Osprey has released a book on a female WW2 Soviet ace pilot, Lidiya Vladimirovna “Lilya” Litvyak. Also known as the White Rose of Stalingrad.
By October 1941, authorization was forthcoming for three ground attack regiments of women pilots. Among these women, Lidiya Vladimirovna “Lilya” Litvyak soon emerged as a rising star. She shot down five German aircraft over the Stalingrad Front, and thus become history’s first female ace. She scored 12 documented victories over German aircraft between September 1942 and July 1943. She also had many victories shared with other pilots, bringing her possible total to around 20.
The fact that she was a 21-year-old woman ace was not lost on the hero-hungry Soviet media, and soon this colourful character, whom the Germans dubbed “The White Rose of Stalingrad,” became both folk heroine and martyr.
Source: AFV News
It is many years after WW2 that the modern air force starts accepting female fighter pilots. So this book is an inspiration for all female pilots around the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment