“Night Witches”: the fate of female pilots during the Great Patriotic War. Night witches: Soviet pilots whom the Germans feared

46th Guards Taman Red Banner Order of Suvorov 3rd degree night bomber aviation regiment.

“First of all, the planes, and then the girls,” is sung in the famous song of Leonid Utesov. However, the Air Force is famous not only for its men, but also for its women pilots. Thus, during the Great Patriotic War, many women aviators took part in hostilities, many of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But I would like to pay special attention to the legendary “Night Witches”.

One of the most famous pilots is a native of Moscow, Hero of the Soviet Union Marina Raskova. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, she, being a commissioner of the special department of the NKVD and a senior lieutenant of state security, used her official position, as well as her personal acquaintance with Stalin, and received permission to form female combat units. Already in October 1941, in the city of Engels, under her command, the 46th Guards Night Bomber Women's Aviation Regiment, better known as the “Night Witches,” appeared. In addition, here in Engels, two other women’s regiments were created, which then became mixed.

The uniqueness of the “Night Witches” lies in the fact that until the end of the war there were only representatives of the fairer sex in its composition. On May 27, 1942, the “Night Witches”, numbering 115 people, whose ages ranged from 17 to 22 years old, arrived at the front, and they made their first combat mission on June 12.

“Night Witches” flew on U-2 (Po-2) aircraft, which were originally created as training aircraft for training pilots. It was practically unsuitable for combat, but the girls liked its lightness, maneuverability and noiselessness. Therefore, the plane was urgently equipped with all the necessary equipment. Later it was also modernized. However, reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h, this light aircraft was very vulnerable; it could actually be shot down by a shot from a submachine gun.

Initially, the Germans contemptuously called the U-2 “Russian plywood,” but the raids of the “Night Witches” forced them to change their minds.

The girls, as you know, made their combat missions only at night. They took on board no more than 300 kilograms of bombs at a time, and many deliberately abandoned parachutes in favor of a couple of extra shells. Each of the pilots made 8-9 combat missions in just one night, causing significant damage to enemy forces. In winter, when the nights were longer, the number of sorties could increase to 18. After such nights, fragile, exhausted women were carried to the barracks in their arms. Add to this the open cockpits of the plane and the strong night frost and imagine how difficult it was for them.

It was impossible to spot the U-2 on radar. In addition, the plane moved almost silently, so a German who fell asleep at night might not wake up in the morning. However, it was not always possible to take the enemy by surprise. After almost every combat mission, the technical personnel, also consisting of women, had to patch holes in the body of the plywood aircraft, which looked more like a colander. During the entire war, the regiment lost 32 female pilots. Girls often died behind the front line and burned alive in front of their fighting friends.

The most tragic night in the history of the “Night Witches” is considered to be the night of August 1, 1943. The Germans, who decided to repel the fearless Soviet girls, formed their own group of night fighters. For the pilots, this came as a complete surprise. That night, 4 planes were lost, with 8 girls on board: Anna Vysotskaya, Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova, Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina, Glafira Kashirina, Sofia Rogova and Evgenia Sukhorukova.

However, the losses were not always combat losses. So, on April 10, 1943, one of the planes, landing in complete darkness, accidentally landed directly on another. As a result, three pilots died that night, and the fourth, Khiuaza Dospanova, who broke her legs, spent several months in the hospital, but was never able to return to duty due to improperly fused bones.

But it was hard not only for the pilots and navigators, but also for the technical staff of the Night Witches. They not only patched holes in planes after night flights, but also attached heavy bombs to the wings of planes. And it’s good if the target of the raid was enemy personnel - fragmentation bombs weighed 25 kilograms each and were the lightest. It was much more difficult to attach bombs weighing 100 kilograms to strike ground strategic targets. As weapons master Tatyana Shcherbina recalled, the fragile girls together lifted heavy shells, which often fell at their feet.

But the hardest time for the “Night Witches” was in the severe frosts in winter. Securing a bomb on the wing with mittens is an almost impossible task, so we worked without them, and quite often pieces of the skin of delicate girlish hands remained on the shells.

During the war years, the “Night Witches” made more than 23.5 thousand combat missions, dropping about 3 million kilograms of bombs on the enemy. They took part in the battles for the Caucasus, for the liberation of Crimea, Poland and Belarus. In addition, the “Night Witches”, under the cover of darkness, supplied ammunition and food to Soviet soldiers who were surrounded by German troops.
The legendary “Night Witches” are the pride of the Russian Air Force, and their feat is difficult to overestimate.

“Night witches” were called the 46th Guards Women’s Taman Aviation Regiment, which was part of the Air Force of the Soviet Union. It was formed by order of the People's Commissariat of Defense in 1941. The “night witches” were commanded by the experienced pilot Evdokia Bocharova (Bershanskaya in her first marriage). The regiment's political officer was Maria Runt.

Women's Aviation Regiment

Due to the purely female composition, as well as the name of the commander, male pilots sometimes called the 46th Regiment “Dunkin”. With such a humorous name, female pilots knew how to instill real terror in the enemy. It was the Nazis who called these fearless aces in skirts “night witches.” Pilots trained in Arkhangelsk. On May 27, 1942, the women's regiment arrived at the front consisting of 115 girls, who occupied absolutely all positions in the combat formation.

They were called night “witches” because they were part of the 218th Night Bomber Division and flew only at night. The young ladies received their baptism of fire two weeks after arriving at the front, on June 12. For the exploits that these fragile ladies accomplished, the regiment earned the title “Guards”. At the end of the war, he became part of the 325th, then 2nd divisions. Upon its completion, it was completely disbanded.

The combat path of the “night witches”

The first flight took place in the Salsky steppes region. Then the girls fought on the Don, in the area of ​​the Mius River and the city of Stavropol. At the end of 1942, the 46th women's regiment defended Vladikavkaz. The pilots then took part in severe clashes with the enemy on the Taman Peninsula, where the Red Army and Air Force liberated Novorossiysk.

“Night Witches” took part in the battles for Kuban, the Crimean Peninsula, Belarus and other regions of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet troops crossed the border line, the pilots fought in Poland for the liberation of the cities of Warsaw, Augustow, and Ostrolenk from the occupiers. At the beginning of 1945, the 46th regiment fought on Prussian territory and in the last months of the war participated in the legendary Vistula-Oder offensive operation.

What did the guards fly and how did they fight?

The “Night Witches” flew on Polikarpov, or Po-2, biplanes. The number of combat vehicles increased in a couple of years from 20 to 45. This aircraft was initially created not for combat at all, but for exercises. It didn’t 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 car could reach was 120 km/h.

With such modest weapons, the girls showed miracles of piloting. This is despite the fact that each Po-2 carried the load of a large bomber, often up to 200 kg at a time. The female pilots fought only at night. Moreover, in one night they made several sorties, terrifying enemy positions. The girls did not have parachutes on board, being literally suicide bombers. If a shell hit the plane, all they could do was die heroically.

The pilots loaded the places designated 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 died, his partner could lead the combat vehicle to the airfield.

Merits of female pilots

The girls carried out their sorties very intensively, literally showering enemy positions with a hail of bomb attacks. The breaks between flights were usually only 5 minutes. In one night, each Po-2 made up to ten or more sorties. In the battle for the Caucasus, the girls carried out about 3,000 sorties, for Kuban, Novorossiysk and Taman - more than 4,600, for Crimea - more than 6,000, for Belarus - 400, for Poland - almost 5,500 sorties. Already in Germany, the guardsmen carried out about 2000 more sorties, thus flying almost 29 thousand hours.

"Night Witches" blew up 17 crossings, 46 ammunition depots, 86 enemy firing points, 12 fuel tanks, 9 trains, 2 railway stations captured by the enemy. In total, they dropped more than 3,000 tons of bombs on the heads of the Nazis. 32 pilots died heroically in the battles. The regiment suffered its heaviest losses in 1943, when it was unexpectedly fired upon by Messerschmitt Bf.110 fighters. Then 3 planes with crews inside exploded while still in the air.

For the liberation of the Taman Peninsula, the Red Banner 46th Regiment received the second name “Tamansky”. More than 250 pilots were awarded numerous awards. 23 became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Among them are Raisa Aronova, Vera Belik, Polina Gelman, Evgenia Zhigulenko, Tatyana Makarova, Evdokia Pasko and others.

They were called “night witches” and “legends” - heroic girls who desperately fought for the victory of our country during the Great Patriotic War. Brave fighting girls from 15 to 29 years old as part of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment took part in the liberation of Novorossiysk, battles in Kuban, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, and reached Berlin. According to incomplete data, the regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway trains, 2 railway stations, 46 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 1 aircraft, 2 barges, 76 cars, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights. 811 fires and 1092 high-power explosions were caused. 155 bags of ammunition and food were also dropped to the surrounded Soviet troops.

The aviation regiment was formed in October 1941 by order of the USSR NPO. The formation was led by Marina Raskova, she was only 29 years old. 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 it was jokingly called the “Dunkin Regiment”, with a hint of an all-female composition and justified by the name of the regiment commander.

stihi.ru

The formation, training and coordination of the regiment was carried out in the city of Engels. The air regiment differed from other formations in that it was entirely female. Only women occupied all positions here: from mechanics and technicians to navigators and pilots.

The exploits of the “night witches” are unique - the bombers have carried out thousands of missions and tens of tons of bombs dropped on enemy positions. And this was on wooden PO-2 biplanes, which were not created for military purposes and could not respond to the German air defense forces!

oldstory.info

Our training aircraft was not created for military operations. A 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 that could protect the crew from bullets, with a low-power engine that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km/h. The plane did not have a bomb bay; 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.

No difficulties frightened the pilots. And when they wanted to feel like just women, they held dances at the airfield in overalls and high boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on footcloths, unraveling blue knitted underpants for this purpose.

The pilots in their memoirs describe their baggy uniforms and huge boots. They did not immediately sew uniforms to fit them. Then two types of uniforms appeared - casual with trousers and formal with a skirt.
Of course, they flew out on missions in trousers; the uniform with a skirt was intended for ceremonial meetings of the command. Of course, the girls dreamed of dresses and shoes.

colors.life

Every night the pilots managed to make 10-12 sorties. They did not take parachutes with them, preferring to take an extra bomb with them instead. The flight lasted an hour, then the plane returned to base to refuel and hang bombs. The time to prepare the aircraft between flights took five minutes.

The flight lasts about an hour, and mechanics and armed forces are waiting on the ground. They were able to inspect, refuel a plane, and hang bombs in three to five minutes. It’s hard to believe that young, thin girls hung up to three tons of bombs each with their hands and knees, without any equipment, throughout the night. These humble pilot assistants showed true miracles of endurance and skill. What about the mechanics? We worked all night at the start, and during the day we repaired cars and prepared for the next night. There were cases when the mechanic did not have time to jump away from the propeller when starting the engine and her hand was broken... And then we introduced a new maintenance system - shift teams on duty. Each mechanic was assigned a specific operation on all planes: meeting, refueling or releasing... Three soldiers were on duty at the cars with bombs. One of the senior AE technicians was in charge. Fighting nights began to resemble the work of a well-functioning factory assembly line. The plane returning from the mission was ready for a new flight within five minutes.

Different stories brought women to war. Among them there are also tragic ones. Evdokia Nosal came to the front to think less about the death of her newborn son. Immediately after Evdokia gave birth, the bombing of the maternity hospital began in Brest. Evdokia survived, and she later found the body of her son under the rubble.

pokazuha.ru

Dusya miraculously remained alive. But she could not leave the place where until recently there had been a large, bright house. There, under the rubble, lay her son... She scraped the ground with her nails, clinging to the stones, they pulled her away by force... Dusya tried to forget all this. She flew and flew and every night managed to make more combat missions than others. She was always first. She came to us, flew brilliantly, and on the dashboard of her plane there was always a portrait of her husband, also a pilot - Gritsko, and so she flew with him. We were the first to introduce Dusya to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

colors.life

From the diary of pilot Zhenya Rudneva:

“April 24.
Yesterday morning I came to the navigators who were going to bomb, scolded them for the lack of wind indicators and asked Nina Ulyanenko: “Yes, Nina, you were on the flights, how was everything okay?” Nina looked at me strangely and asked in an overly calm voice. : “What, is everything okay?”
- Well, is everything okay?
- Dusya Nosal was killed. Messerschmitt. At Novorossiysk...
I just asked who the navigator was. „Kashirina. She brought the plane and landed it.” Yes, we always have something new. And usually all sorts of incidents at the start happen without me. Dusya, Dusya... The wound is in the temple and the back of the head, she lies as if alive... And her Gritsko is in Chkalov...
And Irinka is great - after all, Dusya leaned on the handle in the first cabin, Ira stood up, pulled her by the collar and with great difficulty piloted the plane. Still hoping that she fainted...
No matter what I did yesterday, I kept thinking about Dus. But not the same as it was a year ago. Now it became much harder for me, I knew Dusya closely, but I myself, like everyone else, became different: drier, callous. Not a tear. War. Just the day before yesterday I flew to this target with Lyusya Klopkova... In the morning, she and I drank with laughter because we weren’t hit: we heard anti-aircraft gun explosions under the planes, but they didn’t reach us...”

“...In the coffin she lay stern, with her head bandaged. It was difficult to say which was whiter - her face or the bandage... A rifle salute sounded. A pair of fighters flew low and low. They shook their wings, sending farewell greetings."

Pilot Natalya Kravtsova also went to the front of her own free will. She grew up in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Kharkov. There she graduated from school and the flying club, and in 1941 she moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.

tvc.ru

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 Marina Raskova’s women’s aviation unit, graduated from the Engels Military Pilot School, and in May 1942 went to the front.

She was a navigator, and later retrained as a pilot. She made her first flights as a pilot in the skies over Taman. The situation at the front was difficult, German forces desperately resisted the Soviet offensive, and air defense on the occupied lines was saturated to the limit. In such conditions, Natalya became a real ace: she learned to steer the plane away from enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, and escape unharmed from German night fighters.

Together with the regiment, guard flight commander Lieutenant Natalya Meklin traveled a three-year journey, from Terek to Berlin, completing 980 sorties. In February 1945, she became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

wikipedia.org

After the war, Natalya Kravtsova wrote novels and short 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 together with her front-line friend Irina Rakobolskaya.

Another pilot, Irina Sebrova, was one of the first who turned to Marina Raskova with a request to enroll her in the emerging women's air regiment. She graduated from the Moscow flying club, worked as an instructor and graduated several groups of cadets before the war.

lib.ru

Ira Sebrova made the most sorties in the regiment - 1004, it’s scary to even say. I think that in the whole world you cannot find a pilot with so many combat missions.

Over 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 guard senior lieutenant and went from a simple pilot to a flight commander. She was awarded three times the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star and the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, and many medals, including “For the Defense of the Caucasus.”

Pilot Evgenia Zhigulenko was only 21 years old when she went to the front in May 1942. She made her first combat missions in the skies over Donbass as a navigator, working with Polina Makogon. Already in October 1942, for 141 night flights on a PO-2 aircraft, she received her first award - the Order of the Red Banner. The submission said: “Comrade. Zhigulenko is the best shooter-bombardier of the regiment.”

mtdata.ru

Soon, having gained experience, Zhigulenko herself moved into the cockpit and became one of the most effective pilots in the regiment. In November of the 44th Guards, Lieutenant Evgenia Zhigulenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The pilot’s combat description noted “high combat skill, perseverance and courage,” and described 10 episodes of dangerous, but always effective sorties.

When my combat missions began as a pilot, I stood first in the ranks as the tallest in height and, taking advantage of this, managed to be the first to reach the plane and the first to fly out on a combat mission. Usually during the night she managed to complete one more flight than other pilots. So, thanks to my long legs, I became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

In just three front-line years, the pilot made 968 missions, 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 and made films. One of them - “Night Witches in the Sky” - is dedicated to the combat activities of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.

Unfortunately, the regiment did not return from the war in full strength. The regiment's combat losses 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, regimental commissar Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, using money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where planes had crashed and found the graves of all those killed.

livejournal.com

The most tragic episode in the history of the regiment was the night of August 1, 1943, when four aircraft were lost at once. The German command, irritated by the constant night bombing, transferred a group of night fighters to the regiment's area of ​​operations. This came as a complete surprise to the Soviet pilots, who did not immediately understand why the enemy anti-aircraft artillery was inactive, but one after another the planes caught fire. When it became clear that Messerschmitt Bf.110 night fighters had been launched against them, the flights were stopped, but before that, the German pilot ace, who had only in the morning become 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 did not have parachutes. Another bomber was lost due to anti-aircraft artillery fire. That night, Anna Vysotskaya with navigator Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova with navigator Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina with navigator Glafira Kashirina, Sofia Rogova with navigator Evgenia Sukhorukova died.

yaplakal.com

However, in addition to combat losses, there were other losses. So, on August 22, 1943, the regiment’s communications chief, 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 that had just landed. As a result, 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 duty, although due to improperly fused bones she became a 2nd group disabled person. Crews also died before they were sent to the front, in accidents during training.

Unfortunately, many people forgot the surviving “night witches” after the war. In 2013, at the venerable age of 91, Reserve Major Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova, the last of twenty-three combat pilots - “night witches”, who were awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, quietly passed away. Quiet, because on the day of her death, July 6, only a few news agencies briefly reported on what happened.

nadir.ru

Dead girlfriends

Malakhova Anna and Vinogradova Masha Engels, March 9, 1942
Tormosina Liliya and Komogortseva Nadya Engels, March 9, 1942
Olkhovskaya Lyuba and Tarasova Vera Donbass, shot down in June 1942.
Efimova Tonya died of illness, December 1942.
Valya Stupina died of illness in the spring of 1943.
Makagon Polina and Svistunova Lida crashed during landing on April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya
Yulia Pashkova died on April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya
Nosal Dusya was killed on a plane on April 23, 1943.
Anya Vysotskaya and Galya Dokutovich burned over the Blue Line on August 1, 1943.
Rogova Sonya and Sukhorukova Zhenya - -
Polunina Valya and Kashirina Ira - -
Krutova Zhenya and Salikova Lena - -
Belkina Pasha and Frolova Tamara shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda died in a bombing, 1943.
Volodina Taisiya and Bondareva Anya lost their bearings, Taman, March 1944.
Prokofieva Panna and Rudneva Zhenya burned over Kerch on April 9, 1944.
Varakina Lyuba died at the airfield in another regiment in 1944.
Tanya Makarova and Vera Belik burned to death in Poland on August 29, 1944.
Sanfirova Lelya was blown up by a mine after jumping from a burning plane on December 13, 1944, Poland
Anya Kolokolnikova crashed on a motorcycle, 1945, Germany

• In 1981, the Soviet feature film “Night Witches in the Sky” directed by Evgenia Zhigulenko was released. The prototype of the unit where the heroines of the film serve was the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, formed at the suggestion of Marina Raskova [. The director of the film, Evgenia Zhigulenko, fought as part of this air regiment, was a flight commander, and became a Hero of the Soviet Union for the courage shown in battle.
• In 2005, Oleg and Olga Greig’s book “Field Wives” appeared, in which the pilots are depicted as sexually promiscuous. The authors also accused them of giving awards only through bed. Veterans of the regiment sued the authors for libel. A criminal case was initiated, which was discontinued due to the death of O. Greig.

On September 24, a female crew led by Valentina Grizodubova took off from Moscow on an ANT-37 Rodina aircraft. The flight for the girls was not easy: having overcome the Ural Mountains, the crew first partially, and then completely lost any communication, flying away in an unknown direction. In these extreme conditions, the pilots passed Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. When the sky cleared a little, it turned out that they were already flying over the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The fuel was running out, and the chance of survival was minimal. And then Grizodubova turned the plane towards the coast, hoping to land in the taiga. Navigator Marina Raskova was ordered to jump with a parachute because the glass cabin she was in was not designed for such a dangerous landing.

After Raskova jumped out, the plane made an emergency landing in the Amgun River delta. But tragic circumstances still did not escape the story of the participants in the air flight. During a rescue operation to search for future Heroes of the Soviet Union, two planes collided, resulting in the death of 15 people, including Alexander Bryandinsky, a participant in the recent non-stop flight from Moscow to the Far East. On November 2, 1938, the entire female crew was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During Rodina's flight, which lasted 26 hours and 29 minutes, a women's world aviation record for flight range was set at 6,450 km (in a straight line - 5,910 km).

The fate of the famous pilots turned out differently, world records remained in the historical past, and not all of them survived new feats. Marina Raskova was a true hero of her time - a failed opera singer, a chemist and, finally, a pilot. She was not interested in ordinary women's stories from novels, but was inspired by something else: industrial aesthetics and dynamism, the ideal of a woman free from the prejudices of the male world and capable of great feats. In this sense, an excerpt from the diary that Raskova kept while working as a chemist in the laboratory of the Butyrsky aniline dye plant is indicative: “I fell in love with the plant so much that its boilers fill my soul.”

Marina Raskova

Marina Raskova, thanks to Stalin’s personal sympathy, organized three regular women’s air regiments during the war. It consisted only of women, right down to the service personnel. Strict discipline was observed here - all girls were required to cut their hair short. In military circles, the combat unit received the terrifying nickname “Night Witches,” which terrified German troops. During night flights, the Germans recognized the “witches” by the characteristic hum of Soviet aircraft and sent the best Luftwaffe pilots against them.

In less than 14 months since the creation of the air regiment, Marina Raskova made a large number of combat missions on a Pe-2 bomber, destroying a lot of military equipment and enemy personnel. On January 4, 1943, not far from Saratov, while transferring a new regiment to its deployment site, Marina Raskova lost control in difficult weather conditions and crashed.

Another heroine of this brave trinity is a female maximalist - Polina Osipenko. A man of amazing destiny, whose example clearly shows how you can achieve any goals with your perseverance and hard work. Having not entered the Kachin flight school, Polina did not despair and got a job in a canteen for pilots. Training flights took place at several sites. Breakfasts for the pilots were regularly delivered at 12 o'clock on a plywood U-2. It was on these biplanes that the future famous pilot acquired her first skills.

The turning point in Polina’s fate happened at the moment when K. E. Voroshilov once visited the Kachin School. Having gained a little courage, the pilot asked the military commander to enroll her in an educational institution. And she was accepted contrary to the established rules. After graduating from flight school, Polina enrolled in the aviation unit. There she improved her skills as stubbornly and persistently as she had once been a shock worker on the collective farm and set agricultural records.

In 1936, pilot Polina Osipenko rose to a height of 9,100 meters, setting her first world record. No woman in the world has risen so high before her! Then there were other achievements, including the legendary direct flight Moscow - Far East, after which she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In May 1939, already with the rank of major, Polina Osipenko, under mysterious circumstances, died in a plane crash along with pilot Anatoly Serov. The details of the deaths of Polina Osipenko and Anatoly Serov are unknown to this day.

Polina Osipenko

Unlike Polina Osipenko, whose glorious path was tragically cut short in 1939, and Marina Raskova, who died in 1943, Valentina Grizodubova lived until 1993. Since childhood, Valentina has been attached to the sky: as a child she flew on an airplane with her father, an aircraft designer, pilot and inventor. From an early age, Valentina Grizodubova’s fate was predetermined.

Having entered the Kharkov Institute of Technology, Valentina still dreams of becoming a pilot, and she seeks an appointment with People's Commissar S. Ordzhonikidze. Thanks to his assistance, on November 4, 1928, she was enrolled in the first intake of the Kharkov Central Aero Club. Having completed her training in three months, Grizodubova then entered the 1st Tula flight and sports school of OSOAVIAKHIM, and then in 1929 to the school of pilot instructors in Penza, after which she was sent as an instructor to Tushino, where she trained 36 pilots until 1934.

She was rightfully appointed commander of the country’s most famous female crew; her leadership qualities were evident not only in the record-breaking flight from Moscow to the Far East, but also during the Great Patriotic War. In 1942, Valentina Stepanovna was entrusted with recruiting an entire aviation regiment, consisting exclusively of male pilots. Colonel Grizodubova has more than 200 combat missions, including night bombings (132 sorties), as well as the delivery of ammunition and military cargo beyond the front line.

Valentina Grizodubova

After the war, Grizodubova had a brilliant career, which came during perhaps the best time of the Soviet aircraft industry, whose achievements we use to this day. In life, Valentina Stepanovna was a wonderful, sympathetic person, ready to do great things for the sake of those unjustly offended. According to her adopted son, it was she who stood up for S.P. Korolev, who was repressed in 1939, and allowed him to be released early in 1944 with his subsequent appointment to the position of chief designer for flight tests.

Nadezhda Popova, the legendary pilot, the last of the “night witches,” has died. 91 years old All clear. A long, worthy, beautiful path has been traveled. Probably happy. And yet, and yet... While these old people find the strength to come to the Bolshoi Theater on May 9, stand in the wind during the parade with carnations trembling in their hands, march discordantly along Red Square, jingling their medals ever more quietly, we have rear. We are supported by a foundation, albeit a shaky one. It feels like we are still someone's children.

I knew them all. Film director Evgenia Zhigulenko was a flight commander of that famous 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. She graduated from VGIK at the age of 50 and made only two films - the autobiographical “Night Witches in the Sky” and our joint work “No Right to Fail.”

Flight commander of the legendary 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, "Night Witches" regiment, guard lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union, Knight of two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Star and two Orders of the Red Banner, Evgeniy Zhigulenko. By November 1944, she had made 773 night combat sorties, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy in manpower and equipment.

Night Witches. This is what the Germans called the pilots of the 46th Guards Taman Regiment of night bombers. The girls flew on U-2 (Po-2) - light plywood maize trucks without a top at low speed. “Heavenly slug” - people said about them, but the girls gave them a more gentle name - “swallow”. They worked mainly at night, in conditions of almost zero visibility, to avoid anti-aircraft fire, for which they received the nickname “night witches”.

It turned out that the girls’ plane was shot down over Kerch. Pan burned in the car, and Zhenya was thrown several meters away. Residents of the city found only large boots on the plane, decided that it was a man, and buried the girl as an unknown soldier in a mass grave. Zhenya was buried in Kerch Lenin Park.

And Zhenya’s beloved friend Dina Nikulina died half a century later at the hands of a modern fascist. He came to her house, introducing himself as a friend of a front-line comrade, attacked Dina, beat her and her three-year-old granddaughter, took away military awards and disappeared. Soon Dina died.

Nadezhda Popova and Semyon Kharlamov. Prototypes of Masha and Romeo in Leonid Bykov's film "Only Old Men Go to Battle."