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The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. During World War II the Red Air Force formed three all-female units -- grouped into separate fighter, dive bomber, and night bomber regiments -- while also recruiting other women to fly with mostly male units. Their amazing story, fully recounted for the first time by Reina Pennington, honors a group of fearless and determined women whose exploits have not yet received the recognition they deserve. Pennington chronicles the creation, organization, and leadership of these regiments, as well as the experiences of the pilots, navigators, bomb loaders, mechanics, and others who made up their ranks, all within the context of the Soviet air war on the Eastern Front. These regiments flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties, produced at least thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union, and included at least two fighter aces. Among their ranks were women like Marina Raskova, the "Soviet Amelia Earhart," a renowned aviator who persuaded Stalin in 1941 to establish the all-women regiments; the daredevil "night witches" who flew ramshackle biplanes on nocturnal bombing missions over German frontlines; and fighter aces like Liliia Litviak, whose twelve "kills" are largely unknown in the West. Here, too, is the story of Aleksandr Gridnev, a fighter pilot twice arrested by the Soviet secret police before he was chosen to command the women's fighter regiment. Pennington draws upon personal interviews and the Soviet archives to detail the recruitment, training, and combat lives of these women. Deftly mixing anecdote with analysis, her work should find a wide readership among scholars and buffs interested in the history of aviation, World War II, or the Russian military, as well as anyone concerned with the contentious debates surrounding military and combat service for women. - Publisher.
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Subjects
Female Participation, Regimental histories, Soviet Aerial operations, Soviet Union, Soviet Union. Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily, World War, 1939-1945, Air forces & warfare, Asian / Middle Eastern history: Second World War, European history: Second World War, Women's studies, Second World War, 1939-1945, Military Aircraft - World War II, Aerial Operations, Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily, Technology, History - Military / War, Science/Mathematics, ASIA, Former Soviet Union, USSR (Europe), Russia, Military Science, Military - Aviation, Military - World War II, Women's Studies - History, Aerial operations, Soviet, Participation, Female, World war, 1939-1945, women, World war, 1939-1945, aerial operations, russian, World war, 1939-1945, regimental historiesPlaces
Soviet UnionShowing 3 featured editions. View all 3 editions?
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1
Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat (Modern War Studies)
October 15, 2007, University Press of Kansas
Paperback
in English
0700615547 9780700615544
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2
Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat (Modern War Studies)
January 2002, University Press of Kansas
Hardcover
in English
0700611452 9780700611454
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3
Wings, women, and war: Soviet airwomen in World War II combat
2001, University Press of Kansas
in English
0700611452 9780700611454
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zzzz
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WorldCat
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- Created April 29, 2008
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February 17, 2024 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
February 14, 2013 | Edited by Bryan Tyson | Edited without comment. |
June 8, 2011 | Edited by OCLC Bot | Added OCLC numbers. |
August 6, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |