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They were called "night witches". Great Patriotic War and women heroes. Gone is one of the last "night witches"

War does not have a feminine face... Perhaps that is why we look so intently at women's images in military photographs, we are interested in their fate in the war. It is women's military stories that are especially touchingly reflected in both fiction and cinema. Below we will talk about the aviation regiment, which was formed to fight the fascist invader. "Night witches" - this is how the enemies called this regiment. All his warriors - from pilots and navigators to technicians - were women.

The history of the creation of the 46th Aviation Regiment

B 1941 godu in gopode Engelc pod personal otvetctvennoct ctapshego leytenanta gocbezopacnocti Mapiny Packovoy was ocnovan 46 gvapdeycky nochnoy bombapdipovochny zhencky aviatsionny polk, Who in buduschem okpectili "Hochnymi vedmami".

Marina Raskova is the founder of the women's aviation regiment.
In 1941, Marina Raskova was 29 years old.

For this, Marina had to use her personal resources and personal acquaintance with Stalin. No one really counted on success, however, they gave “good” and provided the necessary equipment. Evdokia Bershanskaya, a pilot with ten years of experience, was appointed commander of the regiment. Under her command, the regiment fought until the end of the war. Sometimes this regiment was jokingly called: "Dunkin Regiment", hinting at a completely female composition, and, justifying itself by the name of the regiment commander.
The enemy called the pilots "Night Witches", who suddenly appeared silently on small planes.

The 46th Taman Guards Regiment is a unique and the only formation in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. In total there were three aviation regiments in which women flew: fighter, heavy bombers and light bombers.

Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova), at the age of 20 she was enlisted in the air regiment. The hero of the USSR.

The first two regiments were mixed, and only the last, which flew the Po-2 light bomber, was exclusively female. Pilots and navigators, commanders and commissars, instrument operators and electricians, technicians and armamentsmen, clerks and staff workers - all these were women. And all, even the hardest work was done by women's hands. None of the replacements had experience in night flying, so they flew under a canopy that created an imitation of darkness. Soon the regiment was transferred to Krasnodar, and night witches began to fly over the Caucasus.

There were no men in the regiment, so the “feminine spirit” manifested itself in everything: in the neatness of the uniform, the cleanliness and comfort of the hostel, the culture of leisure, the absence of rude and obscene words, and dozens of other little things. As for combat...

Our regiment was sent to perform the most difficult tasks, we flew to complete physical exhaustion. There were cases when the crews could not get out of the cockpit due to fatigue, and they had to be helped

The flight lasted about an hour - enough to fly to the target in the immediate rear or on the front line of the enemy, drop bombs and return home. In one summer night, they managed to make 5 - 6 sorties, in winter - 10 - 12. They had to work both in the dagger beams of German searchlights and under heavy shelling, ”recalled Evdokia Rachkevich.

Aircraft and weapons of the "night witches"

The "Night Witches" flew Polikarpov biplanes, or Po-2s. The number of combat vehicles increased in a couple of years from 20 to 45. This aircraft was originally created not at all for combat, but for exercises. It did not even have a compartment for air bombs (the shells were hung under the "belly" of the aircraft on special bomb racks). The maximum speed that such a machine could develop is 120 km / h. With such modest weapons, the girls showed the wonders of piloting. This despite the fact that each Po-2 carried the load of a large bomber, often up to 200 kg at a time. Pilots fought only at night. Moreover, in one night they made several sorties, terrifying the positions of the enemy. The girls did not have parachutes on board, being literally suicide bombers. In the event of a shell hitting the plane, they could only die heroically. The pilots loaded the places reserved by technology for parachutes with bombs. Another 20 kg of weapons was a serious help in battle. Until 1944, these training aircraft were not equipped with machine guns. Both the pilot and the navigator could control them, so if the first one died, his partner could bring the combat vehicle to the airfield.

“Our training aircraft was not created for military operations. Wooden biplane with two open cockpits located one behind the other and dual controls - for the pilot and navigator. (Before the war, pilots were trained on these machines). Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power motor that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. There was no bomb bay on the plane, the bombs were hung in bomb racks directly under the plane of the plane. There were no sights, we created them ourselves and called them PPR (simpler than a steamed turnip). The amount of bomb cargo varied from 100 to 300 kg. On average, we took 150-200 kg. But during the night the plane managed to make several sorties, and the total bomb load was comparable to the load of a large bomber.Machine guns on aircraft also appeared only in 1944. Before that, the only weapons on board were TT pistols.- the pilots recalled.

In modern language, the Po-2 plywood bomber could be called a stealth aircraft. At night, at low altitude and low level flight, German radars could not detect it. German fighters were afraid to snuggle too close to the ground, and often this was what saved the lives of the pilots. That is why the girls from the night bomber regiment received such an ominous nickname - night witches. But if the Po-2 fell into the searchlight beam, it was not difficult to bring it down.

War. Battle path

After the night flights, the stiff girls could hardly get to the barracks. They were carried away directly from the cab by a friend who had already warmed up, because her hands and feet, bound by the cold, did not obey

During the fighting, the pilots of the air regiment made 23,672 sorties. The breaks between flights were 5-8 minutes, sometimes the crew made 6-8 sorties per night in summer and 10-12 in winter.
In total, the aircraft were in the air for 28,676 hours (1,191 full days).
The pilots dropped more than 3 thousand tons of bombs, 26,000 incendiary shells. The regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway echelons, 2 railway stations, 26 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 176 vehicles, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights.
811 fires and 1092 large explosions were caused.
Also, 155 bags of ammunition and food were dropped on the encircled Soviet troops.

Before the battle for Novorossiysk, the base near Gelendzhik

Until the middle of 1944, the crews of the regiment flew without parachutes, preferring to take an extra 20 kg of bombs with them. But after heavy losses, I had to make friends with the white dome. We didn’t go for it very willingly - the parachute fettered movement, by morning the shoulders and back ached from the straps.
If there were no night flights, then during the day the girls played chess, wrote letters to their relatives, read or, having gathered in a circle, sang. They also embroidered with the “Bulgarian cross”. Sometimes the girls organized amateur evenings, to which they invited the aviators of the neighboring regiment, who also flew at night on slow-moving vehicles.

Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing

The combat losses of the regiment amounted to 32 people. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing. After the war, the commissar of the regiment, Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, used the money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where the planes died, and found the graves of all the dead.

Composition of the regiment

On May 23, 1942, the regiment flew to the front, where it arrived on May 27. Then its number was 115 people - most aged 17 to 22 years.

Pilots heroes of the Soviet Union - Rufina Gasheva (left) and Natalya Meklin

During the war years, 24 servicemen of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The title of Hero of the Republic of Kazakhstan was awarded to one pilot: Guards Art. lieutenant Dospanova Khiuaz - more than 300 sorties.

If it were possible to collect flowers from all over the world and put them at your feet, then even with this we would not be able to express our admiration for the Soviet pilots!

The French soldiers of the Normandy-Niemen regiment wrote.

Losses

The irretrievable combat losses of the regiment amounted to 23 people and 28 aircraft. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing.

After the war, the commissar of the regiment, Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, used the money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where the planes died, and found the graves of all the dead

The most tragic in the history of the regiment was the night of August 1, 1943, when four aircraft were lost at once. The German command, annoyed by the constant night bombing, transferred a group of night fighters to the regiment's area of operations. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet pilots, who did not immediately understand why the enemy anti-aircraft artillery was inactive, but the planes caught fire one after another. When the understanding came that Messerschmitt Bf.110 night fighters were fired against them, the flights were stopped, but before that, the German ace pilot, who only in the morning became a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Josef Kociok managed to burn three Soviet bombers in the air, along with the crews, on which there were no parachutes.

Another bomber was lost due to anti-aircraft fire. That night, Anna Vysotskaya with navigator Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova with navigator Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina with navigator Glafira Kashirina, Sofya Rogova with navigator Evgenia Sukhorukova died.

However, in addition to combat, there were other losses. So, on August 22, 1943, the communications chief of the regiment, Valentina Stupina, died of tuberculosis in the hospital. And on April 10, 1943, already at the airfield, one plane, landing in the dark, landed directly on another, which had just landed. As a result, the pilots Polina Makagon and Lida Svistunova died immediately, Yulia Pashkova died from her injuries in the hospital. Only one pilot remained alive - Khiuaz Dospanova, who received severe injuries - her legs were broken, but after several months of hospitalization, the girl returned to service, although due to improperly fused bones, she became an invalid of the 2nd group.
Crews also died before being sent to the front, in accidents during training.

Photo of pilots. Night Witches. War

1 of 28

Pilots heroes of the Soviet Union - Rushina Gasheva (left) and Natalya Meklin

Novorossiysk is taken - the girls are dancing

Memories of the war

Max nights

Pilot Marina Chechneva, at the age of 21 she became the commander of the 4th squadron

Marina Chechneva recalls:
“Flying over mountains is difficult, especially in autumn. Unexpectedly cloudy piles up, pressing the plane to the ground, or rather to the mountains, you have to fly in gorges or over unevenly high peaks. Here, every slight turn, the slightest decline threatens with a catastrophe, in addition, ascending and descending air currents arise near the mountain slopes, which imperiously pick up the car. In such cases, remarkable composure and skill are required from the pilot in order to stay at the right height ...

... These were "maximum nights" when we were in the air for eight to nine hours in a row. After three or four sorties, the eyes closed by themselves. While the navigator went to the command post to report on the flight, the pilot slept for several minutes in the cockpit, while the armed forces hung bombs, mechanics filled the plane with gasoline and oil. The navigator returned, and the pilot woke up ...

“Maximum nights” were given to us by a huge strain of physical and mental strength, and when dawn broke, we, barely moving our legs, went to the dining room, dreaming of having breakfast and falling asleep as soon as possible. At breakfast we were given some wine, which was supposed to be the pilots after combat work. But still, the dream was disturbing - dreamed of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, some had persistent insomnia ... "

The feat of mechanics

In the memoirs, the pilots describe the feat of mechanics who had to work around the clock. Aircraft refueling at night, aircraft maintenance and repair during the day.

“... The flight lasts about an hour, and mechanics and armed forces are waiting on the ground. They were able to inspect, refuel the aircraft, hang bombs in three to five minutes. It is hard to believe that young thin girls during the night with their hands and knees, without any devices, each hung up to three tons of bombs. These modest assistant pilots showed true miracles of endurance and skill. And the mechanics? Whole nights they worked at the start, and during the day they repaired cars, preparing for the next night. There were cases when the mechanic did not have time to bounce off the screw when starting the engine and her hand was interrupted ...

... And then we introduced a new service system - shift teams on duty. Each mechanic was assigned a certain operation on all aircraft: meeting, refueling or release ... Armed men in threes were on duty at the cars with bombs. Supervised by one of the senior AE technicians.

Fighting nights began to resemble the work of a well-functioning factory assembly line. The plane that returned from the mission was ready for a new flight in five minutes. This allowed the pilots to make 10-12 sorties on some winter nights.

Minute of rest

“Of course, the girls remained girls: they carried kittens on airplanes, danced in non-flying weather at the airport, right in overalls and high fur boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on footcloths, dissolving blue knitted underpants for this, and wept bitterly if they were suspended from flying”

The girls made up their playful rules.
“Be proud, you are a woman. Look down on men!
Do not beat off the groom from your neighbor!
Do not envy a friend (especially if he is in a dress)!
Don't shave. Save your femininity!
Don't trample your boots. No new ones!
Love combatant!
Do not pour out the cancer, give it to a friend!
Don't swear!
Do not get lost!"

The female pilots in the memoirs describe their baggy uniform and huge boots. The shape to size for them was not immediately sewn. Then two types of uniforms appeared - everyday with trousers and dress with a skirt.
On missions, of course, they flew out in trousers, the uniform with a skirt was intended for solemn meetings of the command. Of course, the girls dreamed of dresses and shoes.

“After the formation, all the command gathered at our headquarters, we reported to the commander about our work and our problems, including huge tarpaulin boots ... He was also not very pleased with our trousers. And after some time they took measurements from everyone and sent us brown tunics with blue skirts and red chrome boots - American. They only let water through like a blotter.
Long after that, we considered the uniform with skirts "Tyulenevskaya", and we put it on by order of the regiment: "Front dress uniform." For example, when they received the Guards banner. Flying in skirts, or hanging bombs, or cleaning the engine, of course, was inconvenient ... "

In moments of relaxation, the girls liked to embroider:
“In Belarus, we began to actively “get sick” with embroidery, and this continued until the end of the war. It started with forget-me-nots. Oh, what beautiful forget-me-nots turned out if you dissolve blue knitted underpants and embroider flowers on thin summer footcloths! You can make a napkin out of this, and it will go on a pillowcase. This disease, like chicken pox, captured the entire regiment ...

I come in the afternoon to the dugout to the armed men. The rain soaked her through, pouring from all the cracks, puddles on the floor. In the middle stands a girl on a chair and embroiders some kind of flower. Only there are no colored threads. And I wrote to my sister in Moscow: “I have a very important request for you: send me colored threads, and if you could make a gift to our women and send more. Our girls are rooting for every thread, every cloth is used for embroidery. If you do a great job, everyone will be very grateful.” From the same letter: “And today after dinner we formed a company: I am sitting at the embroidery of forget-me-nots, Bershanskaya is embroidering roses, with a cross, Anka is embroidering poppies, and Olga is reading aloud to us. There was no weather…”

Memory and newsreel about the 46th Aviation Regiment

Poems about night witch pilots

Under snow, rain and good weather
With your wings you cut the darkness over the earth.
"Night witches" on "heavenly slug"
They bombed fascist positions in the rear.

Even by age and temper - girls ...
It's time to fall in love and be loved.
Under the helmets of the pilot you hid bangs
And they rushed into the sky to beat the enemy of the Fatherland.

And immediately take off into the darkness from the desks of flying clubs
Without a parachute and without a gun, only with a TT.
You probably liked the starry sky.
You and at low level are always on top.

You are "heavenly creatures" for your fighters,
And for strangers - "night witches" on Po-2.
You inspired fear over the Don and Taman,
Yes, and on the Oder there was a rumor about you.

Not everyone, not everyone will return from the night battle.
Sometimes the wings, the body are worse than a sieve.
They sat down miraculously with a pile of enemy holes.
Patches - during the day, and at night again - "From the screw!"

As soon as the sun enters its hangar by a third and
Technicians will serve the winged apparatus,
They take off along the "night witches" strip,
To arrange a Russian hell for the Germans on earth.

Song from k.f. "Night witches in the sky"

Watch the film "Night Witches in the Sky" (1981)

"Night Witches" or "Night Swallows" TV series 2012

This is a film about women in aviation who fought in the ranks of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War on an equal footing with men.
The cast is not bad, the acting is also good.

The Germans called them "night witches", and Marshal Rokossovsky called them legends. The marshal was sure that the pilots would reach Berlin, and he was right. The low-speed night bombers PO-2 of the “night witches” bombed the Germans, regardless of the weather conditions and all air defense systems, and a woman was invariably at the helm. About the most productive aces of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment - in the material "Defend Russia".

Irina Sebrova, Natalia Meklin, Evgenia Zhigulenko. They served in the legendary women's aviation regiment of Marina Raskova (46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment), and their front-line biographies are in many ways similar. Each of them was passionate about aviation and from the first days of the Great Patriotic War aspired to the front, each had three years of war and a journey from the Caucasus to Germany. The pilots even received the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union on the same day - February 23, 1945.

But at the same time, the exploits of the "night witches" are unique - the bombers accounted for about 1000 sorties and tens of tons of bombs dropped on enemy positions. And this is on wooden PO-2 biplanes, which were not created for military purposes at all and the German air defense forces could not answer much!

“Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power motor that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. (...) bombs were hung in bomb racks right under the plane of the aircraft, ”recalled pilot Natalia Kravtsova (Mecklin) after the war.

Irina Sebrova, 1004 sorties

“Ira Sebrova made the most sorties in the regiment - 1004, it’s even scary to say. I think that in the whole world you can’t find a pilot with so many sorties,” wrote the pilot’s colleagues Irina Rakobolskaya and Natalya Kravtsova (Meklin) in the book “We were called night witches”.

Irina was one of the first who turned to Marina Raskova with a request to enroll her in the emerging women's air regiment. And the girl had arguments - even then, in October 1941, Sebrova was an experienced pilot: she graduated from the Moscow flying club, worked as an instructor, and before the war released several groups of cadets.

The battles in the Donbass region in May 1942 became a baptism of fire for the bombers. On PO-2 light bombers, regardless of the weather, they made several sorties per night. This is how Irina's front-line everyday life went, this is how experience was gained.

“She loves flying, she is attentive in flights, self-possessed, demanding of herself, disciplined,” Sebrova’s description said.

It soon became clear that there were no impossible tasks for the girl: solid fog, rain, lack of visibility, mountains, enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns - she couldn’t care less about any difficulties.

Over the Donbass, Novorossiysk and Eltigen, in Belarus, Poland and Germany, Sebrova raised her plane against the enemy. During the war years, she rose to the rank of senior lieutenant of the guard, went from a simple pilot to a flight commander. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times, the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, many medals, including "For the Defense of the Caucasus."

The pilot received the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star of the Hero on February 23, 1945 for 792 sorties. Until the end of the war and the brilliant result of 1000 sorties (1000-1008 - the number varies depending on the source; 1000 is indicated in the submission to the Order of the Red Banner of 06/15/1945) there were less than three months ...

Natalya Meklin (Kravtsova), 980 sorties

Natalia grew up in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Kharkov. There she graduated from school and an flying club, and in 1941 she moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.

The war began, and the girl, along with other students, went to build defensive fortifications near Bryansk. Returning to the capital, she enrolled, like other future "night witches", in the women's aviation unit of Marina Raskova, graduated from the Engels military pilot school, and in May 42 went to the front.

She was a navigator, and later retrained as a pilot. She made her first flights as a pilot in the sky over Tamanya. The situation at the front was not easy, the German forces desperately resisted the Soviet offensive, and the air defense on the occupied lines was saturated to the limit. In such conditions, Natalya became a real ace: she learned to take the plane away from enemy searchlights and anti-aircraft guns, to escape unscathed from German night fighters.

Together with the regiment, the commander of the guard, Lieutenant Natalya Meklin, traveled a three-year journey from the Terek to Berlin, making 980 sorties. In February 1945, she became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

He is a brave and fearless pilot. He devotes all his strength, all his combat skills to the fulfillment of combat missions,” the presentation to the main award of the country says. “Her combat work serves as a model for all personnel.

After the war, Natalya Kravtsova (her husband's surname) wrote novels and stories about the Great Patriotic War. The most famous book is “We were called night witches. This is how the women's 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment fought,” was written jointly with her front-line friend Irina Rakobolskaya.

Evgenia Zhigulenko, 968 sorties

“The Germans called us ‘night witches’, and the witches were only 15 to 27 years old,” Yevgenia Zhigulenko wrote in her memoirs.

She was 21 years old when in May 1942 she went to the front in the 46th night bomber regiment formed by Marina Raskova.

She made her first combat sorties in the sky over Donbass as a navigator, working with Polina Makogon. Already in October 1942, for 141 night flights on the PO-2 aircraft, she received her first award - the Order of the Red Banner. The performance said: “Comrade. Zhigulenko is the best shooter-scorer of the regiment.

Soon, having gained experience, Zhigulenko herself moved into the cockpit and became one of the most productive female pilots in the regiment.

In November, the 44th Guards Lieutenant Evgenia Zhigulenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the combat characteristics of the pilot, “high combat skill, perseverance and courage” were noted, 10 episodes of dangerous, but always productive sorties were described.

“... When my sorties began as a pilot, I was the first in the ranks as the tallest and, using this, managed to be the first to run to the plane and be the first to fly out on a combat mission. Usually during the night she managed to make one flight more than other pilots. So, thanks to my long legs, I became a Hero of the Soviet Union, ”Jigulenko joked.

In just three front-line years, the pilot made 968 sorties, dropping about 200 tons of bombs on the Nazis!

After the war, Evgenia Zhigulenko devoted herself to cinema. In the late 70s she graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, made films. One of them, “Night Witches in the Sky,” is dedicated to the combat activities of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.

46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Red Banner Taman Order of Suvorov 3rd Class Regiment The only completely female regiment (there were two more mixed regiments, the rest were exclusively male), 4 squadrons, these were 80 pilots (23 received the Hero of the Soviet Union) and a maximum of 45 aircraft, made up to 300 sorties per night, each dropping 200 kg of bombs (60 tons per night). We made 23,672 sorties (almost five thousand tons of bombs). The bombers were mostly advanced, so that falling asleep the German risked not waking up. The accuracy of the battle is amazing, the flight is silent, it is not visible on the radar. Therefore, the U-2 (Po-2), originally contemptuously called by the Germans "Russian plywood", very quickly turned into a regiment of "night witches" in literal translation.

Once we were on the Terek. Our defense line stood there for a very long time, and one pilot (we don’t know who, although we can guess) descended over the Terek and shouted to our soldiers: “Why the hell are you sitting and not advancing?! We fly, we bomb you here, and you sit still!” And from above, when you remove the gas, everything is very audible. And in the morning this battalion got up and went into battle. We didn’t know anything about this, but then a letter came from the commander of the infantry: “Find the woman who was shouting from above,” I wanted to express my gratitude to her. From the memoirs of Irina Rakobolskaya

During the war, Irina Rakobolskaya was part of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, in which only women flew. They flew wooden U-2 biplanes, created in 1928 for training pilots, and bombed the Germans at night, silently, hovering over them with the engine turned off. The low-powered engine made it possible to develop a speed of only 120 km / h, and the pilots made the sights for bombing themselves, they were called PPR - “Easier than a steamed turnip”. The fascists, hardened in battles, were afraid of them like fire, and they called them “Night Witches”. Of the slightly more than 200 people of the flight crew of the regiment, only five are alive today, and Irina Vyacheslavovna is one of them.

After the war, she became a professor, head of the Department of Cosmic Rays and Space Physics at the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University, participated in the work on the Soviet nuclear program and raised two sons, each of whom also became a professor.

The U-2 itself was created as a training aircraft, was extremely simple and cheap and outdated by the beginning of the war. Although it was produced before the death of Stalin and 33 thousand of them were riveted (one of the most massive aircraft in the world). For combat operations, it was urgently equipped with instruments, headlights, bomb suspension. The frame was often reinforced and ... But this is a long story about the half-century life of the machine and its creator, Polikarpov. It was in his honor after his death from cancer in 1944 that the aircraft was renamed Po-2. But back to our ladies.

First of all, let's dispel the myth of losses. They flew so efficiently (the Germans practically no one flew at night) that 32 girls died in sorties during the entire war. Po-2 haunted the Germans. In any weather, they appeared over the front line and bombed them at low altitudes. The girls had to make 8-9 sorties per night. But there were such nights when they received the task: to bomb "to the maximum." This meant that there should be as many sorties as possible. And then their number reached 16-18 in one night, as it was on the Oder. The pilots were literally taken out of the cockpits and carried in their arms - they could not stand on their feet.
Remembers Shcherbinina Tanya Weapons Master

The bombs were heavy. It is not easy for a man to deal with them. Young front-line soldiers, pushing, crying and laughing, fastened them to the wing of the aircraft. But before that, it was still necessary to figure out how many shells would be needed at night (as a rule, they took 24 pieces), take them, get them out of the box and undo them, wipe the fuses from grease, screw them into the infernal machine.

The technician shouts: "Girls! By manpower!" This means that it is necessary to hang fragmentation bombs, the lightest ones, 25 kilograms each. And if they fly to bomb, for example, a railway, then 100-kilogram bombs were attached to the wing. In this case, they worked together. Only they will raise it to shoulder level, partner Olga Erokhina will say something funny, both will burst out - and drop the infernal machine to the ground. You have to cry, but they laugh! Again they take up the heavy "pig": "Mom, help me!"

There were happy nights when, in the absence of the navigator, the pilot invited: "Climb into the cockpit, let's fly!" Fatigue vanished. A wild roar filled the air. Maybe it was compensation for the tears on the ground?

It was especially hard in winter. Bombs, shells, machine guns - metal. Is it possible, for example, to load a machine gun in gloves? Hands freeze, are taken away. And the hands are girlish, small, sometimes the skin remained on the frosted metal.

Regimental commissar E. Rachkevich, squadron commanders E. Nikulina and S. Amosova, squadron commissars K. Karpunina and I. Dryagina, regiment commander E. Bershanskaya
Tired of moving. Only niches, dugouts with rollovers will be built by the girls, disguised, covered with branches, the planes, and in the evening the regiment commander shouts into the mouthpiece: "Girls, prepare the planes for redeployment." They flew for a few days, and again moving. In the summer it was easier: in some kind of fishing line they made huts, or even just slept on the ground, wrapped in a tarpaulin, and in winter they had to grind the frozen soil, free the runway from snow.

The main inconvenience is the inability to put yourself in order, wash, wash. Days were considered a holiday when a "washer" arrived at the location of the unit - tunics, linen, and trousers were fried in it. More often washed things in gasoline.

Flight personnel of the regiment

Take off! (Still from newsreel)

The crew of N. Ulyanenko and E. Nosal receives a combat mission from the commander of the Bershanskaya regiment

Navigators. Stanitsa Assinovskaya, 1942.

The crew of Tanya Makarova and Vera Belik. They died in 1944 in Poland.

Nina Khudyakova and Lisa Timchenko

Olga Fetisova and Irina Dryagina

in winter

For flights. Spring thaw. Kuban, 1943.
The regiment flew from the "jump airfield" - as close as possible to the front line. Pilots got to this airfield by trucks.

Pilot Raya Aronova at her plane

Armed Forces insert fuses into bombs
4 bombs of 50 or 2 of 100 kg were suspended from the aircraft. During the day, the girls hung several tons of bombs each, as the planes took off at intervals of five minutes ...
April 30, 1943 the regiment became Guards.

Presentation of the Guards banner to the regiment. two crew

By the well

All three shots were taken in the village of Ivanovskaya near Gelendzhik before the storming of Novorossiysk.

“When the attack on Novorossiysk began, aviation was sent to help the ground troops and the marines, including 8 crews from our regiment.
... The route passed over the sea, or over mountains and gorges. Each crew managed to make 6-10 sorties per night. The airfield was close to the front line, in a zone accessible to enemy naval artillery.
From the book by I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"

Squadron commander of the 47th ShAP Air Force Black Sea Fleet M.E. Efimov and deputy. regiment commander S. Amosov discuss the task of supporting the landing

The deputy commander of the regiment S. Amosova sets the task for the crews allocated to support
landing in the Novorossiysk region. September 1943

“The last night before the assault on Novorossiysk came, the night of September 15-16. Having received a combat mission, the pilots taxied to the start.
... All night long, the planes suppressed pockets of enemy resistance, and already at dawn an order was received: to bomb the headquarters of the fascist troops, located in the center of Novorossiysk near the city square, and the crews flew again. The headquarters was destroyed."
From the book by I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"
"During the assault on Novorossiysk, Amosova's group made 233 sorties. The command awarded the pilots, navigators, technicians and armed forces with orders and medals.

From M. Chechneva's book "The sky remains ours"

Novorossiysk is taken! Katya Ryabova and Nina Danilova are dancing.
The girls not only bombed, but also supported the paratroopers on Malaya Zemlya, supplying them with food and clothing, and mail. At the same time, the Germans on the Blue Line resisted fiercely, the fire was very dense. In one of the sorties in the sky, four crews burned down in front of their friends ...

"... At that moment, searchlights lit up ahead and immediately caught the plane flying in front of us. In the crosshairs of the rays, the Po-2 looked like a silver moth entangled in a web.
... And the blue lights started running again - right in the crosshairs. The flames engulfed the plane, and it began to fall, leaving behind a winding strip of smoke.
The burning wing fell off, and soon the Po-2 fell to the ground, exploding ...
... That night, four of our Po-2s burned down over the target. Eight girls...
I. Rakobolskaya, N. Kravtsova "We were called night witches"

“On April 11, 1944, the troops of the Separate Primorsky Army, having broken through the enemy’s defenses in the Kerch region, rushed to connect with units of the 4th Ukrainian Front. At night, the regiment delivered massive strikes against the retreating columns of the Nazis. 25 thousand kilograms of bombs.
The next day we received an order to relocate to the Crimea.
M.P. Chechneva "The sky remains ours"

Panna Prokopieva and Zhenya Rudneva

Zhenya studied at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, studied astronomy, and was one of the most capable students. I dreamed of studying the stars...
One of the minor planets in the asteroid belt is called "Evgenia Rudneva".
After the liberation of the Crimea, the regiment receives an order to relocate to Belarus.

Belarus, a place near Grodno.
T. Makarova, V. Belik, P. Gelman, E. Ryabova, E. Nikulina, N. Popova

Poland. The regiment was built to present awards.
Here I digress a little from history, remembering photography lovers. This photograph is the middle part of a 9x12 photograph that I found in Bershanskaya's album. I scanned it with a resolution of 1200. Then I printed it on two sheets of 20x30. Then on two sheets 30x45. And then ... - you won't believe it! A photo 2 meters long was taken for the museum of the regiment! And all the faces were read! That was optics!
Fragment of the far end of the photo

I return to the story.
The regiment was moving west with battles. The flights continued...

Poland. For flights.

Winter 1944-45. N. Mecklin, R. Aronova, E. Ryabova.
By the way, if anyone remembers the film "Night Witches in the Sky" - then it was directed by Natalya Meklin (after Kravtsov's husband). She has also written several books. Raisa Aronova also wrote an interesting book about a trip to the battlefields in the 60s. Well, the third one here is my mother, Ekaterina Ryabova.

Germany, Stettin region. Deputy regiment commander E. Nikulin sets the task for the crews.
And the crews are already wearing custom-made ceremonial dresses. The photo is staged, of course. But the flights were still real ...
Two photos from the album of the regiment commander Evdokia Bershanskaya.

Commanders receive a combat mission on April 20, 1945.

Berlin is taken!

The combat work is over.

The regiment is preparing to fly to Moscow to participate in the Victory Parade.
Unfortunately, percale airplanes were not allowed to enter the parade... But they recognized that they deserve a monument made of pure gold!..

Evdokia Bershanskaya and Larisa Rozanova

Marina Chechneva and Ekaterina Ryabova

Rufina Gasheva and Natalya Meklin

Farewell to the banner of the regiment. The regiment was disbanded, the banner was transferred to the museum.

The famous and legendary even before the war, the creator of the regiment and the ancestor of the very idea to use the U-2 as a night bomber. Marina Raskova, 1941

Marshal K.A. Vershinin presents the regiment with the Order of the Red Banner for the battles for the liberation of Feodosia.

Monument in Peresyp
Those who did not return from the war - remember them:

Makarova Tanya and Belik Vera burned down in Poland on August 29, 1944.

Malakhova Anna

Vinogradova Masha

Tormosina Lilia

Komogortseva Nadia, even before the battles, Engels, March 9, 1942

Olkhovskaya Lyuba

Tarasova Vera
Donbass, shot down in June 1942

Efimova Tonya
died of illness, December 1942

died of illness in the spring of 1943.

Makagon Polina

Svistunova Lida
crashed on landing April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya

Pashkova Julia
died April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya

Nosal Dusya
killed in an airplane 23 April 1943

Vysotskaya Anya

Dokutovich Galya

Horny Sonya

Sukhorukova Zhenya

Polunina Valya

Kashirina Irina

Krutova Zhenya

Salikova Lena
burned down over the Blue Line on August 1, 1943

Belkina Pasha

Frolova Tamara
shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda (no photo)
killed in the bombing, 1943

Volodina Taisiya

Bondareva Anya
lost orientation, Taman, March 1944

Prokofieva Panna

Rudneva Zhenya
burned down over Kerch on April 9, 1944

Varakina Lyuba (no photo)
died at the airfield in another regiment in 1944

Sanfirova Lelya
hit a mine after jumping from a burning plane December 13, 1944, Poland

Kolokolnikova Anya (no photo)
crashed on a motorcycle, 1945, Germany.

Feature film In the sky "night witches"

In the sky "Night Witches" - This film is about the events of the Second World War. The Nazis called the fearless Soviet female pilots "Night witches". They fought on "night" bombers PO-2. For girls, this nickname was the highest assessment of their contribution to the victory. Responsibility for the fate of the country, crying from fatigue, yearning for loved ones, relatives, loved ones, real warriors in difficult wartime.

Director Evgenia Zhigulenko - Hero of the Soviet Union, first a navigator, then a pilot of this regiment (46th Guards), made 968 sorties.

Released: 1981

Cast: Valentina Grushina, Yana Druz, Dima Zamulin, Nina Menshikova, Valeria Zaklunnaya, Tatiana Mikrikova, Elena Astafieva, Alexandra Sviridova, Sergei Martynov, Dodo Chogovadze, Stanislav Korenev, Valentina Klyagina

46th Guards Taman Red Banner Order of Suvorov 3rd Class Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.

“First of all, the planes, and then the girls,” is sung in the famous song of Leonid Utyosov. However, the Air Force is famous not only for men, but also for women pilots. So, during the Great Patriotic War, many women aviators took part in hostilities, many of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But I would like to pay special attention to the legendary "Night Witches".

One of the most famous pilots is Marina Raskova, a native of Moscow, Hero of the Soviet Union. After the start of World War II, she, being authorized by the special department of the NKVD and a senior lieutenant of state security, used her official position, as well as her personal acquaintance with Stalin, and received permission to form female combat units. Already in October 1941, in the city of Engels, under her command, the 46th Guards Night Bomber Women's Aviation Regiment, better known as the "Night Witches", appeared. In addition, here, in Engels, two other women's regiments were created, which then became mixed.

The uniqueness of the "Night Witches" lies in the fact that until the end of the war there were only representatives of the weaker sex in its composition. On May 27, 1942, the "Night Witches" in the amount of 115 people, whose age ranged from 17 to 22 years old, arrived at the front, and they made their first sortie on June 12.

"Night Witches" flew on U-2 (Po-2) aircraft, which were originally created as training aircraft for pilot training. It was practically unsuitable for combat operations, but the girls liked its lightness, maneuverability and noiselessness. Therefore, the aircraft was urgently equipped with all the necessary equipment. In the future, he also modernized. However, reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h, this light aircraft was very vulnerable, it could actually be shot down with a submachine gun.

Initially, the Germans contemptuously called the U-2 "Russian plywood", but the raids of the "Night Witches" forced them to change their minds.

Girls, as you know, made their sorties only at night. At a time, they took on board no more than 300 kilograms of bombs, and many deliberately abandoned parachutes in favor of a couple of extra shells. Each of the female pilots made 8-9 sorties in just one night, causing significant damage to the enemy forces. In winter, when the nights were longer, the number of sorties could increase to 18. After such nights, fragile, exhausted women were carried to the barracks in their arms. Add to this the open cockpits of the plane and the bitter cold of the night and imagine how hard it was for them.

It was impossible to notice the U-2 on the radar. In addition, the plane moved almost silently, so a German who fell asleep at night might not wake up in the morning. However, it was not always possible to catch the enemy by surprise. Almost after every sortie, the technical staff, also consisting of women, had to patch holes in the body of a plywood aircraft, more like a colander. During the entire war, the regiment lost 32 female pilots. Girls often died behind the front line and were burned alive in front of their fighting girlfriends.

The most tragic in the history of the Night Witches is the night of August 1, 1943. The Germans, who decided to repulse the fearless Soviet girls, formed their own group of night fighters. For the pilots, this was a complete surprise. That night, 4 aircraft were lost, on board of which there were 8 girls: Anna Vysotskaya, Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova, Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina, Glafira Kashirina, Sofia Rogova and Evgenia Sukhorukova.

However, the losses were not always combat. So, on April 10, 1943, one of the planes, landing in complete darkness, accidentally sat right on top of another. As a result, three pilots died that night, and the fourth, Khiuaza Dospanova, who broke her legs, spent several months in the hospital, but could not return to duty due to improperly fused bones.

But it was hard not only for the pilots and navigators, but also for the technical staff of the Night Witches. They not only patched holes in planes after night flights, but also attached heavy bombs to the wings of planes. And it’s good if the target of the raid was the enemy’s manpower - fragmentation bombs weighed 25 kilograms each and were the lightest. It was much more difficult to mount bombs weighing 100 kilograms to hit strategic ground targets. As Tatyana Shcherbina, the armaments master, recalled, the fragile girls together lifted heavy shells, which often fell under their feet.

But the worst of all "Night Witches" had in the winter in severe frosts. Fixing the bomb on the wing in gloves is an almost impossible task, so they worked without them, and quite often pieces of skin from delicate girlish hands remained on the shells.

"Night witches" during the war years made more than 23.5 thousand sorties, dropping about 3 million kilograms of bombs on the enemy. They took part in the battles for the Caucasus, for the liberation of the Crimea, Poland and Belarus. In addition, the "Night Witches" under cover of night supplied ammunition and food to Soviet soldiers who were surrounded by German troops.
The legendary "Night Witches" are the pride of the Russian Air Force, and their feat can hardly be overestimated.

They were called "night witches" and "legends" - heroic girls who desperately fought for the victory of our country during the Great Patriotic War. Brave fighting girls from 15 to 29 years old as part of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment took part in the liberation of Novorossiysk, battles in the Kuban, Crimea, Belarus, Poland, and reached Berlin. According to incomplete data, the regiment destroyed and damaged 17 crossings, 9 railway echelons, 2 railway stations, 46 warehouses, 12 fuel tanks, 1 aircraft, 2 barges, 76 vehicles, 86 firing points, 11 searchlights. 811 fires and 1092 large explosions were caused. Also, 155 bags of ammunition and food were dropped to the encircled Soviet troops.

The Aviation Regiment was formed in October 1941 by order of the NPO of the USSR. Marina Raskova led the formation, she was only 29 years old. Evdokia Bershanskaya, a pilot with ten years of experience, was appointed commander of the regiment. Under her command, the regiment fought until the end of the war. Sometimes it was jokingly called the "Dunkin Regiment", with a hint of an all-female composition and justified by the name of the regiment commander.

stihi.ru

The formation, training and coordination of the regiment was carried out in the city of Engels. The air regiment differed from other formations in that it was completely female. Only women occupied all positions here: from mechanics and technicians to navigators and pilots.

The exploits of the "night witches" are unique - the bombers account for thousands of sorties and tens of tons of bombs dropped on enemy positions. And this is on wooden PO-2 biplanes, which were not created for military purposes at all and the German air defense forces could not answer much!

oldstory.info

Our training aircraft was not created for military operations. Wooden biplane with two open cockpits located one behind the other and dual controls - for the pilot and navigator. Before the war, pilots were trained on these machines. Without radio communications and armored backs capable of protecting the crew from bullets, with a low-power motor that could reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. The plane did not have a bomb bay, the bombs were hung in bomb racks directly under the plane of the plane. There were no sights, we created them ourselves and called them PPR (simpler than a steamed turnip). The amount of bomb cargo varied from 100 to 300 kg. On average, we took 150-200 kg. But during the night the plane managed to make several sorties, and the total bomb load was comparable to that of a large bomber.

No difficulties frightened the pilots. And when they wanted to feel like just women, they arranged dances at the airport right in overalls and high fur boots, embroidered forget-me-nots on footcloths, dissolving blue knitted underpants for this.

The female pilots in the memoirs describe their baggy uniform and huge boots. The shape to size for them was not immediately sewn. Then two types of uniforms appeared - everyday with trousers and dress with a skirt.
On missions, of course, they flew out in trousers, the uniform with a skirt was intended for solemn meetings of the command. Of course, the girls dreamed of dresses and shoes.

colors life

Every night, the pilots managed to make 10-12 sorties. They did not take parachutes with them, they preferred to grab an additional bomb with them instead. The flight lasted an hour, then the plane returned to base to refuel and plant bombs. The time to prepare the aircraft between flights took five minutes.

The flight lasts about an hour, and mechanics and armed forces are waiting on the ground. They were able to inspect, refuel the aircraft, hang bombs in three to five minutes. It is hard to believe that young thin girls during the night with their hands and knees, without any devices, each hung up to three tons of bombs. These modest assistant pilots showed true miracles of endurance and skill. And the mechanics? Whole nights they worked at the start, and during the day they repaired cars, preparing for the next night. There were cases when the mechanic did not have time to bounce off the propeller when starting the engine and her hand was interrupted ... And then we introduced a new service system - shift crews on duty. Each mechanic was assigned a certain operation on all aircraft: meeting, refueling or release ... Armed men in threes were on duty at the cars with bombs. Supervised by one of the senior AE technicians. Fighting nights began to resemble the work of a well-functioning factory assembly line. The plane that returned from the mission was ready for a new flight in five minutes.

Different stories led women to war. Some of them are tragic. Evdokia Nosal came to the front to think less about the death of her newborn son. Immediately after Evdokia gave birth, the bombing of the maternity hospital began in Brest. Evdokia survived, and later she found the body of her son under the rubble.

pokazuha.ru

Dusya miraculously survived. But she could not leave the place where until recently there had been a large bright house. There, under the rubble, lay her son... She scraped the ground with her nails, clinging to the stones, they pulled her away by force... Dusya tried to forget all this. She flew, flew, and every night managed to make more sorties than others. She was always first. She came to us, flew brilliantly, and on the dashboard of her plane there was always a portrait of her husband, also a pilot - Gritsko, so she flew with him. We were the first to introduce Dusya to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

colors life

From the diary of pilot Zhenya Rudneva:

April 24th.
Yesterday morning I came to the navigators, who were going to bomb, scolded them for the lack of windbreakers and asked Nina Ulyanenko: “Yes, Nina, you were on flights, how is it, is everything all right?” Nina looked at me strangely and in some too calm voice asks : „What - everything is all right?“
- Well, is everything all right?
- Dusya Nosal was killed. Messerschmit. At Novorossiysk...
I only asked who the navigator was. "Kashirina. Brought the plane and landed. Yes, we always have something new. And usually all sorts of incidents at the start happen without me. Dusya, Dusya... A wound in the temple and back of the head, lies as if alive... And her Gritsko is in Chkalov...
And Irinka did a good job - after all, Dusya fell on the handle in the first cabin, Ira got up, pulled her by the collar and piloted the plane with great difficulty. Still hoping that she fainted...
No matter what I did yesterday, I thought about Dus all the time. But not like it was a year ago. Now it became much harder for me, I knew Dusya closely, but I myself, like everyone else, became different: drier, more callous. Not a tear. War. Only the day before yesterday I flew to this target with Lyusya Klopkova ... In the morning we drank with laughter with laughter for not hitting us: we heard anti-aircraft guns bursting under the planes, but they didn’t get us ... "

“... In the coffin she lay strict, with a bandaged head. It was hard to tell what was whiter - her face or the bandage ... There was a salute from rifles. A pair of fighters flew low, low. They waved their wings, sending a farewell greeting."

Pilot Natalya Kravtsova also got to the front of her own free will. She grew up in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Kharkov. There she graduated from school and an flying club, and in 1941 she moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.

tvc.ru

wikipedia.org

After the war, Natalya Kravtsova wrote novels and stories about the Great Patriotic War. The most famous book is “We were called night witches. This is how the women's 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment fought,” was written jointly with her front-line friend Irina Rakobolskaya.

Another pilot, Irina Sebrova, was one of the first who turned to Marina Raskova with a request to enroll her in the emerging women's air regiment. She graduated from the Moscow flying club, worked as an instructor, and before the war released several groups of cadets.

lib.ru

Ira Sebrova made the most sorties in the regiment - 1004, it’s even scary to say. I think that in the whole world you cannot find a pilot with so many sorties.

Pilot Evgenia Zhigulenko was only 21 years old when she went to the front in May 1942. She made her first combat sorties in the sky over Donbass as a navigator, working with Polina Makogon. Already in October 1942, for 141 night flights on the PO-2 aircraft, she received her first award - the Order of the Red Banner. The performance said: “Comrade. Zhigulenko is the regiment's best shooter-scorer."

mtdata.ru

Soon, having gained experience, Zhigulenko herself moved into the cockpit and became one of the most productive female pilots in the regiment. In November, the 44th Guards Lieutenant Evgenia Zhigulenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In the combat characteristics of the pilot, “high combat skill, perseverance and courage” were noted, 10 episodes of dangerous, but always productive sorties were described.

When my sorties began as a pilot, I was the first in the ranks as the tallest in height and, taking advantage of this, managed to be the first to run to the plane and be the first to fly out on a combat mission. Usually during the night she managed to make one flight more than other pilots. So, thanks to my long legs, I became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

In just three front-line years, the pilot made 968 sorties, dropping about 200 tons of bombs on the Nazis!

After the war, Evgenia Zhigulenko devoted herself to cinema. In the late 70s she graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, made films. One of them - "Night witches in the sky" - is dedicated to the combat activities of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.

Unfortunately, the regiment did not return from the war in full strength. The combat losses of the regiment amounted to 32 people. Despite the fact that the pilots died behind the front line, not one of them is considered missing. After the war, the commissar of the regiment, Evdokia Yakovlevna Rachkevich, used the money collected by the entire regiment, traveled to all the places where the planes crashed, and found the graves of all the dead.

livejournal.com

The most tragic episode in the history of the regiment was the night of August 1, 1943, when four aircraft were lost at once. The German command, annoyed by the constant night bombing, transferred a group of night fighters to the regiment's area of operations. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet pilots, who did not immediately understand why the enemy anti-aircraft artillery was inactive, but the planes caught fire one after another. When the understanding came that Messerschmitt Bf.110 night fighters were fired against them, the flights were stopped, but before that, the German ace pilot, who only in the morning became a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Josef Kociok managed to burn three Soviet bombers in the air together with the crews, on which did not have parachutes. Another bomber was lost due to anti-aircraft fire. That night, Anna Vysotskaya and navigator Galina Dokutovich, Evgenia Krutova and navigator Elena Salikova, Valentina Polunina and navigator Glafira Kashirina, Sofya Rogova and navigator Evgenia Sukhorukova died.

yaplakal.com

However, in addition to combat, there were other losses. So, on August 22, 1943, the communications chief of the regiment, Valentina Stupina, died of tuberculosis in the hospital, and on April 10, 1943, already at the airfield, one plane, landing in the dark, landed directly on another, which had just landed. As a result, the pilots Polina Makagon and Lida Svistunova died immediately, Yulia Pashkova died from her injuries in the hospital. Only one pilot remained alive - Khiuaz Dospanova, who received severe injuries: her legs were broken, but after several months of hospitals, the girl returned to service, although due to improperly fused bones, she became an invalid of the 2nd group. Crews also died before being sent to the front, in accidents during training.

Unfortunately, the surviving "night witches" after the war were forgotten by many. In 2013, at the venerable age of 91, Guards Major Nadezhda Vasilievna Popova, the last of twenty-three combat pilots - "night witches" awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union during the war years, quietly passed away. Quiet, because on the day of her death, July 6, only a few news agencies briefly reported on the incident.

nadir.ru

dead girlfriends

Malakhova Anna and Vinogradova Masha Engels, March 9, 1942
Tormosina Lilia and Komogortseva Nadya Engels, March 9, 1942
Olkhovskaya Lyuba and Tarasova Vera Donbass, shot down in June 1942
Efimova Tonya died of illness, December 1942.
Stupina Valya died of an illness in the spring of 1943.
Makagon Polina and Svistunova Lida crashed while landing April 1, 1943, Pashkovskaya
Pashkova Julia died on April 4, 1943 after an accident in Pashkovskaya
Nosal Dusya was killed on the plane on April 23, 1943.
Anya Vysotskaya and Galya Dokutovich burned down over the Blue Line on August 1, 1943.
Rogova Sonya and Sukhorukova Zhenya - -
Polunina Valya and Kashirina Ira - -
Krutova Zhenya and Salikova Lena - -
Belkina Pasha and Frolova Tamara shot down in 1943, Kuban
Maslennikova Luda died during the bombing, 1943
Volodina Taisiya and Bondareva Anya lost their bearings, Taman, March 1944
Prokofieva Panna and Rudneva Zhenya burned down over Kerch on April 9, 1944.
Varakina Lyuba died at the airfield in another regiment in 1944.
Makarova Tanya and Belik Vera burned down in Poland on August 29, 1944.
Lelya Sanfirova was blown up by a mine after jumping from a burning plane on December 13, 1944, Poland
Kolokolnikova Anya crashed on a motorcycle, 1945, Germany

In 1981, the Soviet feature film "In the Sky" Night Witches "" directed by Evgenia Zhigulenko was released. The prototype of the unit where the heroines of the film serve was the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, formed at the suggestion of Marina Raskova [ . The director of the film, Yevgenia Zhigulenko, fought as part of this air regiment, was a flight commander and became a Hero of the Soviet Union for her courage in battle.
In 2005, Oleg and Olga Greig's book Field Wives appeared, in which the pilots are depicted as sexually promiscuous. The authors also accused them of the fact that the awards were given only through the bed. Veterans of the regiment sued the authors for libel. A criminal case was initiated, which was terminated due to the death of O. Greig.