Soviet heroine "Night Witch" Nadezhda Popova dies aged 91.

[mary meagher]

"In old plywood biplanes and only ever at night, she flew 852 missions....the only one to win three Orders of the Patriotic War for bravery. In late 1941 Stalin signed an order to establish three all-women air force units to be grouped into separate fighter, dive-bomber and night-bomber regiments. Over the next four years these regiments flew more than 30,000 combat sorties. Popova, then 19, was one of the first to join the 588th Night Bomber Regiment."

from the Times yesterday, quoting the Daily Telegraph.

Can anyone post a picture of Nadezhda?

[Chugalug2]

Here is the lady's Wikki entry, including her picture. Respect!
Nadezhda Popova - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadezhda_Popova)
Should work now. Sorry!

[Dysonsphere]

that link does not work

[Duncan D'Sorderlee]

RIP

Duncs:ok:

[The Old Fat One]

Bloody Hell! That is one amazing story & life. Makes you wonder though...how come we didn't get female pilots in the RAF until the nineties???????

[Tankertrashnav]

Pretty much for the same reasons that we are holding the British Open at a club which amazingly in 2013 still doesnt permit women members!

You would have thought that seeing what women could do in the ATA during WW2 those at the top would have realised what a valuable resource they were wasting by denying women the right to fly in the RAF, but it was straight back to the typing pool or the kitchen sink for women as soon as the war was over.

As PPRuNe's resident medal nut, I have to say that's one hell of a group of medals she had there, a bit like DSO*, DFC**. The difference is that in this country medals count for nothing in civvie street, whereas in the USSR with those awards she would have had preferential treatment in many areas of her life, from a free holiday dacha, right down to being able to walk to the front of the queue, literally, in all sort of situations.

[54Phan]

Yes, she was quite a hero. I salute her.

[tartare]

Video clip of night witches here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GNVuNAh4pu8).

[teeteringhead]

Loved the bit in (I think) the Telegraph obit which says something like:amazingly she flew her sorties with the help of only a map and stopwatch

Come to think of it - so did I! :eek:

[sled dog]

Thread drift...Tanker, it is THE Open ( unless you come from across the pond...) :ok:

[Tankertrashnav]

Fair point, sled dog, but dont forget, a lot of our contributors do come from "over there" - you know, the ones that talk about London, England etc ;)

[Fareastdriver]

I was told, some years ago, that the Germans, who kept meticulous records during the war had no evidence of female pilots, alive or dead, in the Soviet Air Force.

[GreenKnight121]

Fed... there was no Holocaust either... or so I've been told.

And Americans never set foot on the moon.

People tell us lots of things that aren't true... and its not always the government doing the telling. ;)

[dubbleyew eight]

I was told, some years ago, that the Germans, who kept meticulous records during the war had no evidence of female pilots, alive or dead, in the Soviet Air Force.

of course they wouldn't. they only kept records of things they knew about.
...and they didnt know about much occurring beyond the russian lines.

[India Four Two]

you know, the ones that talk about London, England

TTN,
I take your point, but to be fair, it's an important distinction if you are buying a ticket in Canada and you don't want to end up at YXU - London, Ontario :eek:

On the other hand, I met an American once who asked a Welshman what part of England he was from. He didn't make that mistake again! :)

[Two's in]

On the other hand, I met an American once who asked a Welshman what part of England he was from. He didn't make that mistake again!

You mean the mistake of talking to a Welshman?

[roulishollandais]

Bloody Hell! That is one amazing story & life. Makes you wonder though...how come we didn't get female pilots in the RAF until the nineties??????
UK were the first during WWII :1. Sept 1939 Pauline Gower created the women section in the Air Transport Auxiliry (ATA) :1000 pilots, 100 were wome. These women flew Tiger Moth, Spitfire, Mosquito, B17 Flying Fortress, Halifax, Lancaster,aso.
They were flying for the RAF, the Navy, the Coast Guards.

Helen Sharman opened again the doors flying in Soyouz TM-12 in may 21. 1991, first european female astronaut, 5 years before the french C.Haigneré, 3 years before the japonese Chiaki Mukai.

But the Russian female pilots bombing in the night in Stalingrad battle àgainst nazism is the most famous story.

I had opportunity to meet Kaptain Nadezha POPOVA in Paris,France in the mid 90's with the breast covered with Medals, and so much simplicity. With her was Mr AFANASSIEV... as a modest translator.

I shall not forget such a precious evening celebrating Women pilots.
Thank you Mrs Popova.

roulishollandais APF(AFFP)

«We were looking at these girls like they are queens. And what girls they were! Oh my God! » (Sergey Evdokimov, Fighter-Pilot WWII)

[BEagle]

I was told, some years ago, that the Germans, who kept meticulous records during the war had no evidence of female pilots, alive or dead, in the Soviet Air Force.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/swp_586th_350.jpg (http://s14.photobucket.com/user/nw969/media/swp_586th_350.jpg.html)

I doubt whether even the most negative efforts of Nazi propaganda could hide the fact that Russian women pilots flew some 30000 combat sorties; at least 30 were awarded the title 'Hero of the Soviet Union' and 2 were known to have achieved fighter ace status.

[roulishollandais]

Nadezhda Popova is not on that picture. From left to right :
Valeria Khomiakova, Katya Budaniva (†18 jul 1943), Marina Raskova († 4 jan 1943), ? ,? , ,Galina Boudina.
Popova is the 5./9 from left on this photo, not the 4. :
WW II ACE STORIES (http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/raskov/raskov.htm)
The names given on that link are different from B. Marck :
Picture 1945 From left to right :
?, Rufa Gasheva, Natalya Meklin, Marina Chechneva, Nadezhda Popova, Sima Àmosova, Dina Nikulina, Yevdokiya Bershanskaya, Mariya Smirnova,(cut on the right border: Yegeniya Zhigulenko) - (ref Bernard Marck page 174 "Elles ont conquis le ciel, 100 femmes qui ont fait l'histoire de l'aviation et de l'espace" Ed. ARTHAUD France 2009 ISBN 978-2-7003-0121-2 . Bernard MARCK is a specialist of Women pilots history and was former Chief-redactor of "Aeroport de Pais Magazine ),
Germen gave them their fake name Night witches.
They have been fighting against JG-54 with Erich Hartman too

[ARRAKIS]

Helen Sharman opened again the doors flying in Soyouz TM-12 in may 21. 1991, first european female astronaut, 5 years before the french C.Haigneré, 3 years before the japonese Chiaki Mukai.

Sorry, but this lady made it almost 30 years earlier.
Valentina Tereshkova - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova)

Arrakis

[roulishollandais]

@ARRAKIS
Of course VALENTINA TERECHKOVA was the first woman in Space. I was not clear enough. There is an old debate about Europe definitions.
- Having European culture and history
- Living East or West from Oural in the Continent Europe-Asia
- Being member from European Union(CECA, Rome Treaty, EU at 6, 12, 15, 27, 28, etc
- Being member of eurozone
- Being member of European Space Agency
- Being member of ICAO European Region
- Being member of OMS European Region
- Being member of UNO European Region,
When it was said during until vey recent years , here in France that Claudie André-Deshayes-Haigneré was the first "european female astronaut" another debate came on the table too about private finance.
Iself mentioned HELEN SHARMAN as it was question of women in British Airspace (she was not in the RAF and ATA pilots were not in the RAF but Sharman went in Space in the same period where first Fighter pilots were accepted in the RAF.

A part of the WWII sovietic female pilots were bombing during the night like NADEZHDA POPOVA, other were fighter pilots during the day (like Lydia LITVAK. When Svetlana SAVITSKAIA went in Space she had first been accepted as "free" student in the test pilot school because her father was a Marechal... But Savitskaia was the best ßtudent, so finaly she was accepted as test pilot at same level as the other students! She was also world recordwoman in freefall for highest altitude. SAVITSKAIA went in space because USA launched their first female astronaut Sally Ride.

The all women pilots regiments/group during WWII in sovietic Union has no equivalent in the history of women out and in airspace in the world. Courage and efficiency every day every night... Wonderful story winning against Nazism.

[ARRAKIS]

SAVITSKAIA went in space because USA launched their first female astronaut Sally Ride.

Afaik, she made her first trip in 1982, about a year before Sally Ride.

Arrakis

[Tankertrashnav]

roulishollandais - You are right about Valentina Tereschkova being a European. I studied Russian in Yaroslavl, not far from her home village.
On occasion I would make some remark about how things were done "in Europe" (ie in Western Europe) and was always politely reminded that the part of Russia I was staying in (well West of the Urals) was also in Europe.

Mind you, half the British contributors to PPRuNe don't even consider the UK to be part of Europe ;)

[roulishollandais]

I don't want to refer to the arianist name of Ariane the "european" rocket : Definition of Europe is hidden and will stay matter of debate. States are well defined and trusting in Peace so I only want to refer to legal nationalities.

At the time of the first launches of Svetlana Savitskaia and Sally Ride USA and URSS were already working and flying together in Space, despite cold war and military competition.

They both discovered that male astronauts teams were improved if women were added. Despite Russia no more wanted to send a woman after Valentina Terechkova, the US politic of quota against all discriminations was a positive action. The time of Jerry Cobb and Mrs Vitality for the Mercury project was far away. So US decision to send Sally Ride changed URSS choice who knew that Savitskaia was an excellent choice if already women had to be sent. Valentina Terechkova had been sent around the country to deliver a political message and had been put aside despite her want to fly again... Finaly Russia sent Svetlana Savitskaia earlier than USA with Sally Ride. But the difference of schedule was not significative of the not independant decision to launch female astronauts/cosmonauts.
The high psychological difficulty of long multicrew missions in Space decided these good choices.
roulishollandais