Not long ago I praised Marina Raskova, who among so much else founded 3 women's air regiments in the Soviet Union. While many pilots aspire to the glamor of the fighter's cockpit, only one of these air regiments was a fighter group. But it was the 588th Night Bomber Regiment which gained the greatest fame and renown. And inspired the most fear in their enemies. The German air ace Johannes Steinhoff said in September 1942, "We simply couldn't grasp that the Soviet airmen that caused us the greatest trouble were in fact women.
These women feared nothing. They came night after night in their very slow biplanes, and for some periods they wouldn't give us any sleep at
all."
The Soviet air arm having been decimated by the Luftwaffe almost immediately, the Soviets were forced to use every available aircraft for defense. This included the Polikarpov Po-2, which was a wooden biplane from the 1920s used as a trainer and crop duster. This outdated aircraft was expected to fly against the modern craft of the Luftwaffe, so there was a great need to develop new doctrines to address the obvious technological deficit. Thus the Night Witches were born.
Perhaps imagining it might dissuade some, the male commandant insisted that none could fly with hair longer than 2in, that they must cut it or the military barber would. The ladies instead elected to cut each others' hair, and thereby seemed to echo the Spartans at Thermopylae as those warriors combed each other's hair and prepared for their deaths.
The Po-2 was far slower than the German planes, and had no armor whatsoever. It was thus employed at night because it would be an easy target in daylight, but these women made the most of their limitations to become veritable nightmares. The strategy they adopted was to cut their engines before reaching German lines, glide silently into range, and drop their bombs with no warning at all. Soon these ladies were giving the Germans around Stalingrad and the Caucasus night terrors nearly every night, and the Germans gradually learned to listen for the awful sound of the wind going through the wooden wings, which they said sounded like broomsticks in the sky.
The Soviet witches flew 23,000 sorties during the war and dropped 3,000 tons of bombs. Because the planes were so light, they could carry only six bombs at a time, so multiple missions per night were often necessary. Moreover, due to the weight of the bombs and the low altitude of flight, the pilots carried no parachutes. Not a lot of options if your plane gets hit, especially considering the wooden frame will burn, burn, burn! Over the course of the conflict, 30 Night Witches died in combat. Nevertheless, it became the most highly decorated regiment in the entire Soviet Air Force: each pilot had flown at least 1,000 missions.
The Soviet air arm having been decimated by the Luftwaffe almost immediately, the Soviets were forced to use every available aircraft for defense. This included the Polikarpov Po-2, which was a wooden biplane from the 1920s used as a trainer and crop duster. This outdated aircraft was expected to fly against the modern craft of the Luftwaffe, so there was a great need to develop new doctrines to address the obvious technological deficit. Thus the Night Witches were born.
A reviewing general lamented that they all "looked like boys"
Perhaps imagining it might dissuade some, the male commandant insisted that none could fly with hair longer than 2in, that they must cut it or the military barber would. The ladies instead elected to cut each others' hair, and thereby seemed to echo the Spartans at Thermopylae as those warriors combed each other's hair and prepared for their deaths.
Women of the 588th coven
The Soviet witches flew 23,000 sorties during the war and dropped 3,000 tons of bombs. Because the planes were so light, they could carry only six bombs at a time, so multiple missions per night were often necessary. Moreover, due to the weight of the bombs and the low altitude of flight, the pilots carried no parachutes. Not a lot of options if your plane gets hit, especially considering the wooden frame will burn, burn, burn! Over the course of the conflict, 30 Night Witches died in combat. Nevertheless, it became the most highly decorated regiment in the entire Soviet Air Force: each pilot had flown at least 1,000 missions.
