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Lydia Litvyak

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Lydia Litvyak
File:Lydia Litvyak.JPG
Lydia Litvyak
Nickname(s)Lilya
Service / branchSoviet Air Force
AwardsOrder of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War (twice), Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumous)
File:Lydia Litvyak.JPG
Lydia Litvyak

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak, (Лидия Владимировна Литвяк, (Moscow, August 18, 1921 – Krasnyi Luch [1] August 1, 1943), also known as Lydia Litviak or Lilya Litviak, was a female fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. With 12 solo victories [2][3] (but some authors say 11 [4] or even 13 [5]) and either two [6], or four,[7] shared gained in 66 combat missions,[5] she is one of the world's only two female fighter aces, along with Katya Budanova.

Early life

Born in Moscow, she was keen on aviation from her youth. At 14, she entered an aeroclub, and at 15, flew an aircraft for the first time. In the late 1930s, she received her flight instructor license.

World War II

Women's regiment

After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Litvyak tried to join a military aviation unit, but was turned down for lack of experience. After deliberately exaggerating her pre-war flight time by 100 hours, she joined the all-female 586th Fighter Regiment (586 IAP), which was formed by Marina Raskova. She trained there on the Yakovlev Yak-1 aircraft.

Men's regiment

She flew her first combat flights in the summer of 1942 over Saratov. In September, she was assigned, along with Katya Budanova, six other pilots, and accompanying female ground crew, to the 437th IAP, a men's regiment fighting over Stalingrad. Here, flying a Yak-1[8] carrying the number "32" on the fuselage, she would achieve considerable success.[9] She destroyed her first enemy planes in the air during her second combat sortie which occurred on September 13, 1942, when four Yak-1s—with Major S. Danilov in the lead—attacked a formation of Junkers Ju 88s escorted by Messerschmitt Bf 109s[10] over Stalingrad. Her first kill—considered the first-ever air victory by a woman—was a Ju 88 which fell in flames from the sky after several bursts. Then she shot a Bf 109 G-2 "Gustav" off the tail of her squadron commander, Raisa Belyaeva.[10][11] The Bf 109 was piloted by an 11-victory ace, three-time recipient of the Iron Cross, Staff Sergeant Erwin Maier of the 2nd Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53. Maier parachuted from his aircraft, was captured by Soviet troops, and asked to see the Russian ace who had outflown him. When he was taken to stand in front of Litvyak, he thought he was being made the butt of a Soviet joke. It was not until Litvyak described each move of the dogfight to him in perfect detail that he knew he had been beaten by a woman pilot.[12] But according to other authors [13] the first air victory of a female pilot was achieved by 586° IAP's Leutenant Valeriya Khomiakova when she shot down the Ju 88 flown by Oblt. Gerhard Maak of 7./KG76 on the night of 24 September 1942. On 27 September Litvyak scored an air victory against a Ju 88, the gunner having shot up the regiment commander, Major M.S. Khovostnikov.[10]. For some historians [13] that was her first kill.

Free hunter

In late 1942, Litvyak was moved to the 9th Guards Fighter Regiment (9 GIAP), and in January 1943, to the 296th IAP, renamed later to become the 73rd Guards Fighter Regiment. On February 23, she was awarded the Order of the Red Star, made a junior lieutenant and selected to take part in the elite air tactic called okhotniki, or "free hunter", where pairs of experienced pilots searched for targets on their own initiative.[14] Twice, she was forced to land due to battle damage, and she was injured in aerial combat on March 22 and again on July 16, 1943.

While in 73rd GIAP, she often flew as wingman of Alexei Frolovich Solomatin. Kapitan Solomatin was a flying ace. He had claimed a total of 39 victories (22 shared), when he flew into the ground, in Pavlonka, and was killed in front of the entire regiment on May 21 [15], while training a new flyer. Lydia was devastated by the crash and wrote a letter to her mother describing how she realized only after Solomatin's death that she had loved him.[14]. Senior Sergeant Inna Pasportnikova, Litvyak's mechanic during the time she flew with the men's regiment, reported in 1990 that after Solomatin's death, Litvyak wanted nothing but to fly combat missions, and she fought desperately.[16]

Litvyak scored against a difficult target on May 31, 1943: an artillery observation balloon manned by a German officer. German artillery was aided in targeting by reports from the observation post on the balloon. The elimination of the balloon had been attempted by other Soviet airmen but all had been driven away by a dense protective belt of anti-aircraft fire defending the balloon. Litvyak volunteered to take out the balloon but was turned down. She insisted, and described for her commander her plan: she would attack it from the rear after flying in a wide circle around the perimeter of the battleground and over German-held territory. The tactic worked—the hydrogen-filled balloon caught fire under her stream of tracer bullets and was destroyed.[17]

On June 13, 1943, Litvyak was appointed flight commander of the 3rd Aviation Squadron within 73rd GIAP.[14]

Last Mission

On August 1, 1943, Lydia did not come back to her base of Krasnyy Luch, in the Donbass, from an escort to a flight of Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmoviks. It was her fourth sortie of the day. As the Soviets were returning to base near Orel,[5] a pair of Bf 109 fighters[16] dived on Lydia while she was attacking a large group of German bombers. Soviet pilot Ivan Borisenko recalled: “Lily just didn’t see the Messerschmitt 109s flying cover for the German bombers. A pair of them dived on her and when she did see them she turned to meet them. Then they all disappeared behind a cloud.” Borisenko, involved in the dogfight, saw her a last time, through a gap in the clouds, her Yak-1 pouring smoke and pursued by as many as eight Bf 109s.[18] Borisenko descended to see if he could find her. No parachute was seen, and no explosion, yet she never returned from the mission. Litvyak was 21 years old. Soviet authorities suspected that she might have been captured, a possibility that prevented them from awarding her the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.[19]

Recognition and controversy

In an attempt to prove that Litvyak had not been taken captive, Pasportnikova embarked on a 36 year search for the Yakovlev Yak-1 crash site assisted by the public and the media. For three years she was joined by relatives who together combed the most likely areas with a metal detector.[19] In 1979, after uncovering more than 90 other crash sites, 30 aircraft[19] and many lost pilots killed in action, "the searchers discovered that an unidentified woman pilot had been buried in the village of Dmitrievka... in Shakhterski district." It was then assumed that it was Litvyak and that she had been killed in action after sustaining a mortal head wound.[14] Pasportnikova said that a specialist commission was formed to inspect the exhumed body and it concluded the remains were those of Litvyak.[20]

On May 6, 1990, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev posthumously awarded Litvyak Hero of the Soviet Union.[21] Her final rank was senior lieutenant.

Death controversy

Arguments have been published that dispute the official version of Litvyak's death. Although Yekaterina Valentina Vaschenko, the curator of the Litvyak museum in Krasnyi Luch has stated that the body was disinterred and examined by forensic specialists who determined that it was indeed Litvyak,[22] Kazimiera Janina "Jean" Cottam claims, on the basis of evidence provided by Ekaterina Polunina, chief mechanic and archivist of the 586th Fighter Regiment in which Litvyak initially served, that the body was never exhumed and that verification was limited to comparison of a number of reports.[23] Cottam, an author and researcher focusing on Soviet women in the military, concludes that Litvyak made a belly-landing in her stricken aircraft, was captured and taken to a prisoner of war camp.[23] In her book published in 2004, Polunina lists evidence that led her to conclude that Litvyak was pulled from the downed aircraft by German troops and held prisoner for some time.[24] In 2000, Nina Raspopova, a veteran of the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (not a regiment that Litvyak served in), thought she recognized Litvyak on television. Raspopova saw, on a Swiss broadcast, a Russian woman, mother of three, apparently in her late 70s, who was introduced as a former Soviet combat pilot, twice-wounded during World War II. Raspopova informed Polunina of the sighting.[24]

Number of kills

There are conflicting claims about Litvyak's victory score in different publications; none are official records. Most often, 11 individual kills and 3 team kills are quoted, but also 8 individual and 4 team, 12 individual and 2 team,[6] or other combinations. Pasportnikova stated in 1990 that the tally was 12 solo kills including the balloon, and three shared.[25] Polunina has written that the kills of top-scoring Soviet pilots, including those of Litvyak and Budanova, were often inflated; and that Litvyak should be credited with five solo aircraft kills and two group kills, including the observation balloon.[24]

The novel Vernis iz Poleta ([26]) (Return from Flight) by Natalya Kravtsova fictionalizes the death of Solomatin, stating that he was killed when he ran out of ammunition while battling with a German Bf 109 fighter plane over his own airfield. Litvyak and others at the airfield watched the fight and witnessed his death.

Litvyak was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Star, and was twice honored with the Order of the Patriotic War.

White lily, white rose

She was called the "White Lily of Stalingrad" in Soviet press releases; the white lily flower may be translated from Russian as Madonna lily. She has also been called the "White Rose of Stalingrad" in Europe and North America after reports of her exploits were first published in English. A play about her, White Rose, was performed once in Coventry.[27]

Decorations

  • Hero of the Soviet Union
    Hero of the Soviet Union
  • Order of the Red Banner
    Order of the Red Banner
  • Order of the Red Star.
    Order of the Red Star.
  • Order of the Patriotic War 1st class.
    Order of the Patriotic War 1st class.

Aerial victories

  • September 13, 1942
    • two solo, a Junkers Ju 88 and a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (of E. Maier.)[28] Another source suggests a Heinkel He 111 instead of a Ju 88.[29]
  • September 27, 1942
  • February 11, 1943
  • March 1, 1943
    • one solo, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 [28]
  • March 22, 1943
    • two solo, a Messerschmitt Bf 109[14][28] and a Junkers Ju 88 [28]
  • May 5, 1943
    • one solo, a Messerschmitt Bf 109[14][28]
  • May 7, 1943
    • one solo, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 [14][28]
  • May 31, 1943
    • one solo, an artillery observation balloon[14][28]
  • July 16, 1943
    • one solo, Messerschmitt Bf 109[28] One source claims the victim aircraft had an "Ace of Spades" card painted on the fuselage.[29]
  • July 19, 1943
    • one solo, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 [28]
  • July 31, 1943
    • one solo, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 [28]
    • one shared, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 [28]
  • August 1, 1943
    • one shared, a Messerschmitt Bf 109[14] According to the Aranysas article, Litvyak did not score a kill on August 1, 1943; but this was the day she was shot down, by four Bf 109s.[28]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Goodpaster 2009, p. 27.
  2. ^ Jackson 2003, p. 57.
  3. ^ Seidl 1998, p. 323.
  4. ^ Morgan 1999, p. 31.
  5. ^ a b c Spick 1999, p. 120.
  6. ^ a b Noggle, 1994, p. 157.
  7. ^ Bergström, 2007, p. 83.
  8. ^ Polak 1999, p. 202.
  9. ^ Polak 1999, p. 201.
  10. ^ a b c Seidl 1998, p. 135.
  11. ^ The Eastern Front. Russian Aces. Lilya Vladimirovna Litviak. Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  12. ^ Goodpaster, 2007, p. 27.
  13. ^ a b Bergström 2007, p. 83. Cite error: The named reference "Bergström p. 83." was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pennington, 1997
  15. ^ Polak 1999, p. 302.
  16. ^ a b Noggle, 1994, p. 198
  17. ^ Noggle, 1994, pp. 197–198.
  18. ^ Myles 1981, p. 232.
  19. ^ a b c Noggle, 1994, p. 199
  20. ^ Noggle 1994, p. 200.
  21. ^ Noggle, 1994, pp. 158, 194.
  22. ^ Soviet-Awards.com Henry Sakaida, 2002. The Memorial to Soviet Ace Lydia Litvyak, page 3. Retrieved on March 23, 2009.
  23. ^ a b Redarmyonline.org. Kazimiera Janina "Jean" Cottam, 2006. (Lidya (Lily) Vladimirovna Litvyak (b. 1921). Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  24. ^ a b c Polunina, 2004
  25. ^ Noggle, 1994, p. 197.
  26. ^ Return from the flight, http://openlibrary.org/b/OL4050426M/Vernisʹ_iz_poletathat
  27. ^ The Guardian. Notes and Queries. Yesteryear. Question by Jaakko, Sydney Australia. Apparently during World War 2 in Russia there was a female pilot, the "White Rose of Stalingrad". Can anyone describe her exploits, and did she survive the war? Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Aranysas, March 2009. "Sztálingrád Fehér Lilioma". Retrieved March 23, 2009.
  29. ^ a b Myles, 1981

Bibliography

  • Bergström, Christer (2007). Barbarossa—The Air Battle: July–December 1941. Classic Publications. ISBN 1857802705.
  • Bergström, Christer. Stalingrad—The Air Battle: 1942 through January 1943. Hinckley England, Midland, 2007. ISBN 978-1-85780-276-4.
  • Goodpaster-Strebe, Amy (2007). Flying for Her Country: the American and Soviet women military pilots of World War II. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0275994341.
  • Jackson, Robert. Air Aces of WWII. Ramsbury, MarloboRugh, Vital Guide, Airlife Crowood Press, 2003. ISBN 1-84037-412-8.
  • Myles, Bruce (1981). Night Witches: the untold story of Soviet women in combat. Mainstream. ISBN 0906391229.
  • Noggle, Anne (1994). A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. Texas A&M University. ISBN 089096601X.
  • Pennington, Reina (1997). Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700615547.
  • Polunina, Ekaterina K. (2004). Devčonki, podružki, letčicy. Izdat. Dom "Vestnik Vozduš. Flota".
  • Morgan, Hugh. Gli assi Sovietici della Seconda guerra mondiale (in Italian). Edizioni del Prado/Osprey Aviation, 1999. ISBN 84-8372-203-8.
  • Polak, Tomas with Christofer Shores. Stalin's Falcons—The aces of the red star. London, Grub Street, 1999. ISBN 1-902304-01-2.
  • Seidl, Hans D. Stalin's Eagles—An illustrated Study of the Soviet Aces of World War II and Korea. Atglen, PA, Schiffer Military History, 1998. ISBN 0-7643-0476-3.
  • Spick, Mike. The complete fighter ace: all the world' fighter aces, 1914–2000. London, Greenhill Books, 1999. ISBN 1-85367-374-9.
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