bursts into the cabin, making it difficult to breathe. Gathering her strength, Lilia fell out of the burning car and tore the parachute ring…”. However, in reality, Litvyak landed the plane “on its belly” 700-900 meters from the front line, and the emergency team managed to safely evacuate the damaged fighter at night.

In general, we again have to state that this time we are also dealing with someone's obvious writing: Lilya did not make her way through the enemy's rear for three days, the dogs with the feldgendarmes did not chase her, Lilya did not shoot at them from a pistol, did not save her an unknown attack pilot "with a large bushy gypsy beard." She also did not fall out of the burning plane and did not tear the parachute ring ...

Much attention in the press is given to one episode from Lily's combat activities, when she shot down a balloon on May 31, 1943. Moreover, everyone claims that she knocked him down alone. In fact, on a combat mission to destroy an enemy balloon, Litvyak flew out in tandem with junior lieutenant I. I. Borisenko, who finished off the balloon after Litvyak's attack. And for the successful completion of the combat mission, gratitude from the commander of the 44th Army, Lieutenant General V. A. Khomenko, was announced not only to Litvyak, but also to Borisenko.

But, perhaps, most of the legends are associated with the death of Lilia Litvyak. Many researchers and journalists believe that on the last day of her life on August 1, 1943, she "made 4 sorties, shot down 2 enemy aircraft, 1 in a group." The mechanic of her aircraft, N. I. Minkov, also claimed that on the day of her death, Litvyak managed to make three sorties, and her fatal flight was the fourth in the evening. Around the same time, at 4:35 p.m., 23-year-old German ace sergeant major Hans-Jörg Merkle from the 52nd fighter squadron shot down a Yak-1 at an altitude of 3.5 km. This was his thirtieth and last aerial victory, as a Soviet fighter he shot down rammed him and both crashed to the ground about 3 kilometers east of the village of Dmitrievka, Shakhtersky district, Donetsk region. Note that the village of Dmitrievka is literally 6 km from the Kozhevnya farm, on the outskirts of which, as we already know for sure, Lilia Litvyak's plane crashed. Knowing the indomitable temper of Lily, it is logical to assume that, apparently, mortally wounded by the line of the German ace, she decided to take revenge on him and, already dying, rammed him with her plane, having accomplished her last feat. Very beautiful version! It is a pity, but the documents do not confirm this heroic version, according to the documents, everything happened in a completely different way. Here is an excerpt from the operational summary of the headquarters of the 6th Guards Fighter Aviation Division for August 1, 1943, only slightly editing it:

“During the day, the regiment covered our troops by patrolling in the air and flew out to escort the Il-2 of the 1st Guards Stalingrad Assault Aviation Division.
From the airfield of the state farm. Kalinin flew 18 Yak-1. Three air battles were carried out, in which 18 Yu-88s, 40 Me-109s, 3 Yu-87s, 4 FV-190s took part, a total of 65 enemy aircraft with our 30 Yak-1s.
Downed 3 Me-109 (Gorkhiver, Samokhvalov, Evdokimov, Ugarov)
1 Yu-88 (Borisenko)
1 Yu-87
10.40 - 11.50 am 9 Yak-1 leading guard senior lieutenant Domnin ... at an altitude of 4.500 meters met 30 Yu-88 and 18 Me-109. A battle ensued with the Messers. Guard Senior Sergeant Evdokimov shot down one Me-109. Guard Senior Sergeant Melnitsky observed the fall of one Yak-1 4-5 km east of Marinovka.
Guards junior lieutenant Litvyak, guards junior lieutenant Borisenko and guards sergeant Tabunov fought with 12 Yu-88. Borisenko lit one Yu-88 and forcedly landed in Daryevka. He lost Litvyak and Tabunov during the attack of an enemy bomber. 1 km north-east of Marinovka, I observed the fall of one Yak-1, which exploded when it hit the ground.
Guards sergeant Tabunov paired with guards junior lieutenant Litvyak were attacked by 4 Me-109s from the direction of the sun. Tabunov repulsed the first attack, did not manage to repel the second and saw how the "Messer" was shot down by Litvyak, which fell in the region of 2 km northeast of Marinovka. After that, Tabunov continued to fight along with Borisenko and lagged behind him due to a lack of fuel, made an emergency landing at the Barilokrepinskaya airfield. After refueling, he returned to his unit. Senior Sergeant Evdokimov did not return from the mission. On August 2, Evdokimov returned from an emergency landing at the Novoshakhtinsk airfield.
Their losses: two Yak-1s: Guards Junior Lieutenant Litvyak and Guards Sergeant Ugarov were shot down in an air battle, the pilots apparently died. One Yak-1 of the senior sergeant Fomichev's guard was shot down in an air battle. He was forced to sit on his stomach in the field, the plane needs repair, the pilot has bruises on his right arm and right leg.

As you can see, nothing is said about the planes shot down by Litvyak in this last battle. The time of her death also does not coincide with the memoirs of N. I. Minkov and others.

Unfortunately, the summary does not give a clear answer about the fate of Litvyak after she was shot down. Therefore, after the liberation of the territory over which the Litvyak plane was shot down, Lily's colleagues traveled to that area and looked for traces of the pilot, but could not find anything. But vague rumors spread that the pilot was captured and even began to cooperate with the enemy.

So, the pilot of the 85th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment with the characteristic surname Balamut swore that the locals told him how a Soviet fighter plane landed in the Chistyakovo area, the pilot of which was a thin, white, straight-nosed girl. Allegedly, the Nazis took her away, put her in a car and took her to their unit ...

The famous Soviet ace, Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot of the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment Vladimir Lavrinenkov, who was briefly captured in August 1943, allegedly met Litvyak there. He allegedly told Lilina about this, a former fellow soldier Klava Pankratova ...

And the commander of the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gridnev, allegedly personally heard Litvyak’s appeal to Soviet soldiers on the radio: “Listen, Lilya Litvyak speaks on German radio ...” and, allegedly, he handed over the manuscript of this speech to whom it should be, and now it is located in the Moninsky archive ...

The then commander of the 31st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Boris Eremin, recalled: “There were vague rumors about her death: they say she fought, was captured ... Then she wrote some appeals ... I don’t know ... The mere fact that these girls flew like pilots - fighters, deserves every good memory of them. There was so much nonsense - horror! There are a lot of inventions, unfortunately.”

In general, there were many rumors, and they were one more incredible than the other, as a result of which the presentation of Lilia Litvyak for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was postponed for many years ...

Even the remains of Lily found in 1979, confirmed by a forensic examination, did not convince many people who still believe that the "White Lily" is alive.

So, on the 55th anniversary of the Great Victory, television showed a TV report from Switzerland. It featured a certain Russian woman, allegedly a former pilot and "participant in the Second World War." As reported, she was wounded twice and now lives far from her homeland, the mother of three children. The TV report was seen by the former pilot of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Women's Aviation Regiment, Nina Raspopova, who recognized the woman from Switzerland as Lilya Litvyak. Raspopova shared her guess with other veterans:

“So our Lilka Litvyak is alive, let her not be afraid and come through the “Wait for me” program to meet with the surviving pilots who bravely fought and defeated the hardened enemy. Lilya Litvyak herself fought boldly. But they say that a doctor from Switzerland saved her, she was supposedly engaged to him ... And she remained to live in Switzerland ... ".

The ubiquitous media immediately picked up the sensation: “... Lila Litvyak managed to jump out of the burning plane. She was captured, released by the Americans, married a Swede, lives in Sweden, raised three children. She is embarrassed to go to Russia, they say, there is too much around my name ... And she did not receive the completely deserved Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union ... ”.

Well, what can I say? I don’t even want to argue and find out in which country Lilia Litvyak’s double lives - in Switzerland or in Sweden.

In principle, the many legends associated with the name of Lilia Litvyak are no longer surprising. There is only no answer to the question: what are the reasons for the emergence of all these legends? Indeed, among hundreds of our other female pilots, there is not a single one with whose name any legends would be associated. Why, then, are legends exclusively about Litvyak preserved in the people's memory? Is it only because it was the most productive in terms of the number of enemy aircraft shot down?

Of course, Lilia Litvyak was a brave pilot, she flew on combat missions many times and had aerial victories on her combat account. True, there are different opinions about the number of sorties, air battles and downed aircraft. So, it is officially recognized that she made 138 sorties. And according to other sources, Lily made 150 or 168 sorties. It is also claimed that Litvyak participated in 69 or even 89 air battles, but, in both cases, these figures are fantastically high. It is easy to calculate that out of the total number of sorties she made, she made more than a hundred sorties to patrol in the Saratov and Zhitkur regions, as well as to escort Li-2 transport aircraft, and at that time she had no battles with German aircraft. The same confusion is in the number of air victories. So, many argue that Litvyak shot down 16 aircraft (including four in a group) and 1 balloon. In the submission to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, it is indicated that she personally shot down 6, as part of a group of 6 aircraft and 1 balloon. There is evidence that she has 11 air victories. According to other sources, she personally shot down 5 aircraft, in the group 1 aircraft, and also 1 balloon. And according to the fundamental reference book “Soviet aces 1941-1945. Victory of Stalin's Falcons" by the well-known researcher M. Yu. Bykov, the Litvyak combat score is 5 personal air victories and 3 victories in group battles, as well as 1 balloon. Whom to believe? It seems to be given by M. Yu. Bykov, since only documents, including combat logs of all Soviet fighter aviation formations and units, served as the material for his reference book. So, we settled on the fact that personally and in groups, Lilia Litvyak won a total of 9 aerial victories (including a balloon). Is it a lot or a little? I think that's enough to call Lilia Litvyak the best pilot among women who fought in fighter jets. To paraphrase one very famous saying, one can speak about Lila Litvyak like this: “A fighter pilot, a Komsomol member, an athlete, finally, she is just a beauty!”

So maybe the reason for the emergence of legends was simply Lily's unusual appearance? Indeed, as everyone who knew her notes, Litvyak was a very romantic, gentle and attractive girl, she always carefully monitored her appearance, wore a white parachute silk scarf and kept bouquets of fresh wild flowers in the cockpit. A miniature (only 150 cm!) Slender blonde attracted everyone's attention with her sonorous laughter, had incredible charm and was a model of femininity and charm for everyone. Maybe that's why the beauty with a mysterious face is so wrapped up in a heroic halo and secrets that people are ready to believe in all the legends associated with her? After all, everyone is well aware of the truth, according to which beautiful women are not only forgiven a lot, but also a lot is attributed. Is not it?

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Lidia Vladimirovna Litvyak - the legendary Soviet pilot of the times. She was born on August 18, 1921 in Moscow. From early childhood I was fond of aviation. At the age of 15, Lydia made the first solo flight in her life. After graduating from flight school in Kherson, the girl gets a job as an instructor at the Kalinin flying club. During the time spent there, Lydia Litvyak managed to train 45 pilots.

She went to the front in 1942, enlisting in the 586th IAP, tacitly called the "women's air regiment". At registration, she attributed to herself 100 missing flight hours. Lydia Litvyak quickly mastered the Yak-1 fighter and in the summer of 1942 made her first sortie. At the end of the summer of the same year, the young pilot shot down her first enemy aircraft - the Yu-88 bomber.

In the early autumn of 1942, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to Aviation Fighter Regiment No. 437. On September 13, in an air battle over Stalingrad, a pilot in a group shot down two planes, the pilot of one of them was a German baron, holder of the Knight's Cross, an ace pilot, on whose account there were 30 downed aircraft. In the autumn of the same year, Lydia Litvyak shot down two more planes.

A white lily was depicted on the fuselage of Lydia Litvyak's Visual Memory Yak. Therefore, many called her nothing more than "", soon "Lily" became her radio call sign.
Some time later, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to the Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment No. 9. In December 1942, she shot down a Luftwaffe Do-217 bomber. At the end of 1942, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to the 296th regiment.

February 11, 1942 Lydia Litvyak shoots down two planes - one personally, and another in the group. In the same month, in one of the air battles, her Yak-1 was shot down, and she had to make an emergency landing on enemy territory. The German military tried to take her prisoner, but one of the Soviet attack aircraft forced them to retreat with heavy machine gun fire. The pilot then landed and took Lydia on board. February 23, 1943 Lydia Litvyak becomes the owner of her first award -.

On March 22, 1943, during an air battle not far from Rostov-on-Don, she shot down another plane. In the same battle, performing a distracting maneuver, she entered into an unequal battle with six enemy aircraft. She was seriously injured, but managed to independently fly to the airfield and land the damaged aircraft.

Quickly recovering from her wounds, Lydia Litvyak returned to the front, and already in May 1943 shot down two enemy aircraft. At the end of the month, the girl shoots down a German balloon, which served as an artillery spotter, which for a long time could not be shot down due to heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire. For completing the task, Litvyak is awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In the same month, her husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, senior lieutenant Solomatin, who served in the same regiment as a squadron leader, died in battle. In an air battle on June 15, the pilot shoots down two German aircraft.

At the end of July 1943, there were fierce battles on the Mius River, in which aviation played one of the leading roles. On August 1, 1943, Litvyak made four sorties, during which he shot down 3 Luftwaffe aircraft. The girl did not return from the last flight. The division command prepared documents for the submission of the pilot posthumously to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, due to the fact that Litvyak was officially considered missing, the procedure was postponed. After the war, the remains of the pilot were discovered. On May 5, 1991, almost 48 years after her death, Lydia Litvyak was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union.

What is good about the Internet is that it is a wonderful opportunity to search for information and education. Today, children play more in tanks, and do not learn the history of the Great Patriotic War, although it is in this history that huge storehouses of educational and worldly wisdom are hidden. who knows, if the youth of Ukraine had been told more about the Great Patriotic War, then there would not have been those events that the soldiers of Victory could dream of only in a nightmare ...

Lydia Litvyak

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak became a legend during the war years. She has shot down more enemy aircraft than any other female fighter in the history of air combat. Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as a female pilot who won the most victories in aerial combat.

During her short combat path, she made 186 sorties, conducted 69 air battles, made two forced landings on enemy territory and was able to return to her regiment, was wounded three times, lost loved ones, but continued to fight. Lydia flew on the Yak-1 fighter and died, having 12 personal confirmed air victories on her combat account; She shot down 4 enemy planes in a group.

Pilot Marina Raskova, Hero of the Soviet Union, was entrusted with the formation of these regiments. At the beginning of 1942, having learned that a female fighter aviation regiment was being formed, Lydia attributed 100 missing hours to the existing raid and was enlisted in the 586th fighter regiment. And already in June she made her first sortie in the sky over Saratov.

In August 1942, having one group victory over Yu-88, Lydia achieved a transfer to the 268th Fighter Aviation Division. In early September 1942, the best female combat pilots (including Lydia Litvyak and her friend Katya Budanova) were sent to the Stalingrad Front in the "male" 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment for further service on La 5.

On September 13, during her second sortie, Lilia Litvyak shot down two Bf109 and Ju 88 aircraft. Two weeks later, she won her third victory, shooting down another Ju 88. Then, paired with pilot R. Belyaeva, she shot down a Bf109. Soon Lydia was transferred to a separate female unit organized at the headquarters of the division, and from there to the regiment of aces - the 9th Guards Odessa Fighter Aviation Regiment. February 23, 1943 Lydia Litvyak was awarded the first combat award - the Order of the Red Star. By that time, she already had 8 air victories on her account.

Lydia Litvyak was still a very young girl - she was barely 21 years old. Young and very romantic: according to the memories, Lydia wore long scarves made of parachute silk, and always kept a bunch of wildflowers in the cockpit of a fighter. She painted a bright white lily on the hood of her Yak-1.

In March, the situation in the air became much more difficult. On March 22, in the region of Rostov-on-Don, Lydia participates in the interception of a group of Ju 88s. During a long and difficult battle, she managed to shoot down one of the enemy bombers. But six Bf 109s came to the aid of the Junkers and immediately went on the attack. The battle continued for more than 15 minutes, in which the pilot was wounded and with great difficulty was able to bring the crippled fighter home.

It was after this battle that she was recognized as an ace. After treatment in the hospital, the pilot returned to the regiment. And already on May 5, not yet fully strengthened, she flew out to escort a group of bombers. During the departure, an air battle ensued, and Lydia shot down an enemy fighter. And two days later she shot down another Bf109. At the end of May, on the sector of the front, where the regiment operated, a balloon-spotter of artillery fire appeared. Repeated attempts to bring him down did not lead to anything. Litvyak was able to cope with this task. Taking off, it passed along the front line, then went deep behind enemy lines and entered the balloon from the territory occupied by the enemy, from the direction of the sun. The attack lasted less than a minute! For this victory, Junior Lieutenant Lydia Litvyak was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The exploits of the pilot were written in the newspapers, her name became known throughout the country.

Lydia Litvyak became famous for two more of her exploits. Within a few weeks, her plane was shot down twice behind the front line, and both times Lida remained unharmed, avoided capture and returned home to take part in the battles again. For the first time, she managed to escape on her own and get there on foot. And the second time she was saved by a fellow pilot who made a desperate landing on enemy territory and took Lydia on board his plane.

In April 1943, the very popular Ogonyok magazine placed on the first page (cover) a photo of fighting girlfriends - Lydia Litvyak and Ekaterina Budanova and a short explanation: "These brave girls shot down 12 enemy aircraft."

On May 21, 1943, Lydia's husband, Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Captain Aleksey Frolovich Solomatin, died in a heavy battle.

Alexey Frolovich Solomatin

Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. The squadron commander of the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment (later the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment) of the 268th Fighter Aviation Division, 8th Air Army, Southern Front - Senior Lieutenant Solomatin by February 1943 made 266 sorties, in 108 air battles personally shot down 12 and in a group of 15 enemy aircraft. At the beginning of 1943, Lydia Litvyak came to serve in the regiment and was assigned to lead Solomatin.

Captain Solomatin died on May 21, 1943 in a training air battle over the Pavlovka farm of the Krasnogvardeisky (now Krasnosulinsky) district of the Rostov region. The plane crashed in front of his comrades and his beloved. The funeral of Solomatin took place on the square x. Pavlovka. In total, on his combat account there were 17 enemy aircraft shot down personally and 22 in the group.

On July 19, the pilot experienced another tragedy - her best friend Katya Budanova, who was considered the most successful of the Soviet aces pilots, died, she had 11 destroyed enemy winged vehicles on her account (Lydia then had ten of them plus three, shot down in a group) .

Ekaterina Budanova

On August 1, 1943, Lydia Litvyak made her last sortie. As part of the Yak-1 link, she accompanied the Il-2 attack aircraft going on a mission. In the air, their planes met with a large group of German fighters. They say that several Messerschmites rushed to Yak with a white lily on board. It was the fourth flight of the day. On her last day of life, Lydia shot down two more enemy planes. The plane of the legendary pilot crashed near the village of Dmitrievka. She would have turned 22 in two weeks. Searches were urgently organized. However, neither the plane nor the pilot could be found. That is why she was never awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was due for ten air victories.

In her short, just over a year, combat career, she completed 186 sorties, conducted 69 air battles and scored 12 confirmed victories. Characterizing her as an air fighter, the former commander of the 273rd (31st Guards) Fighter Aviation Regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union B. N. Eremin recalled: She was a born pilot. She had a special talent as a fighter, she was bold and decisive, inventive and cautious. She could see the air...»

Once, at the moment of revelation, Lydia said to the aircraft mechanic, her friend: “Most of all I am afraid of missing out. Anything but this." There were good reasons for such concern. Lida's father was arrested and shot as an "enemy of the people" in 1937. The girl perfectly understood what it means to her, the daughter of a repressed person, to go missing. No one and nothing will save her honest name. Fate played a cruel joke with her, preparing just such a fate.

In the summer of 1979, their search was crowned with success. Being in the area of the Kozhevnya farm, the guys learned that in the summer of 1943 a Soviet fighter plane crashed on its outskirts. The pilot wounded in the head was a woman. It was established that the famous pilot Lydia Vladimirov-na Litvyak was buried in a mass grave in the village of Dmitrievka, Shakhtersky district, Donetsk region.

In July 1988, in Litvyak's personal file, the entry "disappeared" was finally replaced by "died while performing a combat mission." And the veterans of the regiment in which she fought renewed their petition to award the pilot the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

By the Decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990, for the exemplary fulfillment of command assignments and the courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders of the guard, Junior Lieutenant Lidia Vladimirovna Litvyak was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The Order of Lenin No. 460056 and the Gold Star medal No. 11616 were deposited with the relatives of the deceased Heroine.

She was awarded the Orders of Lenin (05/05/1990, posthumously), the Red Banner (07/22/1943), the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (09/10/1943, posthumously), the Red Star (02/17/1943), the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" (1943) . In the hero city of Moscow, at house number 14 on Novoslobodskaya Street, in which the Heroine lived and from where she went to the front, a memorial plaque was erected. The memorial plate is installed on the memorial at the burial site, in the village of Dmitrovka, Shakhtyorsky district, Donetsk region.

Thanks alex_serdyuk for the material used in the post, which he prepared earlier.

On August 1, 1943, Junior Lieutenant Lidiya Litvyak, flight commander of the third squadron of the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, did not return from a combat mission. Neither the pilot nor the plane could be found by fellow soldiers. After the death of Alexander Evdokimov, led by Lydia Litvyak in her last battle, the search was completely stopped - only he knew where his commander's Yak fell ...

For the aviation unit, this was one of the heaviest losses in a year of hostilities: a fighter pilot, a favorite of the regiment, a skilled and fearless fighter who destroyed one spotter balloon and 14 enemy combat aircraft in air battles, died.

"Missing." This laconic and completely indefinite entry appears in the card of the military archive. “Missing” - this entry can mean that she died heroically, and voluntarily surrendered herself to captivity. This is exactly what the officials were counting on: the main thing is to play it safe, and time will do its job ...

Lilya (that was the name of her close friends) came to aviation when she was fourteen years old. She made her first solo flight at the age of fifteen. She began her career as a pilot at the Kherson Pilot School. After graduation, Litvak was transferred to the Kalinin flying club, becoming one of the best instructor pilots in it. All her flights were gambling, Lydia Vladimirovna reveled in flights. Under her leadership, forty-five boys “got on the wing”.

Lily really wanted to get to the front. While in Ufa, where the entire flying club was evacuated, she becomes aware that the formation of women's aviation regiments has begun in Moscow. An irresistible desire to fight the enemy could come true. Lily leaves for the capital. She decided that she would fight the Nazis exclusively on a fighter. However, it was not easy to achieve the set goal. It is not known how Litvak managed to add the missing hundred hours to the one he already had. In any case, but this "deception" helped to get into the combat training unit. After graduation, Lilya was enrolled in the 586th female fighter aviation regiment.

Summer 1942. Cinder in the air over Saratov. Constant raids by Heinkels and Junkers on crossings and defense enterprises. The pilots of the air defense regiment protect the city, covering it from the air. Lily, along with others, takes part in repelling enemy raids, escorts special-purpose aircraft to the front line. In September 1942, Litvyak, entering a group of girls, goes to the disposal of the 6th Fighter Aviation Division, which defended the sky of Stalingrad. For Lily Litvyak, Rai Belyaeva, Masha Kuznetsova, Katya Budanova, her fighting friends, the days of severe trials by heavy air battles begin from this time.

Yak-1 L.V. Litvyak, 296th IAP, Stalingrad Front, spring 1943

Practically during each sortie there was a tense air battle. Litvyak won her first victory on September 13th. Junkers accompanied by "Messers" flew to Stalingrad. Lily as part of her group enters the battle. On the Stalingrad front, this was her second flight. Having chosen a target, Lily approaches the Junkers from behind from below. The approach was successful: she shot the enemy plane in cold blood, as if it were happening at the training ground. Account is open! However, the fight is not over yet. Seeing that Belyaeva Raya is wrestling with the Messerschmitt, Lydia Litvyak throws her Yak to help her friend. And this help was most welcome - Belyaeva ran out of ammunition. Having taken the place of a friend, and having imposed a duel on a fascist who was trying to leave, Lily knocks him down as well. One fight - two wins! Not every combat pilot can do this.

And in the evening, Lily again saw her opponent. The pilot of the downed Messer, a captured ace from the Richthofen squadron, a German baron, wished to meet the winner. A blond, tender-looking young woman came to meet him. This simply pissed off the baron. The Russians wanted to mock him!

Two female crews, Lydia Litvyak and Ekaterina Budanova, in January 1943 were enrolled in the 296th Fighter Regiment, which at that time was based near Stalingrad at the Kotelnikovo airfield.

The situation in the air in March 1943 became more complicated: groups from the famous fascist squadrons "Udet" and "Richthofen" began to invade the regiment's zone of operation. Lily, as part of the six Yakovs, took part in the interception of the Junkers-88 group in the sky of Rostov on March 22. In battle, Litvyak shoots down one of them. The six Me109, who came to the rescue of the Nazis, attacked on the move. Litvyak was the first to notice them. To disrupt a sudden enemy strike, she alone stands in the way of the group. The wounded pilot, after a fifteen-minute battle, managed to bring the crippled Yak to her airfield.

From the hospital, Lilya goes to Moscow, to her home on Novoslobodskaya Street. At the same time, they took a receipt from her that she would be treated at home within a month. However, after only a week, the capital had to be abandoned.

On May 5, not yet fully strengthened, Lily seeks direction to accompany our bombers as part of a cover group. During the flight, an air battle ensued. The Messers, which suddenly appeared from the direction of the sun, attacked our Petlyakovs, which were marching in close formation. In the ensuing battle, Litvyak shoots down another enemy aircraft. On May 7, she again “breaks out” into the sky. From the crosshairs of her sight, smoking, another "Messer" leaves.

On the sector of the front where the regiment operated, at the end of May, the Nazis "hung" an observation balloon. Artillery fire corrected by observers began to cause much more trouble for our troops. Lily goes on a mission alone. Having taken off, the pilot undertakes a cunning maneuver - deepening behind enemy lines, she enters the balloon from the side of the sun, from the depths of enemy territory. At maximum throttle, having dispersed her Yak almost to a flutter, she goes on the attack. From a distance of approximately 1000 meters, she opened fire from all points and did not stop it until she slipped near the falling balloon. June brought Lydia Litvak severe trials. Budanova Katya, her best fighting friend, died. In addition, in front of the entire regiment, the plane of Aleksey Solomatin, the only Hero of the Soviet Union in the regiment at that time, an excellent guy and Lily's beloved, crashed ...

Yak-1B L.V. Litvyak - her last car, 73rd GvIAP, summer 1943

Escorting IL-2 to the front line on July 16, 1943, six of our Yaks entered into battle with thirty-six enemy aircraft. Six "Messerschmitts" and thirty "Junkers" tried to hit our troops, but their plan was thwarted. Litvyak in this battle tore apart another Junker and, with the support of her wingman, shot down a Me-109. And again wounded. On the demand to go to the hospital, she answered with a categorical refusal: "I have enough strength." The next fight took place just three days later.

On July 21, Litvyak, together with Ivan Golyshev, the regiment commander, flew out on a combat mission. Our pair during the departure was attacked by seven "Messers". The commander "got" four fascists, the follower - three. Possessing a sense of mutual assistance, Litvyak never for a moment forgot about her commander. She managed to shoot down one "Messer" from those who were pressing on Golyshev. However, the forces were unequal. Lily's plane was shot down, and she, pursued to the ground by enemies, landed the car on the fuselage half a kilometer from the village of Novikovka.

The fame of the valor of a female fighter pilot went on all along the front. All the pilots of the regiment loved and protected Lily. However, they did not save...

On August 1, 1943, Litvyak raised her Yak three times into the sky of the war. The third battle was very difficult, it was fought with a large group of enemy fighters. Having shot down Me 109 in this battle, the pilot won the fourteenth personal victory. Lily's last sortie was the fourth on that day. Six of our fighters had to grapple with forty-two enemy aircraft. Two enemy vehicles did not return from this battle.

In the sky above Marinovka, the battle was fading away. The dispersed fascist armada was leaving to the west. Clinging to the upper edge of the clouds, our six, which did not lose a single car, headed home. At that moment, a crazy "Messer" suddenly jumped out of the white veil and, before diving into the clouds again, fired a burst at the leader of the last pair ... The Yak-1 tail number "23" did not return to the airfield. On August 4, 1943, Lieutenant Lieutenant Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak, by order of the Eighth Air Army, was forever enrolled in the lists of the 73rd Guards Stalingrad Fighter Aviation Regiment. Four days later, on August 8, Litvyak was presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. She certainly deserved this award.

However, then Leela was not awarded this high rank. As a posthumous award, instead of the Gold Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree came ... Lily's plane fell on the territory occupied by the enemy, in a grove near the Kozhevnya farm (the village of Dmitrovka, Shakhtersky district). Who and where buried the pilot is unknown.

In 1946, local residents handed over the remains of Lily's plane for scrap. The track of the brave pilot was lost for a long time.

Fearless Lily, died the death of the brave in her native sky, was also buried in her land, but for many years she was missing. This uncertainty lasted for forty-five years. however, the trail of the brave pilot has been persistently searched for all these years. Fellow soldiers, soldiers, schoolchildren were looking for.

The newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in 1968 tried to restore the honest name of Lily. Registration by "Komsomolskaya Pravda" presentation for assignment Litvyak L.V. the title of Hero was sent to the political department of the air force. The Air Force command supported the noble impulse of the newspaper staff, but did not forget about the principle "caution is not a hindrance." Command verdict: "Search. Find, we will talk."

In the search for Litvyak in 1971, young soldiers of the Reconnaissance Detachment of Military Glory, led by Valentina Vashchenko, a teacher at the 1st school in the city of Krasny Luch, joined. For several years, the girls and guys of the detachment "combed" the neighborhood of the village of Marinovka up and down.

Lilin's trail was found unexpectedly, almost by accident. The following became known later. The remains of an unknown pilot, discovered by accident by local boys, along with the remains of other soldiers who died in the area, were buried on July 26, 1969. The burial took place in the center of the village of Dmitrovka (Shakhtersky district). Before that, the doctors found that the remains of the pilot were female. So on the mass grave "19 s. Dmitrovka, among many surnames, "Unknown pilot" appeared.

Yak-1 Lydia Litvak

So the fighter pilot was buried! But the question is who exactly? There were two of them in the 8th Air Army at that time - Ekaterina Budanova and Lydia Litvyak. Budanova died heroically in June 1943. The place of her burial is also known. So Lily? Yes, it certainly was her. The certificate received from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense confirmed the conclusion made. The name of Lydia Litvyak was immortalized in July 1988 at the burial place, mass grave "19, located in the center of the village of Dmitrovka. In November 1988, by order of the Deputy Minister of Defense, a change was made to paragraph 22 of the order of the Main Personnel Directorate dated September 16, 1943, regarding the fate Litvyak wrote:
“Missing on August 1, 1943. It should read: she died while performing a combat mission on August 1, 1943.”

Thus, the last white spot in the fate of Lily was eliminated. After that, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR submitted a proposal for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union L. V. Litvyak and posthumously raising her in rank. This high rank of the Guard was awarded to Senior Lieutenant Litvyak on May 6, 1990.

List of victories won by Lidiya Vladimirovna Litvak:
Departures No. 1 and 2, 09/13/1942, Bf 109 and Ju 88 were shot down on La-5, respectively.
Departure No. 3, 27.09. 1942, Ju 88 shot down on La-5.
Departure No. 4, 11.02. 1943 FW 190A shot down on Yak-1.
Departures No. 5 and 6. 1.03. 1943 FW 190A and Ju 88 were shot down on the Yak-1, respectively.
Departures №№ 7 and 8 15.03. 1943 Yak-1 shot down one Ju 88.
Departure №9 5.05. 1943 Yak-1b no data on downed aircraft.
Departure No. 10 31.05. 1943 a balloon was shot down on a Yak-1b.
Departures Nos. 11 and 12. 1.08. 1943 Yak-1b no data on downed aircraft.

Lydia Litvyak - Hero of the Soviet Union, fighter pilot, aviation commander, junior lieutenant of the guard. She was one of the most productive women during the Second World War. This seemingly fragile and sweet girl devoted herself entirely to the fight against the fascist invaders and did the impossible. Eternal glory to the heroes!

It just so happened that among the Soviet aces fighters who distinguished themselves in the Great Patriotic War, nationwide fame and glory went to, in fact, only two, the best - Ivan Kozhedub (according to updated data - 64 personal victories) and Alexander Pokryshkin (59). To our great regret, our other "falcons" are practically not known among the people. Well, they know, however, also - thanks to the book by Boris Polevoy - about Alexei Maresyev (11, including 7 after returning to duty, with amputated legs). Someone may remember the glorious son of the Crimean Tatar and Dagestan peoples Amet-Khan Sultan (30 plus 19 victories in the group). That, in fact, is all, or rather, all ...
In the shadow of Kozhedub and Pokryshkin was even our third ace, Pokryshkin's colleague - twice Hero of the Soviet Union Grigory Rechkalov, who lost quite a bit to Pokryshkin (56 victories). Here, however, there is one circumstance: Rechkalov was an excellent pilot and a brave man, but he had a complex character, was overly ambitious and "limped" in terms of combat discipline.

... In general, our people do not know enough of their heroes-aviators, and therefore it is extremely important to carry out appropriate work to eliminate "white spots". But, by the way, the best female ace in the history of aviation, Lydia Litvyak, fought in the Red Army. She especially distinguished herself in the Battle of Stalingrad, the 80th anniversary of the victory in which we are now celebrating. And Lydia Litvyak was buried in Ukraine - in a mass grave in the village of Dmitrievka, Shakhtyorsky district, Donetsk region.

Lydia was born in Moscow in 1921. Like many young people of the 30s, she became interested in aviation. From the age of 14 she attended an aviation club and at 15 she made her first solo flight. After graduating from the Kherson aviation instructor pilot school, she worked as an instructor at the Kalinin flying club. Moreover, Litvyak showed herself excellently in this work, having prepared 45 cadets before the war. When the Great Patriotic War began, the Soviet command did not plan for the wide participation of women in combat aviation. However, the huge losses of the flight crew forced to change the original intentions. Already in October 1941, it was decided to form three women's air regiments from volunteers. The legendary pilot Marina Raskova was entrusted to supervise this work.

At the beginning of 1942, Lydia Litvyak filed a petition for combat - fighter - aviation, attributing to herself the missing 100 flight hours. She was enrolled in the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP). Litvyak made her first sortie in June in the sky over Saratov. Senior sergeant Inna Pasportnikova, who during the war years was an aircraft technician for Lydia Litvyak, recalls:

"In October 1941, when we were still training at the training base near Engels, Lilya was ordered out of action during the formation. She was in a winter uniform, and we all saw that she cut off the tops of her fur boots to make a fashionable collar for a flight Our commander Marina Raskova asked when she did it, and Lilya replied: "At night ..." Raskova said that the next night Lilya, instead of sleeping, would open the collar and sew the fur back on her boots. and arrested, put in a separate room, and she really did reverse altering the fur all night. This was the first time other women paid attention to Lily, because before no one even noticed this short, petite girl. At 20 years old, she was so thin, pretty and very similar to the actress Serova, who was popular in those years. It's strange: there was a war, and this little girl with blond hair was thinking about some kind of fur collar ... "

The brave pilot made her first sorties as part of the 586th female fighter aviation regiment in the spring of 1942 in the sky of Saratov, covering the Volga from enemy air raids. From April 15 to September 10, 1942, she performed 35 sorties to patrol and escort transport aircraft with important cargo. September 10, 1942, as part of the same regiment, arrived at Stalingrad and in a short period of time made 10 sorties.

On September 13, in the second sortie to cover Stalingrad, she opened her combat account. First, she shot down a Ju-88 bomber, then, helping out her friend Raya Belyaeva, who ran out of ammunition, took her place and, after a stubborn duel, knocked out the Me-109. The pilot of the Me-109 turned out to be a German baron who won 30 air victories, a holder of the Knight's Cross.

And at the end of September, she already fought on the Stalingrad front as part of the 437th "male" air regiment, which defended the sky of Stalingrad, flying La-5. Later she moved to the Yak-1 with the yellow number "44" on board.

The female fighter unit did not last long. Its commander, senior lieutenant R. Belyaeva, was soon shot down and, after a forced parachute jump, was treated for a long time. Following her, M. Kuznetsova was out of action due to illness. Only 2 pilots remained in the regiment: L. Litvyak and E. Budanova. It was they who achieved the highest results in battles. Soon Lydia shot down another Junkers.
Lydia Litvyak was still a very young girl - she was barely 21 years old. Young and very romantic: according to the memories, Lydia wore long scarves made of parachute silk, and always kept a bunch of wildflowers in the cockpit of a fighter. She painted a bright white lily on the hood of her Yak-1.

Many considered her a beauty. And at the front, great love came to Lydia: her husband was her own leader, Alexei Salomatin, who won 12 victories in total. Their glory was crowned with new military victories after the transfer on January 8, 1943 to the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment. By February, Litvyak had completed 16 sorties to escort attack aircraft, reconnaissance of enemy troops and cover our ground forces.
On February 11, 1943, the commander of the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Major N.I. Baranov, led four fighters into battle. And again, as in September, Lydia shot down 2 aircraft - personally Ju-88 and in the FW-190 group. In one of the battles, her Yak-1 was hit and Lydia made an emergency landing on enemy territory. Jumping out of the cab, she, shooting back, rushed to run from the approaching German soldiers. But the distance between them was rapidly shrinking. Now the last cartridge was left in the barrel ... And suddenly our attack aircraft swept over the heads of the enemy. Pouring fire on the German soldiers, he forced them to rush to the ground. Then, releasing the landing gear, he glided next to Lida and stopped. Without getting out of the plane, the pilot desperately waved his hands. The girl rushed towards the pilot, squeezed into the pilot's lap, the plane took off and soon Lydia was in the regiment.

February 23, 1943 Litvyak was awarded a new military award - the Order of the Red Star. A little earlier, on December 22, 1942, she was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad". By that time, 8 downed aircraft were already on her combat account. In March, the situation in the air became even more complicated. On March 22, in the Rostov-on-Don region, Litvyak participated in the interception of a Ju-88 group. During a long and difficult battle, she managed to shoot down one Junkers. At this time, the six Me-109s, which came to the aid of the Junkers, went on the attack on the move. Lydia noticed them first and, in order to thwart a sudden blow, she stood alone in their path. The deadly carousel spun for 15 minutes. With great difficulty, the wounded pilot brought the crippled fighter home. Reporting that the task was completed, she lost consciousness ...
After treatment in the hospital, she went to Moscow, giving a receipt that she would be treated at home within a month. But a week later, Lydia returned to the regiment. On May 5, not yet fully strengthened, Litvyak flew out to escort a group of bombers. During the departure, an air battle ensued and Lydia shot down an enemy fighter. Two days later, she shot down another Messer.

And at the end of May, Litvyak, in a brilliant manner, with a lightning attack from the direction of the sun, shot down a German spotter balloon, which our other fighters could not shoot down before. For this victory, Junior Lieutenant Lydia Litvyak was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Newspapers wrote about her exploits, her name became known to the country. Successes in battles were overshadowed, however, by the loss of loved ones. On May 21, 1943, Lidia's husband, Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Captain Alexei Salomatin, died. And on July 19, her best friend, Katya Budanova, who at that time was the best female ace (11 victories), did not return from the battle. On July 16, 1943, she flew out as part of a six to escort attack aircraft. In the area of the front line, our fighters entered into battle with 30 bombers, accompanied by 6 Messerschmitts, who tried to strike at our ground forces. In this battle, Litvyak personally shot down the Junkers and was paired with a Me-109 wingman, but she herself was wounded. On the demand to go to be treated, she answered with a categorical refusal. More than once she had to accompany our attack aircraft and bombers. In one of the sorties, she shot down a Me-109, a couple of days later - another fight. On July 16, 1943, fighting off three Me-109s, Lydia came to the aid of her commander I. Golyshev, who was attacked by four Messers. A well-aimed turn overtook the enemy car. But her plane was also shot down. Pursued to the very ground, she managed to land her "Yak" on the fuselage. The infantrymen watching the battle covered her landing with fire. They were delighted to learn that a girl turned out to be a fearless pilot. August 1, 1943 Lydia Litvyak did not return from a combat mission. On this fateful day, she made 3 sorties. In one of them, paired with a wingman, she shot down a Me-109. On the fourth sortie, six Yak-1s, having entered into battle with a group of 30 Ju-88s and 12 Me-109s, started a deadly whirlwind. And now the Junkers is on fire, the Messer is falling apart. Coming out of another dive, Lydia saw that the enemy was leaving. Our six also gathered. Clinging to the upper edge of the clouds, they went home. Suddenly, a Messer jumped out of a white veil and, before diving back into the clouds, managed to fire a burst at the leader of the third pair with tail number 23. The Yak seemed to have failed, but the pilot apparently tried to level it near the ground ... In In any case, this is what Lydia's wingman in this battle, Alexander Evdokimov, told his comrades. This gave birth to the hope that she was alive.

A search for her was urgently organized. However, neither the plane nor the pilot could be found. After the death in one of the battles of Sergeant Evdokimov, who knew in which area Lidin "Yak" fell, the official search was stopped.
In her short, just over a year, combat career, she completed 186 sorties, conducted 69 air battles and scored 12 confirmed victories. Characterizing her as an air fighter, the former commander of the 273rd (31st Guards) Fighter Aviation Regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union B. N. Eremin recalled: “She was a born pilot. She had a special talent as a fighter, she was bold and decisive, inventive and cautious. She could see the air...

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak was presented by the command of the regiment to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. Soon one of the previously shot down pilots returned from enemy territory. He reported that, according to local residents, our fighter jet had landed on the road near the village of Marinovka. The pilot turned out to be a girl - blond, small in stature. A car with German officers approached the plane, and the girl left with them ... Most of the aviators did not believe the rumor and continued to try to find out the fate of Lydia. But the shadow of suspicion had already gone beyond the regiment and reached the higher headquarters. The command of the division, having shown "caution", did not approve Litvyak's submission to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, limiting himself to the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.
Once, at the moment of revelation, Lydia said to the aircraft mechanic, her friend: “Most of all I am afraid of missing out. Anything but this." There were good reasons for such concern. Lida's father was arrested and shot as an "enemy of the people" in 1937. The girl perfectly understood what it means to her, the daughter of a repressed person, to go missing. No one and nothing will save her honest name. Fate played a cruel joke with her, preparing just such a fate.

But they searched for Lydia, they searched stubbornly. Back in the summer of 1946, the commander of the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment I. Zapryagaev sent several people by car to the Marinovka area to search for her trace. Unfortunately, Litvyak's brother-soldiers were literally a few days late. The wreckage of the Lida "Yak" had already been destroyed ... In 1968, the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" made an attempt to restore the honest name of the pilot. In 1971, young pathfinders of school No. 1 of the city of Krasny Luch joined the search. In the summer of 1979, their search was crowned with success. Being in the area of the Kozhevnya farm, the guys learned that in the summer of 1943 a Soviet fighter plane crashed on its outskirts. The pilot wounded in the head was a woman. She was buried in the village of Dmitrovka, Shakhtyorsky district, Donetsk region, in a mass grave. It was Lydia Litvyak, which was confirmed by the course of further investigations. In July 1988, in Litvyak's personal file, the entry "disappeared" was finally replaced by "died while performing a combat mission." The veterans of the regiment in which she fought renewed their petition to award her the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

By the Decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990, for the exemplary fulfillment of command assignments and the courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders of the guard, Junior Lieutenant Lidia Vladimirovna Litvyak was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The Order of Lenin No. 460056 and the Gold Star medal No. 11616 were deposited with the relatives of the deceased Heroine.

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