The only completely female regiment (there were two more mixed regiments, the rest were exclusively male), 4 squadrons, these were 80 female pilots (23 received the Hero of the Soviet Union) and a maximum of 45 aircraft, made up to 300 sorties per night, each dropping 200 kg of bombs (60 tons per night). We made 23,672 sorties (almost five thousand tons of bombs). The bombers were mostly advanced, so that falling asleep the German risked not waking up. The accuracy of the battle is amazing, the flight is silent, it is not visible on the radar. Therefore, the U-2 (Po-2), originally contemptuously called by the Germans "Russian plywood", very quickly turned into a regiment of "night witches" in literal translation.
The U-2 itself was created as a training aircraft, was extremely simple and cheap and outdated by the beginning of the war. Although it was produced before the death of Stalin and 33 thousand of them were riveted (one of the most massive aircraft in the world). For combat operations, it was urgently equipped with instruments, headlights, bomb suspension. The frame was often reinforced and ... But this is a long story about the half-century life of the machine and its creator, Polikarpov. It was in his honor that after his death from cancer in 1944, the aircraft was renamed Po-2. But back to our ladies.
First of all, let's dispel the myth of losses. They flew so efficiently (the Germans practically no one flew at night) that 32 girls died in sorties during the entire war. Po-2 haunted the Germans. In any weather, they appeared over the front line and bombed them at low altitudes. The girls had to make 8-9 sorties per night. But there were such nights when they received the task: to bomb "to the maximum." This meant that there should be as many sorties as possible. And then their number reached 16-18 in one night, as it was on the Oder. The pilots were literally taken out of the cockpits and carried in their arms - they could not stand on their feet.
Tanya Shcherbinina remembers Weapons master
The bombs were heavy. It is not easy for a man to deal with them. Young front-line soldiers, pushing, crying and laughing, fastened them to the wing of the aircraft. But before that, it was still necessary to figure out how many shells would be needed at night (as a rule, they took 24 pieces), take them, get them out of the box and undo them, wipe the fuses from grease, screw them into the infernal machine.
The technician shouts: "Girls! By manpower!" This means that it is necessary to hang fragmentation bombs, the lightest ones, 25 kilograms each. And if they fly to bomb, for example, a railway, then 100-kilogram bombs were attached to the wing. In this case, they worked together. Only they will raise it to shoulder level, partner Olga Erokhina will say something funny, both will burst out - and drop the infernal machine to the ground. You have to cry, but they laugh! Again they take up the heavy "pig": "Mom, help me!"
There were happy nights when, in the absence of the navigator, the pilot invited: "Climb into the cockpit, let's fly!" Fatigue vanished. A wild roar filled the air. Maybe it was compensation for the tears on the ground?
It was especially hard in winter. Bombs, shells, machine guns - metal. Is it possible, for example, to load a machine gun in gloves? Hands freeze, are taken away. And the hands are girlish, small, sometimes the skin remained on the frosted metal.
Regimental commissar E. Rachkevich, squadron commanders E. Nikulina and S. Amosova, squadron commissars K. Karpunina and I. Dryagina, regiment commander E. Bershanskaya
Tired of moving. Only niches, dugouts with rollovers will be built by the girls, disguised, covered with branches, the planes, and in the evening the regiment commander shouts into a mouthpiece: "Girls, prepare the planes for redeployment." They flew for a few days, and again moving. In the summer it was easier: in some kind of fishing line they made huts, or even just slept on the ground, wrapped in a tarpaulin, and in winter they had to grind the frozen soil, free the runway from snow.
The main inconvenience is the inability to put yourself in order, wash, wash. Days were considered a holiday when a "wooshock" arrived at the location of the unit - tunics, linen, and trousers were fried in it. More often washed things in gasoline.
Flight personnel of the regiment
Take off! (Still from newsreel)
The crew of N. Ulyanenko and E. Nosal receives a combat mission from the commander of the Bershanskaya regiment
Navigators. Stanitsa Assinovskaya, 1942.
The crew of Tanya Makarova and Vera Belik. They died in 1944 in Poland.
Nina Khudyakova and Lisa Timchenko
Olga Fetisova and Irina Dryagina
in winter
For flights. Spring thaw. Kuban, 1943.
The regiment flew from the "jump airfield" - as close as possible to the front line. Pilots got to this airfield by trucks.
Pilot Raya Aronova at her plane
Armed Forces insert fuses into bombs
4 bombs of 50 or 2 of 100 kg were suspended from the aircraft. During the day, the girls hung several tons of bombs each, as the planes took off at intervals of five minutes ...
April 30, 1943 the regiment became Guards.
Presentation of the Guards banner to the regiment.
two crew
By the well
All three shots were taken in the village of Ivanovskaya near Gelendzhik before the storming of Novorossiysk.
“When the attack on Novorossiysk began, aviation was sent to help the ground troops and the marines, including 8 crews from our regiment.
... The route passed over the sea, or over mountains and gorges. Each crew managed to make 6-10 sorties per night. The airfield was close to the front line, in a zone accessible to enemy naval artillery.
From the book by I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"
Squadron commander of the 47th ShAP Air Force Black Sea Fleet M.E. Efimov and deputy. regiment commander S. Amosov discuss the task of supporting the landing
The deputy commander of the regiment S. Amosova sets the task for the crews allocated to support
landing in the Novorossiysk region. September 1943
“The last night before the assault on Novorossiysk came, the night of September 15-16. Having received a combat mission, the pilots taxied to the start.
... All night long, the planes suppressed pockets of enemy resistance, and already at dawn an order was received: to bomb the headquarters of the fascist troops, located in the center of Novorossiysk near the city square, and the crews flew again. The headquarters was destroyed."
From the book by I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"
"During the assault on Novorossiysk, Amosova's group made 233 sorties. The command awarded the pilots, navigators, technicians and armed forces with orders and medals.
From M. Chechneva's book "The sky remains ours"
Novorossiysk is taken! Katya Ryabova and Nina Danilova are dancing.
The girls not only bombed, but also supported the paratroopers on Malaya Zemlya, supplying them with food and clothing, and mail. At the same time, the Germans on the Blue Line resisted fiercely, the fire was very dense. In one of the sorties in the sky, four crews burned down in front of their friends ...
"... At that moment, searchlights lit up ahead and immediately caught the plane flying in front of us. In the crosshairs of the rays, the Po-2 looked like a silver moth entangled in a web.
... And the blue lights started running again - right in the crosshairs. The flames engulfed the plane, and it began to fall, leaving behind a winding strip of smoke.
The burning wing fell off, and soon the Po-2 fell to the ground, exploding ...
... That night, four of our Po-2s burned down over the target. Eight girls...
I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"
“On April 11, 1944, the troops of the Separate Primorsky Army, having broken through the enemy’s defenses in the Kerch region, rushed to connect with units of the 4th Ukrainian Front. At night, the regiment delivered massive strikes against the retreating columns of the Nazis. 25 thousand kilograms of bombs.
The next day we received an order to relocate to the Crimea.
M.P. Chechneva "The sky remains ours"
Panna Prokopieva and Zhenya Rudneva
Zhenya studied at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, studied astronomy, and was one of the most capable students. I dreamed of studying the stars...
One of the minor planets in the asteroid belt is called "Evgenia Rudneva".
After the liberation of the Crimea, the regiment receives an order to relocate to Belarus.
Belarus, a place near Grodno.
T. Makarova, V. Belik, P. Gelman, E. Ryabova, E. Nikulina, N. Popova
Poland. The regiment was built to present awards.
Here I digress a little from history, remembering photography lovers. This photograph is the middle part of a 9x12 photograph that I found in Bershanskaya's album. I scanned it with a resolution of 1200. Then I printed it on two sheets of 20x30. Then on two sheets 30x45. And then ... - you won't believe it! A photo 2 meters long was taken for the museum of the regiment! And all the faces were read! That was optics!
Fragment of the far end of the photo
I return to the story.
The regiment was moving west with battles. The flights continued...
Poland. For flights.
Winter 1944-45. N. Mecklin, R. Aronova, E. Ryabova.
By the way, if anyone remembers the film "Night Witches in the Sky" - then it was directed by Natalya Meklin (after Kravtsov's husband). She has also written several books. Raisa Aronova also wrote an interesting book about a trip to the battlefields in the 60s. Well, the third one here is my mother, Ekaterina Ryabova.
Germany, Stettin region. Deputy regiment commander E. Nikulin sets the task for the crews.
And the crews are already wearing custom-made ceremonial dresses. The photo is staged, of course. But the flights were still real ...
Two photos from the album of the regiment commander Evdokia Bershanskaya.
Commanders receive a combat mission on April 20, 1945.
Berlin is taken!
The combat work is over.
The regiment is preparing to fly to Moscow to participate in the Victory Parade.
Unfortunately, percale airplanes were not allowed to the parade... But they recognized that they deserve a monument made of pure gold!..
Evdokia Bershanskaya and Larisa Rozanova
Marina Chechneva and Ekaterina Ryabova
Rufina Gasheva and Natalya Meklin
Farewell to the banner of the regiment. The regiment was disbanded, the banner was transferred to the museum.
The famous and legendary even before the war, the creator of the regiment and the ancestor of the very idea to use the U-2 as a night bomber. Marina Raskova, 1941
Marshal K.A. Vershinin presents the regiment with the Order of the Red Banner for the battles for the liberation of Feodosia.
Monument in Peresyp
Those who did not return from the war - remember them:
Makarova Tanya and Belik Vera burned down in Poland on August 29, 1944.
Malakhova Anna
Vinogradova Masha
Tormosina Lilia
Komogortseva Nadia, even before the battles, Engels, March 9, 1942
Olkhovskaya Lyuba
Tarasova Vera
Donbass, shot down in June 1942
Efimova Tonya
died of illness, December 1942
died of illness in the spring of 1943.
Makagon Polina
Svistunova Lida
crashed on landing April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya
Pashkova Julia
died April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya
Nosal Dusya
killed in an airplane 23 April 1943
Vysotskaya Anya
Dokutovich Galya
Horny Sonya
Sukhorukova Zhenya
Polunina Valya
Kashirina Irina
Krutova Zhenya
Salikova Lena
burned down over the Blue Line on August 1, 1943
Belkina Pasha
Frolova Tamara
shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda (no photo)
killed in the bombing, 1943
Volodina Taisiya
Bondareva Anya
lost orientation, Taman, March 1944
Prokofieva Panna
Rudneva Zhenya
burned down over Kerch on April 9, 1944
Varakina Lyuba (no photo)
died at the airfield in another regiment in 1944
Sanfirova Lelya
hit a mine after jumping from a burning plane December 13, 1944, Poland
Kolokolnikova Anya (no photo)
crashed on a motorcycle, 1945, Germany.
Those who want to get statistics on the regiment- in Wiki.
Member of the Great Patriotic War, deputy squadron commander of the 46th Guards Women's Night Bomber Regiment of the 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Hero of the Soviet Union, Guard Major Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova died in Moscow on July 8 at the age of 92.
After graduating from school in the city of Stalino (now Donetsk), Nadezhda Popova studied at the flying club, and in 1939 she came to Moscow to become a military pilot. She met with the Hero of the Soviet Union Polina Osipenko, who contributed to the direction of Popova to the Kherson Aviation School of OSOAVIAKhIM, then to the military aviation school. In May 1942, Nadezhda Popova flew to the front as part of the 588th Night Bomber Women's Aviation Regiment.
German servicemen called the Po-2 night bombers piloted by girls "night witches". At that time, the pilots of the 46th Guards Women's Regiment of Night Bombers fought on the territory of Ukraine, in the Crimea, Belarus, Poland and on the territory of Nazi Germany. 
Nadezhda Popova flew 852 sorties. On February 23, 1945, in the decree on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the names of her and her future husband Semyon Kharlamov were separated by only a few lines, and they always considered May 10, 1945 as the wedding day, when they signed one by one on the Reichstag: "Semyon Kharlamov, Saratov", "Nadya Popova from Donbass".
It is believed that Nadezhda and Semyon became the prototypes of Masha and Romeo from Leonid Bykov's film "Only Old Men Go to Battle" - Semyon Kharlamov was a consultant for the tape. Fortunately, their love story, unlike on-screen heroes, had a happy ending.
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Nadezhda Popova: "The Germans thought that we all smoke, drink ... But we were all clean girls." Last interview.
“Our whole family is Heroes ...” With her husband, General Semyon Kharlamov.
She flew through the entire war, the "night witch" - the pilot of the legendary women's regiment
I have been calling Nadezhda Popova all April, seeking a date, but the receiver coquettishly replies: “I am now dependent: not on love - on the weather ...” All April, bad weather, she is 90, she fell, getting out of bed, badly crashed: she had to call the Ministry of Emergencies, break door, save ... Meanwhile, everyone asks Nadezhda Popova - just about love. Especially on the eve of the Victory. They say that this is her story with her husband - the story of Masha and Romeo from the film “Only “old men” go into battle. Only Nadia and Senya, unlike the movie characters, survived.
I arrive without a call, listen to her story, which has been repeated for many years for different audiences without variations, and I think: what if this is the last time? She has. And that means I have too ... Who will tell me about the war, when all its heroes leave and only cinema remains?
"Female Unit"
Nadezhda Vasilievna has a manicure, snow-white curls and blue eyes. She has already forgotten where I am from, but she remembers how a gypsy prophesied in her childhood: “You will be happy”; she remembers how, as a girl, she waited for her father's salary in order to eat sweets once a month, and how all their school years Donetsk, then Stalino, together with the whole country, was covered by waves coming from a black dish of a radio station. From these waves it ached somewhere in the chest: Papanins! Chkalovites! Stakhanovites! "It was a touch to a feat..."
At the age of 19, after flying school, she wrote a report about being sent to the front and ended up in a regiment of night bombers. The nickname "night witches", which the Germans awarded, only flattered them:
The Germans thought that we were all smoking, drinking, that we were penalized, just out of prison ... And we were all clean girls, 240 people. Navigators - girls, mechanics - girls, 100-kilogram bombs were hung up by four. They slept under the wings of the planes, in canvas bags, two by two, hugging ... They ignored the men: they thought they brought trouble, and the regiment was kept as a purely female unit.
But they sang in those very rare moments of calm: “Ducks and two geese are flying, whom I love - I can’t wait ...”
She waited - in the middle of the war. Senya Kharlamov was 20 years old, and that day - in the summer
On the 42nd, somewhere near Rostov, he also touched the feat: he was hit, he burned, fell, but did not abandon the plane. "Why did you take such a risk?" - "It was a pity for the car!" The bullet was stuck in the cheek, the thigh was pierced, the nose was cut off by a fragment. They operated under “krikaiin” - a recipe: a glass of alcohol and her own scream ... Nadezhda Vasilyevna recalls their meeting, and her voice rises a tone higher than when talking about the Stakhanovites, even higher, even hotter - she already forgot that today there is pressure again.
The Germans said about us: "Rusish Schwein!" So it was embarrassing! What kind of pig am I? I am a beauty! I have a tablet over my shoulder, a pistol, a rocket launcher in my belt ... That day I was carrying a package to the command, I accidentally found out: a wounded man was being transported in an ambulance of a pilot - and went to look. But there was nothing to look at: the whole head was in bandages, only mischievous brown eyes in the slit and lips - plump, unkissed ... I felt so sorry for him: how could he be like that, without a nose ... We talked, I liked his eyes - playful, but then there were no such thoughts: there was a retreat to the east ... I said goodbye: "Senya, goodbye, write."
He didn't write. I just once found her on the roads of war: their female regiment was flying from the “male” airfield - almost like in a movie, in which Masha (actress Evgenia Simonova) made an emergency landing at the airfield of the “singing squadron”.
My mechanic comes running to me: “Comrade commander, a man is asking you!” And my plane is already taking off. And it turns out to be really him, Senya, in whom I only managed to see the top of my head from under the bandages! .. And here he is in his entirety. “So you, it turns out, with a nose!”
In the cockpit of her "heavenly slug" there were apples - the regiment stood in the gardens, a flask with a hundred grams of combat, which were given out after night flights: "I didn’t drink, I gave it all to him - and flew away."
Masha and Romeo from the film died on the same day - maybe on the same apple day.
And Nadia Popova is a captain of the guard, 852 sorties throughout the war !!! - and Semyon Kharlamov more than once met each other's names on the pages of newspapers, as if they were saying hello to each other, until one day, on February 23, 1945, they agreed on the front page, in a decree on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: in the column of their surnames shared only the order of the letters of the alphabet - and the heart already knew that this was fate.
And we always considered May 10, 45th, as the day of our wedding, when we signed one by one at the Reichstag: “Semyon Kharlamov, Saratov”, “Nadya Popova from Donbass” - this was our marriage registration ...
“Is it really just pots?!”
With her son under her heart, she flew until the 9th month, after the Victory she went to serve her husband in the regiment. Semyon Kharlamov grew to a general, a high rank, was the deputy air marshal Pokryshkin. Advised Leonid Bykov during the filming of “Only “old men” go into battle. “Bykov, short, looked at my husband as if he were a god, and Senya was joking all the time.” Their best years fell on the war ...
When the reduction of the army began in Khrushchev’s times, I quit my job and was horrified: “Are there really only pots now ?!”
Instead of pans, she was a deputy, she was a member of the Committee of Soviet Women, the Committee for the Protection of Peace. Met the Belgian Queen:
Are you like Tereshkova? the queen asked, nodding at the star and the slats on her chest.
No, I'm like Popova.
Widowed in 1990. “Would you believe it, for all these years I haven’t talked enough with my Senechka ...” There was a son left, also a general, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
She sleeps badly - bad weather, watches TV at night and eats ice cream. After the fall, the rescue of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the hospital, he walks around the house in a step, on a walker. Calling girls. I thought they were discussing ailments, but: “We are all politically savvy, now we are outraged by the story with Bout: it’s a shame that they think badly about Russian weapons!”
Of the girls last year, seven people came to the square near the Bolshoi Theater. Two have died this year. "Tanya Maslennikova and Klava Ryzhkova". The rest are suspended on thin strings of telephone wires and do not leave the house. They don't parade. Do not put carnations to the Eternal Flame.
Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova presses her manicured finger to her pale lips with small wrinkles: “I guess that on May 9 I will go to the parade! ..”
Still taking a hit. Night witch.
Author: Polina Ivanushkina
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How many heroic deeds our ancestors accomplished during the Great Patriotic War. Soviet women and even very young girls participated in the fight against the enemy along with men. A few years before the onset of the Nazis in the vastness of the Soviet Union, mass training of young people in flying clubs was launched. The profession of a pilot was so romantic and attractive that not only enthusiastic young men, but also girls aspired to the sky. As a result, by June 1941, the country had a staff of young pilots, this circumstance once again refutes the allegations that the USSR was completely unprepared for war, and the country's leadership did not expect an attack.
In October 1941, in the most difficult military situation, the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR issued an order to form a women's aviation regiment No. 0099. Responsibility for the execution of the order was assigned to Maria Raskova. In their interviews, the surviving female front-line soldiers speak of Raskova as the most authoritative person in their midst. Her orders were not discussed, young girls who came from different parts of the country, who had just graduated from pilot courses, looked at Raskova as a pilot of an unattainable level. By that time, Raskova was a little over twenty-five years old, but even then Maria Mikhailovna was a Hero of the USSR. An amazing, brave and very beautiful woman died in 1943 in a plane crash in the most difficult weather conditions near the village of Mikhailovka in the Saratov region. Maria Raskova was cremated, and the urn with her ashes was placed in the Kremlin wall so that grateful descendants could lay flowers and honor the memory of the female hero.
In accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense, Maria Mikhailovna formed three divisions:
fighter aviation regiment 586;
aviation regiment BB 587;
night aviation regiment 588 (legendary "night witches").
The first two divisions became mixed during the war; not only girls, but also Soviet men fought valiantly in them. The night aviation regiment consisted exclusively of women, even the hardest work was performed by the fairer sex.
At the head of the "night witches" or the 46th guards nbap was an experienced pilot Evdokia Bershanskaya. Evdokia Davydovna was born in the Stavropol Territory in 1913. Her parents died during the Civil War, and the girl was brought up by her uncle. The strong character of this woman allowed her to become brilliant pilot and commander. By the beginning of the war, Evdokia Bershanskaya already had ten years of flying experience, she diligently passed on her knowledge to young subordinates. Evdokia Davydovna went through the whole war, and after that she worked for a long time in public organizations for the benefit of the Fatherland.
Regiment commander Evdokia Davydovna Bershanskaya and regiment navigator Hero of the Soviet Union Larisa Rozanova. 1945
The entrusted Bershansky regiment was sometimes called "Dunkin". This name shows the whole history of brave pilots. plywood, lungs Po-2 planes were not at all suitable for fierce battles with the German invaders. The Germans openly laughed at the sight of this fragile structure. Often the girls were not taken seriously, and throughout the war they had to prove their skills and demonstrate the capabilities of the “whatnots”. The risk was extremely high, since Po-2 fast caught fire and was completely devoid of any armor or other type of protection. Po-2 is a civil aircraft used for transport purposes, as well as in the field of communications. The girls independently hung the bomb load on special beams on the lower plane of the aircraft, which sometimes exceeded 300 kg. Each shift could carry a weight reaching a ton. The girls worked in extreme tension, which allowed them to fight the enemy on an equal footing with men. If earlier the Germans laughed at the mention of the "Kuban whatnot", then after the raids they began to call the regiment "night witches" and attribute magical properties to them. Probably, the Nazis simply could not imagine that Soviet girls were capable of such feats.
Maria Runt, a native of Samara, the same age as Bershanskaya, was responsible for party work in the regiment of girls studying to fly in the city of Engels. She was an experienced and courageous bomber pilot who patiently shared her experience with the younger generation. Before and after the war, Runt was engaged in pedagogical work and even defended her PhD thesis.
Combat aircraft PO-2, on which the crews of the regiment flew to bomb the Nazis
The baptism of fire of the 46th Guards Nbap took place in mid-June 1942. Lungs Po-2 soared into the sky. Pilot Bershanskaya with navigator Sofya Burzaeva, as well as Amosova and Rozanova, went on the first flight. According to the stories of the pilots, the expected fire from the position of the enemy did not follow and the crew of Amosov-Rozanov circled three times over a given target - a mine, in order to drop a deadly load. Today, we can judge the events of that time only from documents and a few interviews with direct participants in combat missions. In 1994, they talked about the exploits of the women's air regiment Larisa Rozanova, navigator, born in 1918, son of the hero of the USSR Aronova, as well as Olga Yakovleva, navigator. They describe all the difficulties and horrors of the war that the fragile Soviet girls had to face, as well as the heroically dead pilots and navigators.
It should be said separately about each of those who, on the light Po-2, terrified the invaders. Larisa Rozanova was refused several times in her requests to send her to the front. After order No. 0099 was issued, Rozanova got into a flight school in the city of Engels, and then into the 46th Guards. During the war, she flew over the Stavropol Territory and the Kuban, soared on her light Po-2 over the North Caucasus and Novorossiysk. Rozanova contributed to the liberation of Poland and Belarus, celebrated the victory in Germany. Larisa Nikolaevna died in 1997, having lived a long and interesting life.
Flight commander Tanya Makarova and navigator Vera Belik. 1942 Posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
Olga Yakovleva went from being a gunner to a navigator, she participated in battles against the invaders for the Caucasus, as well as in the liberation of the Crimea, Kuban and Belarus. The brave woman inflicted well-aimed bombing attacks on enemy targets in East Prussia.
The combat path of the regiment is a series of glorious deeds, to which each of the "night witches" contributed. Despite the formidable name that the Nazis gave to the women's air regiment, for the Russian people they will forever remain noble conquerors of the sky. After the first sortie took place, young girls on lungs plywood "whatnots" fought for a long time. From August to December 1942 they defended Vladikavkaz. In January 1943, the regiment was sent to help break through the line of German troops on the Terek, as well as to support offensive operations in the area of Sevastopol and the Kuban. From March to September of the same year, the girls undertook operations on the Blue Front Line, and from November to May 1944 they covered the landing of Soviet forces on the Taman Peninsula. The regiment was involved in actions to break through the defenses of the Nazis near Kerch, in the village of Eltigen, as well as in the liberation of Sevastopol and the Crimea. From June to July 1944, the women's aviation regiment was thrown into battle on the Pronya River, and from August of the same year it flew over the territory of occupied Poland. From the beginning of 1945, the girls were transferred to East Prussia, where the “night witches” on PO-2 successfully fought and supported the crossing of the Narew River. March 1945 was marked in the history of the valiant regiment by participation in the liberation battles for Gdansk and Gdynia, and from April to May, the brave pilots supported the offensive of the Soviet Army behind the retreating fascists. Over the entire period, the regiment made over twenty-three thousand sorties, most of which took place in difficult conditions. On October 15, 1945, the regiment was disbanded, and the bulk of the girls were demobilized.
Twenty-three brave female pilots of the 49th Women's Aviation Regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. Evdokia Nosal, a native of the Zaporozhye region, was killed by a shell that exploded in the cockpit in the battles for Novorossiysk. Evgenia Rudneva, also from Zaporozhye, died in April 1944 on a combat mission in the sky north of Kerch. Tatyana Makarova, a 24-year-old Muscovite, burned to death in an airplane in 1944 in the battles for Poland. Vera Belik, a girl from the Zaporozhye region, died along with Makarova in the sky over Poland. Olga Sanfirova, born in 1917 in the city of Kuibyshev, died in December 1944 on a combat mission. Maria Smirnova from the Tver region, a smiling Karelian, retired with the rank of Major of the Guard, lived a long life and died in 2002. Evdokia Pasko - a girl from Kyrgyzstan, born in 1919, retired with the rank of senior lieutenant. Irina Sebrova from the Tula region, since 1948 senior lieutenant of the reserve. Natalya Meklin, a native of the Poltava region, also survived the bloody battles and retired with the rank of major, died in 2005. Zhigulenko Evgenia, a resident of Krasnodar, with beautiful eyes and an open smile, also became a Hero of the USSR in 1945. Evdokia Nikulina, a native of the Kaluga region, entered the reserve of the guard as a major and lived until 1993 after the war. Raisa Aronova, a girl from Saratov, retired as a major and died in 1982. Khudyakova Antonia, Ulyanenko Nina, Gelman Polina, Ryabova Ekaterina, Popova Nadezhda, Raspolova Nina, Gasheva Rufina, Syrtlanova Maguba, Rozanova Larisa, Sumarokova Tatyana, Parfenova Zoya, Dospanova Khivaz and Akimova Alexandra also became heroes of the USSR in the valiant 49th Aviation Regiment.
Machine gun verification. Left st. weapons technician of the 2nd Squadron Nina Buzina. 1943
About each of these great women, as well as about other girls who served in the 49th regiment, called the “night witches” by the Nazis, you can write not only an article, but also a book. Each of them has come a long way and is worthy of memory and respect. Soviet women fought not for the party and not for Soviet power, they fought for our future, for the right of future generations to live free.
In 2005, a literary "creation" was published under the name "Camping Field Wives", the authors of which are certain Olga and Oleg Greig. It would be criminal not to mention this scandalous fact, which is the product of attempts to interpret historical truth. The mentioned "creators", the proud word of the writer has no desire to call them, tried to denigrate the bright memory of heroic women with statements in their sexual promiscuity and other vices. In refutation of the shameful and narrow-minded speculation, I would like to recall that not a single fighter of the 49th Women's Aviation Regiment left the ranks due to gynecological diseases or pregnancy. We will not deny that based on the real story of Nadia Popova and Semyon Kharlamov, the love story in the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle” was covered, but people with stable moral values are well aware of the differences between sexual promiscuity and high feeling.
Heroes of the Soviet Union: Tanya Makarova, Vera Belik, Fields Gelman, Katya Ryabova, Dina Nikulina, Nadya Popova. 1944
Heroes of the Soviet Union squadron commander Maria Smirnova and navigator Tatyana Sumarokova. 1945
Heroes of the Soviet Union Nadezhda Popova and Larisa Rozanova. 1945
War does not have a feminine face... Perhaps that is why we look so intently at women's images in military photographs, we are interested in their fate in the war. It is women's military stories that are especially touchingly reflected in both fiction and cinema. Below we will talk about the aviation regiment, which was formed to fight the fascist invader. "Night witches" - this is how the enemies called this regiment. All his warriors - from pilots and navigators to technicians - were women.
The history of the creation of the 46th Aviation Regiment
B 1941 гoду, в гopoдe Энгeльc пoд личную oтвeтcтвeннocть cтapшeгo лeйтeнaнтa гocбeзoпacнocти Mapины Pacкoвoй был ocнoвaн 46 гвapдeйcкий нoчнoй бoмбapдиpoвoчный жeнcкий aвиaциoнный пoлк, кoтopый в будущeм oкpecтили «Hoчными вeдьмaми».
Marina Raskova is the founder of the women's aviation regiment. In 1941, Marina Raskova was 29 years old.
For this, Marina had to use her personal resources and personal acquaintance with Stalin. No one really counted on success, however, they gave “good” and provided the necessary equipment. Evdokia Bershanskaya, a pilot with ten years of experience, was appointed commander of the regiment. Under her command, the regiment fought until the end of the war. Sometimes this regiment was jokingly called: "Dunkin Regiment", hinting at a completely female composition, and, justifying itself by the name of the regiment commander.
The enemy called the pilots "Night Witches", who suddenly appeared silently on small planes.
The 46th Taman Guards Regiment is a unique and the only formation in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. In total there were three aviation regiments in which women flew: fighter, heavy bombers and light bombers.
Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova), at the age of 20 she was enlisted in the air regiment. The hero of the USSR. The first two regiments were mixed, and only the last, which flew the Po-2 light bomber, was exclusively female. Pilots and navigators, commanders and commissars, instrument operators and electricians, technicians and armamentsmen, clerks and staff workers - all these were women. And all, even the hardest work was done by women's hands. None of the replacements had experience in night flying, so they flew under a canopy that created an imitation of darkness. Soon the regiment was transferred to Krasnodar, and night witches began to fly over the Caucasus.
There were no men in the regiment, so the “feminine spirit” manifested itself in everything: in the neatness of the uniform, the cleanliness and comfort of the hostel, the culture of leisure, the absence of rude and obscene words, and dozens of other little things. As for combat...
Our regiment was sent to perform the most difficult tasks, we flew to complete physical exhaustion. There were cases when the crews could not get out of the cockpit due to fatigue, and they had to be helped
The flight lasted about an hour - enough to fly to the target in the immediate rear or on the front line of the enemy, drop bombs and return home. In one summer night, they managed to make 5 - 6 sorties, in winter - 10 - 12. They had to work both in the dagger beams of German searchlights and under heavy shelling, ”recalled Evdokia Rachkevich.
Aircraft and weapons of the "night witches"
The "Night Witches" flew Polikarpov biplanes, or Po-2s. The number of combat vehicles increased in a couple of years from 20 to 45. This aircraft was originally created not at all for combat, but for exercises. It did not even have a compartment for air bombs (the shells were hung under the "belly" of the aircraft on special bomb racks). The maximum speed that such a machine could develop is 120 km / h. With such modest weapons, the girls showed the wonders of piloting. This despite the fact that each Po-2 carried the load of a large bomber, often up to 200 kg at a time. Pilots fought only at night. Moreover, in one night they made several sorties, terrifying the positions of the enemy. The girls did not have parachutes on board, being literally suicide bombers. In the event of a shell hitting the plane, they could only die heroically. The pilots loaded the places reserved by technology for parachutes with bombs. Another 20 kg of weapons was a serious help in battle. Until 1944, these training aircraft were not equipped with machine guns. Both the pilot and the navigator could control them, so if the first one died, his partner could bring the combat vehicle to the airfield.
“Our training aircraft was not created for military operations. Wooden biplane with two open cockpits located one behind the other and dual controls - for the pilot and navigator. (Before the war, pilots were trained on these machines). Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power motor that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. There was no bomb bay on the plane, the bombs were hung in bomb racks directly under the plane of the plane. There were no sights, we created them ourselves and called them PPR (simpler than a steamed turnip). The amount of bomb cargo varied from 100 to 300 kg. On average, we took 150-200 kg. But during the night the plane managed to make several sorties, and the total bomb load was comparable to the load of a large bomber.Machine guns on aircraft also appeared only in 1944. Before that, the only weapons on board were TT pistols.- the pilots recalled.
In modern language, the Po-2 plywood bomber could be called a stealth aircraft. At night, at low altitude and low level flight, German radars could not detect it. German fighters were afraid to snuggle too close to the ground, and often this was what saved the lives of the pilots. That is why the girls from the night bomber regiment received such an ominous nickname - night witches. But if the Po-2 fell into the searchlight beam, it was not difficult to bring it down.
War. Battle path
After the night flights, the stiff girls could hardly get to the barracks. They were carried away directly from the cab by a friend who had already warmed up, because her hands and feet, bound by the cold, did not obey
- During the fighting, the pilots of the air regiment made 23,672 sorties. The breaks between flights were 5-8 minutes, sometimes the crew made 6-8 sorties per night in summer and 10-12 in winter.
- In total, the aircraft were in the air for 28,676 hours (1,191 full days).
- The pilots dropped more than 3 thousand tons of bombs, 26,000 incendiary shells. The regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway echelons, 2 railway stations, 26 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 176 vehicles, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights.
- 811 fires and 1092 large explosions were caused.
- Also, 155 bags of ammunition and food were dropped on the encircled Soviet troops.
Before the battle for Novorossiysk, the base near Gelendzhik Until the middle of 1944, the crews of the regiment flew without parachutes, preferring to take an extra 20 kg of bombs with them. But after heavy losses, I had to make friends with the white dome. We didn’t go for it very willingly - the parachute fettered movement, by morning the shoulders and back ached from the straps.
If there were no night flights, then during the day the girls played chess, wrote letters to their relatives, read or, having gathered in a circle, sang. They also embroidered with the “Bulgarian cross”. Sometimes the girls organized amateur evenings, to which they invited the aviators of the neighboring regiment, who also flew at night on slow-moving vehicles.
Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing The combat losses of the regiment amounted to 32 people. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing. After the war, the commissar of the regiment, Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, used the money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where the planes died, and found the graves of all the dead.
Composition of the regiment
On May 23, 1942, the regiment flew to the front, where it arrived on May 27. Then its number was 115 people - most aged 17 to 22 years.
Pilots heroes of the Soviet Union - Rufina Gasheva (left) and Natalya Meklin During the war years, 24 servicemen of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The title of Hero of the Republic of Kazakhstan was awarded to one pilot: Guards Art. lieutenant Dospanova Khiuaz - more than 300 sorties.
If it were possible to collect flowers from all over the world and put them at your feet, then even with this we would not be able to express our admiration for the Soviet pilots!
The French soldiers of the Normandy-Niemen regiment wrote.
Losses
The irretrievable combat losses of the regiment amounted to 23 people and 28 aircraft. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing.
After the war, the commissar of the regiment, Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, used the money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where the planes died, and found the graves of all the dead
The most tragic in the history of the regiment was the night of August 1, 1943, when four aircraft were lost at once. The German command, annoyed by the constant night bombing, transferred a group of night fighters to the regiment's area of operations. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet pilots, who did not immediately understand why the enemy anti-aircraft artillery was inactive, but the planes caught fire one after another. When the understanding came that Messerschmitt Bf.110 night fighters were fired against them, the flights were stopped, but before that, the German ace pilot, who only in the morning became a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Josef Kociok managed to burn three Soviet bombers in the air, along with the crews, on which there were no parachutes.
Another bomber was lost due to anti-aircraft fire. That night, Anna Vysotskaya with navigator Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova with navigator Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina with navigator Glafira Kashirina, Sofya Rogova with navigator Evgenia Sukhorukova died.
However, in addition to combat, there were other losses. So, on August 22, 1943, the communications chief of the regiment, Valentina Stupina, died of tuberculosis in the hospital. And on April 10, 1943, already at the airfield, one plane, landing in the dark, landed directly on another, which had just landed. As a result, the pilots Polina Makagon and Lida Svistunova died immediately, Yulia Pashkova died from her injuries in the hospital. Only one pilot remained alive - Khiuaz Dospanova, who received severe injuries - her legs were broken, but after several months of hospitalization, the girl returned to service, although due to improperly fused bones, she became an invalid of the 2nd group.
Crews also died before being sent to the front, in accidents during training.
Photo of pilots. Night Witches. War
1 of 28
Pilots heroes of the Soviet Union - Rushina Gasheva (left) and Natalya Meklin
Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing
Memories of the war
Max nights
Pilot Marina Chechneva, at the age of 21 she became the commander of the 4th squadron Marina Chechneva recalls:
“Flying over mountains is difficult, especially in autumn. Unexpectedly cloudy piles up, pressing the plane to the ground, or rather to the mountains, you have to fly in gorges or over unevenly high peaks. Here, every slight turn, the slightest decrease threatens with a catastrophe, in addition, ascending and descending air currents arise near the mountain slopes, which imperiously pick up the car. In such cases, remarkable composure and skill are required from the pilot in order to stay at the right height ...
... These were "maximum nights" when we were in the air for eight to nine hours in a row. After three or four sorties, the eyes closed by themselves. While the navigator went to the command post to report on the flight, the pilot slept for several minutes in the cockpit, while the armed forces hung bombs, mechanics filled the plane with gasoline and oil. The navigator returned, and the pilot woke up ...
“Maximum nights” were given to us by a huge strain of physical and mental strength, and when dawn broke, we, barely moving our legs, went to the dining room, dreaming of having breakfast and falling asleep as soon as possible. At breakfast we were given some wine, which was supposed to be the pilots after combat work. But still, the dream was disturbing - dreamed of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, some had persistent insomnia ... "
The feat of mechanics
In the memoirs, the pilots describe the feat of mechanics who had to work around the clock. Aircraft refueling at night, aircraft maintenance and repair during the day. 
“... The flight lasts about an hour, and mechanics and armed forces are waiting on the ground. They were able to inspect, refuel the aircraft, hang bombs in three to five minutes. It is hard to believe that young thin girls during the night with their hands and knees, without any devices, each hung up to three tons of bombs. These modest assistant pilots showed true miracles of endurance and skill. And the mechanics? Whole nights they worked at the start, and during the day they repaired cars, preparing for the next night. There were cases when the mechanic did not have time to bounce off the screw when starting the engine and her hand was interrupted ...
... And then we introduced a new service system - shift teams on duty. Each mechanic was assigned a certain operation on all aircraft: meeting, refueling or release ... Armed men in threes were on duty at the cars with bombs. Supervised by one of the senior AE technicians.
Fighting nights began to resemble the work of a well-functioning factory assembly line. The plane that returned from the mission was ready for a new flight in five minutes. This allowed the pilots to make 10-12 sorties on some winter nights.
Minute of rest
“Of course, the girls remained girls: they carried kittens on airplanes, danced in non-flying weather at the airport, right in overalls and high fur boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on footcloths, dissolving blue knitted underpants for this, and wept bitterly if they were suspended from flying”
The girls made up their playful rules.
“Be proud, you are a woman. Look down on men!
Do not beat off the groom from your neighbor!
Do not envy a friend (especially if he is in a dress)!
Don't shave. Save your femininity!
Don't trample your boots. No new ones!
Love combatant!
Do not pour out the cancer, give it to a friend!
Don't swear!
Do not get lost!"
The female pilots in the memoirs describe their baggy uniform and huge boots. The shape to size for them was not immediately sewn. Then two types of uniforms appeared - everyday with trousers and dress with a skirt.
On missions, of course, they flew out in trousers, the uniform with a skirt was intended for solemn meetings of the command. Of course, the girls dreamed of dresses and shoes.
“After the formation, all the command gathered at our headquarters, we reported to the commander about our work and our problems, including huge tarpaulin boots ... He was also not very pleased with our trousers. And after some time they took measurements from everyone and sent us brown tunics with blue skirts and red chrome boots - American. They only let water through like a blotter.
Long after that, we considered the uniform with skirts "Tyulenevskaya", and we put it on by order of the regiment: "Front dress uniform." For example, when they received the Guards banner. Flying in skirts, or hanging bombs, or cleaning the engine, of course, was inconvenient ... "
In moments of relaxation, the girls liked to embroider:
“In Belarus, we began to actively “get sick” with embroidery, and this continued until the end of the war. It started with forget-me-nots. Oh, what beautiful forget-me-nots turned out if you dissolve blue knitted underpants and embroider flowers on thin summer footcloths! You can make a napkin out of this, and it will go on a pillowcase. This disease, like chicken pox, captured the entire regiment ...
I come in the afternoon to the dugout to the armed men. The rain soaked her through, pouring from all the cracks, puddles on the floor. In the middle stands a girl on a chair and embroiders some kind of flower. Only there are no colored threads. And I wrote to my sister in Moscow: “I have a very important request for you: send me colored threads, and if you could make a gift to our women and send more. Our girls are rooting for every thread, every cloth is used for embroidery. If you do a great job, everyone will be very grateful.” From the same letter: “And today after dinner we formed a company: I am sitting at the embroidery of forget-me-nots, Bershanskaya is embroidering roses, with a cross, Anka is embroidering poppies, and Olga is reading aloud to us. There was no weather…”
Memory and newsreel about the 46th Aviation Regiment
Poems about night witch pilots
Under snow, rain and good weather
With your wings you cut the darkness over the earth.
"Night witches" on "heavenly slug"
They bombed fascist positions in the rear.
Even by age and temper - girls ...
It's time to fall in love and be loved.
Under the helmets of the pilot you hid bangs
And they rushed into the sky to beat the enemy of the Fatherland.
And immediately take off into the darkness from the desks of flying clubs
Without a parachute and without a gun, only with a TT.
You probably liked the starry sky.
You and at low level are always on top.
You are "heavenly creatures" for your fighters,
And for strangers - "night witches" on Po-2.
You inspired fear over the Don and Taman,
Yes, and on the Oder there was a rumor about you.
Not everyone, not everyone will return from the night battle.
Sometimes the wings, the body are worse than a sieve.
They sat down miraculously with a pile of enemy holes.
Patches - during the day, and at night again - "From the screw!"
As soon as the sun enters its hangar by a third and
Technicians will serve the winged apparatus,
They take off along the "night witches" strip,
To arrange a Russian hell for the Germans on earth.
Song from k.f. "Night witches in the sky"
Watch the film "Night Witches in the Sky" (1981)
"Night Witches" or "Night Swallows" TV series 2012
This is a film about women in aviation who fought in the ranks of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War on an equal footing with men.
The cast is not bad, the acting is also good.
During the Second World War, not only young seventeen-year-old boys went to the front, but also girl students. Young beauties, who yesterday were preparing for exams, met guys and dreamed of a wedding dress, today fought for the life of their compatriots and the freedom of the Motherland. Some of the brave girls became a military nurse, someone - a scout, someone - a machine gunner, and someone - a military pilot. They fought against fascism on an equal footing with men, often in the same regiment.
"Night Witches"
The most famous and at the same time the only women's regiment in Russian and world history is the 46th Guards Women's Night Bomber Regiment, affectionately referred to by the regular army of the Soviet Union as the "Dunkin Regiment" and fearfully nicknamed "Night Witches" by fascist soldiers.
"Night witches" at first caused only contemptuous laughter from the German army, as they flew on U-2 plywood planes, which, with a direct hit, were not difficult to shoot down from. However, during the battles, the fearless warriors managed to show what they were worth, inspiring the enemy horror of the "night swallows" (as the girls called their planes).
The Women's Night Bomber Aviation Regiment made an invaluable contribution to the victory.
"U-2" - a cardboard corncob or a combat "Heavenly slug"?
"U-2" and "Po-2" are light plywood airplanes, the hulls of which were not protected from hits by large-caliber weapons. They caught fire at the slightest contact with fire. Slow cars, the speed limit of which was slightly above 100 km / h, gained altitude up to 500 meters, but in the capable hands of the female pilots they turned into a formidable weapon.
At nightfall, the 46th Women's Night Bomber Aviation Regiment appeared out of nowhere and bombarded enemy positions with bombs.
Rakobolskaya speaks with respect of Raskova, who made a professional regiment of night bombers out of an "unformed, shaggy, dirty-haired army". With a laugh, ninety-year-old Irina Vyacheslavovna recalls her girlish resentment when, like the entire female regiment, the command ordered her to cut her hair short, and about the annoyance that arose when she found out what the battle brothers called their unit.
A woman who fought for the people, for the future of her children, with tears in her eyes, talks about how the fate of some girls from the "Dunkin Regiment" after the war, because not every one of them found her calling in peacetime. However, the wise Irina Vyacheslavovna Rakobolskaya does not hold a grudge against either the authorities or the eccentric youth. She believes that if a war broke out in our time, young guys and girls would not hesitate for a minute to go to defend their homeland.
"Night witches" in art
Glory overtook the regiment in the field of art. Many films have been made about brave girls and many songs have been sung.
The first film about the 46th Guards Women's Night Bomber Regiment with the title "1100 Nights" was filmed by Semyon Aronovich back in the Soviet Union, in 1961. After 20 years, another film was released - "In the sky" Night Witches ".
In the famous and beloved work “Only Old Men Go to Battle”, the plot was based on the story of the “Night Witch” by Nadezhda Popova and the pilot Semyon Kharlamov.
Some foreign bands, such as Hail of Bullets and Sabaton, glorify the 46th Guards Women's Regiment in their compositions.
The Germans called them "night witches", and Marshal Rokossovsky called them legends. The marshal was sure that the pilots would reach Berlin, and he was right. The low-speed night bombers PO-2 of the “night witches” bombed the Germans, regardless of the weather conditions and all air defense systems, and a woman was invariably at the helm. About the most productive aces of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment - in the material "Defend Russia".
Irina Sebrova, Natalia Meklin, Evgenia Zhigulenko. They served in the legendary women's aviation regiment of Marina Raskova (46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment), and their front-line biographies are in many ways similar. Each of them was passionate about aviation and from the first days of the Great Patriotic War aspired to the front, each had three years of war and a journey from the Caucasus to Germany. The pilots even received the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union on the same day - February 23, 1945.
But at the same time, the exploits of the "night witches" are unique - the bombers accounted for about 1000 sorties and tens of tons of bombs dropped on enemy positions. And this is on wooden PO-2 biplanes, which were not created for military purposes at all and the German air defense forces could not answer much!
“Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power motor that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. (...) bombs were hung in bomb racks right under the plane of the aircraft, ”recalled pilot Natalia Kravtsova (Mecklin) after the war.
Irina Sebrova, 1004 sorties
“Ira Sebrova made the most sorties in the regiment - 1004, it’s even scary to say. I think that in the whole world you can’t find a pilot with so many sorties,” wrote the pilot’s colleagues Irina Rakobolskaya and Natalia Kravtsova (Meklin) in the book “We were called night witches”.
Irina was one of the first who turned to Marina Raskova with a request to enroll her in the emerging women's air regiment. And the girl had arguments - even then, in October 1941, Sebrova was an experienced pilot: she graduated from the Moscow flying club, worked as an instructor, and before the war released several groups of cadets.
The battles in the Donbass region in May 1942 became a baptism of fire for the bombers. On PO-2 light bombers, regardless of the weather, they made several sorties per night. This is how Irina's front-line everyday life went, this is how experience was gained.
“She loves flying, she is attentive in flights, self-possessed, demanding of herself, disciplined,” Sebrova’s description said.
It soon became clear that there were no impossible tasks for the girl: solid fog, rain, lack of visibility, mountains, enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns - she couldn’t care less about any difficulties.
Over the Donbass, Novorossiysk and Eltigen, in Belarus, Poland and Germany, Sebrova raised her plane against the enemy. During the war years, she rose to the rank of senior lieutenant of the guard, went from a simple pilot to a flight commander. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times, the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, many medals, including "For the Defense of the Caucasus."
The pilot received the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star of the Hero on February 23, 1945 for 792 sorties. Until the end of the war and the brilliant result of 1000 sorties (1000-1008 - the number varies depending on the source; 1000 is indicated in the submission to the Order of the Red Banner of 06/15/1945) there were less than three months ...
Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova), 980 sorties
Natalia grew up in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Kharkov. There she graduated from school and an flying club, and in 1941 she moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.
The war began, and the girl, along with other students, went to build defensive fortifications near Bryansk. Returning to the capital, she enrolled, like other future "night witches", in the women's aviation unit of Marina Raskova, graduated from the Engels military pilot school, and in May 42 went to the front.
She was a navigator, and later retrained as a pilot. She made her first flights as a pilot in the sky over Tamanya. The situation at the front was not easy, the German forces desperately resisted the Soviet offensive, and the air defense on the occupied lines was saturated to the limit. In such conditions, Natalya became a real ace: she learned to take the plane away from enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, to escape unscathed from German night fighters.
Together with the regiment, the commander of the guard, Lieutenant Natalya Meklin, traveled a three-year journey from the Terek to Berlin, making 980 sorties. In February 1945, she became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
He is a brave and fearless pilot. He devotes all his strength, all his combat skills to the fulfillment of combat missions,” the presentation to the main award of the country says. “Her combat work serves as a model for all personnel.
After the war, Natalya Kravtsova (her husband's surname) wrote novels and stories about the Great Patriotic War. The most famous book is “We were called night witches. This is how the women's 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment fought,” was written jointly with her front-line friend Irina Rakobolskaya.
Evgenia Zhigulenko, 968 sorties
“The Germans called us ‘night witches’, and the witches were only 15 to 27 years old,” Yevgenia Zhigulenko wrote in her memoirs.
She was 21 years old when in May 1942 she went to the front in the 46th night bomber regiment formed by Marina Raskova.
She made her first combat sorties in the sky over Donbass as a navigator, working with Polina Makogon. Already in October 1942, for 141 night flights on the PO-2 aircraft, she received her first award - the Order of the Red Banner. The performance said: “Comrade. Zhigulenko is the best shooter-scorer of the regiment.
Soon, having gained experience, Zhigulenko herself moved into the cockpit and became one of the most productive female pilots in the regiment.
In November, the 44th Guards Lieutenant Evgenia Zhigulenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the combat characteristics of the pilot, “high combat skill, perseverance and courage” were noted, 10 episodes of dangerous, but always productive sorties were described.
“... When my sorties began as a pilot, I was the first in the ranks as the tallest and, using this, managed to be the first to run to the plane and be the first to fly out on a combat mission. Usually during the night she managed to make one flight more than other pilots. So, thanks to my long legs, I became a Hero of the Soviet Union, ”Jigulenko joked.
In just three front-line years, the pilot made 968 sorties, dropping about 200 tons of bombs on the Nazis!
After the war, Evgenia Zhigulenko devoted herself to cinema. In the late 70s she graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, made films. One of them, “Night Witches in the Sky,” is dedicated to the combat activities of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
