bronzewhaler82
Senior Airman
- 661
- Feb 19, 2004
Obviously the Pilots of World War Two were predominantly male but however history records clearly show that women had a place in the air, fighting for freedom just as the men did - the Russians and the Americans (I'm sure there were other nations who did this) both trained women as pilots (though the Americans only allowed women to fly transports)
The Russian womens storys were particularly amazing...
I think these fantastic women are truly a sign that women are just as capable of making a difference in the war as men are...these women deserve respect and I for one respect these women - these amazing pilots
Heres a couple of links for you guys...
http://www.wasp-wwii.org/
http://www.frenkenstein.com/ww2/soviet/Soviet.htm
This following link has the best source of information i could find and i think its very good at showing truly what the Russian Women pilots did for the Allies during WW2
http://vt.essortment.com/womenacespilot_rnsk.htm
Russian female Aces such as Lilya Litvak (12 kills) Olga Yamshchkova (17 kills) and Yekaterina Budanova (11 kills) proved that you don't have to be a man to be a fighter pilot - the Germans even feared Lilya Litvak as a man when she first flew
but she bore a white flower on her aircrafts fuselage which earned her the nickname of the 'White Rose of Stalingrad' even though it was later discovered by the Nazis that she was a woman and the flower on the side of her plane was in fact a lily - not a rose because her name meant 'Lily' in Russian
This is an extract of one of the web pages I saw but i think it clearly shows the effort and bravery of these women showed to fly these planes against an enemy who would without a doubt - rape and torture them if they were ever caught, an even faced derision from their own countrymen who felt they shouldn't be flying planes at all
"Soviet women pilots, the so-called "Night Witches", acquired considerable fame in this dangerous pursuit.
In October 1941 Soviet women pilots were organised into combat regiments by Marina Raskova, a famous Russian aviatrix. In 1938 she had received acclaim for flying an ANT-37 across the vast terrain of the Soviet Union (eleven time zones!) to achieve a women's record of 3,672 miles in 26 hours, 29 minutes. Raskova, who was later killed in action and buried in the Kremlin wall, called for volunteers for women's air regiments over the Moscow radio. The women were to be front line pilots, like men, and there were to be three air regiments, each with three squadrons, mechanics and armament fitters.
The training base was in a small town called Engels on the River Volga, North of Stalingrad. Here they were issued with men's uniforms - which were far too big - many stuffing their boots with newspaper and tying belts around their waists. With Maj Marina Raskova as Commander and Maj Yevdokia Bershanskaya as 2nd in command women went through an intense training schedule - 2 years work into 6 months. Marina Raskova and Yevdokia Bershanskaya had to assess the volunteers, and most wanted to fly fighters.
In all, VVS women pilots flew more than 24,000 sorties during the war - sixty eight receiving the Gold Star, Hero of the Soviet Union award.
The girls never wore parachutes and, after discussing it amongst themselves, had agreed if captured they may have to shoot themselves. This is exactly what Alina Smirnova did. When she crash landed she lost her sense of direction and when some people ran towards her, she thought they were Germans and shot herself."
I think the Allies owe a great dept to these women - although i couldn't say they changed the end of the war or anything dramatic like that but you could certainly say that without these pilots the Russians could've found themselves without any pilots to oppose the Germans anymore
they may not all have been aces but there were hundreds of Women that flew against the Germans and they never gave in 
The Russian womens storys were particularly amazing...
I think these fantastic women are truly a sign that women are just as capable of making a difference in the war as men are...these women deserve respect and I for one respect these women - these amazing pilots
Heres a couple of links for you guys...
http://www.wasp-wwii.org/
http://www.frenkenstein.com/ww2/soviet/Soviet.htm
This following link has the best source of information i could find and i think its very good at showing truly what the Russian Women pilots did for the Allies during WW2
http://vt.essortment.com/womenacespilot_rnsk.htm
Russian female Aces such as Lilya Litvak (12 kills) Olga Yamshchkova (17 kills) and Yekaterina Budanova (11 kills) proved that you don't have to be a man to be a fighter pilot - the Germans even feared Lilya Litvak as a man when she first flew
but she bore a white flower on her aircrafts fuselage which earned her the nickname of the 'White Rose of Stalingrad' even though it was later discovered by the Nazis that she was a woman and the flower on the side of her plane was in fact a lily - not a rose because her name meant 'Lily' in Russian This is an extract of one of the web pages I saw but i think it clearly shows the effort and bravery of these women showed to fly these planes against an enemy who would without a doubt - rape and torture them if they were ever caught, an even faced derision from their own countrymen who felt they shouldn't be flying planes at all
"Soviet women pilots, the so-called "Night Witches", acquired considerable fame in this dangerous pursuit.
In October 1941 Soviet women pilots were organised into combat regiments by Marina Raskova, a famous Russian aviatrix. In 1938 she had received acclaim for flying an ANT-37 across the vast terrain of the Soviet Union (eleven time zones!) to achieve a women's record of 3,672 miles in 26 hours, 29 minutes. Raskova, who was later killed in action and buried in the Kremlin wall, called for volunteers for women's air regiments over the Moscow radio. The women were to be front line pilots, like men, and there were to be three air regiments, each with three squadrons, mechanics and armament fitters.
The training base was in a small town called Engels on the River Volga, North of Stalingrad. Here they were issued with men's uniforms - which were far too big - many stuffing their boots with newspaper and tying belts around their waists. With Maj Marina Raskova as Commander and Maj Yevdokia Bershanskaya as 2nd in command women went through an intense training schedule - 2 years work into 6 months. Marina Raskova and Yevdokia Bershanskaya had to assess the volunteers, and most wanted to fly fighters.
In all, VVS women pilots flew more than 24,000 sorties during the war - sixty eight receiving the Gold Star, Hero of the Soviet Union award.
The girls never wore parachutes and, after discussing it amongst themselves, had agreed if captured they may have to shoot themselves. This is exactly what Alina Smirnova did. When she crash landed she lost her sense of direction and when some people ran towards her, she thought they were Germans and shot herself."
I think the Allies owe a great dept to these women - although i couldn't say they changed the end of the war or anything dramatic like that but you could certainly say that without these pilots the Russians could've found themselves without any pilots to oppose the Germans anymore
they may not all have been aces but there were hundreds of Women that flew against the Germans and they never gave in 
