The Night Witches (Not A Joke Thread)

[Starborn Dragon]

This is something I just learned about World war II. I had know for years that Russia did allow female pilots to fly their warplanes, but I had never knew the details to them. Now I know they are called The Night Witches, and they dropped 23,000 pounds of bombs on German targets.

Here is one such article on them:

It was the spring of 1943, at the height of World War II. Two pilots, members of the Soviet Air Force, were flying their planes -- Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes, built mainly of plywood and canvas -- over a Soviet railway junction. Their passage was on its way to being a routine patrol ... until the pilots found themselves confronted by a collection of German bombers. Forty-two of them.




The pilots did what anyone piloting a plane made of plywood would do when confronted with enemy craft and enemy fire: they ducked. They sent their planes into dives, returning fire directly into the center of the German formation. The tiny planes' flimsiness was in some ways an asset: their maximum speed was lower than the stall speed of the Nazi planes,



meaning that the pilots could maneuver their craft with much more agility than their attackers. The outnumbered Soviets downed two Nazi planes before one of their own lost its wing to enemy fire. The pilot bailed out, landing, finally, in a field.
The people on the ground, who had witnessed the skirmish, rushed over to help the stranded pilot. They offered alcohol. But the offer was refused. As the pilot would later recall, "Nobody could understand why the brave lad who had taken on a Nazi squadron wouldn't drink vodka."

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...female-fighter-pilots-of-world-war-ii/277779/

 

[Random_Spock]

Wow. Interesting find!

Sucks about the video in the link though, it got taken down due to copyright infringement . It would have been a nice watch to learn that much more about that part of history.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yes, this is a very interesting topic. My friend wrote an article about this for the same Heroes Blog that I occasionally write for. History is full of amazing stories that they never teach in school.

 

[Gov Kodos]

There is an interesting film about them starting here, it's been broken up into 6 parts by the uploader.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-5cVgjJZu4[/yt]

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That looks great, thanks for posting it. I'll have to tell my friend about it (if he doesn't know already).

 

[Starborn Dragon]

You know, you'd think there'd be more interest in this subject with how large this site is.

Ah well.

Thanks for the responses anyhoo.

 

[RJDiogenes]

That doesn't surprise me any longer.

 

[Disco]

Very cool!

 

[publiusr]

Worthy of a movie!

 

[Hound of UIster]

Yes, this is a very interesting topic. My friend wrote an article about this for the same Heroes Blog that I occasionally write for. History is full of amazing stories that they never teach in school.

Of course not that would detract from the whole: America saved the world in WW2 narrative. Can't have the Russians or Chinese taking any credit.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Well, it might have something to do with the Russians going from ally to aggressor after the war. But they were sure tough customers, no doubt about it.

Worthy of a movie!

I should say so.