Marina Raskova was the first woman to become a professional pilot in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Raskova, thanks to her skills and strength, inspired many young women and founded an all-female fighting force during the Second World War.
Marina Raskova’s Early Life
Marina Raskova was born on the 28th of March 1912 in Moscow. Her mother, Anna Liubatovich, was a teacher, and her father, Michail Malinina, was an opera singer and instructor. Since her young age and thanks to her parents’ passion, Raskova’s dream was to become an opera singer.
At the age of seven, Raskova’s father died because of an accident on the motorcycle. Years later, due to a middle ear infection, and the lack of money resulting from the death of her father, Raskova decided to change her career. She needed to focus on something more practical which would have helped her to earn some money to help her family. Consequently, Raskova started studying engineering and chemistry in high school.
Raskova graduated in 1929. In that same year, she started working as a chemist in a dye factory and she married Sergey Raskov, a colleague. Even though the marriage did not last many years, in 1930 they had a daughter, Tanya.
Raskova and the Aviation
In 1931, Marina Raskova was admitted as a draftswoman at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, part of the Russian Air Force. While working there, Raskova started to nurture her passion for aviation and her skills and commitment did not go unnoticed. Only one year after, she started teaching at the Academy, becoming in 1933 the first Russian woman to graduate as an aviation navigator and, in 1934, the first female pilot instructor. Being a woman in a male-dominated world was not easy, but Raskova proved to everybody what she was capable of and gained the trust and respect of her male colleagues and students.
After obtaining her pilot’s license in August 1935, Marina Raskova started to set several international records in aviation.
On the 24th of October 1937, Raskova and Valentina Grizodubova scored the female world record in a long-distance non-stop flight of 1,445km on a Yak-12.
The year after she set three more records on an MP-1 flying boat, improving her record from the previous year, and, on an ANT-37. On the 24th and 25th of September 1938, Raskova, Grizodubova, and Osipenko flew from Moscow to Komsomolsk, covering 6,450km.
Thanks to her achievement, Raskova and her flight companions received the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union. She also met Joseph Stalin.
Marina Raskova and the Second World War
When the Second World War broke out and Germany invaded the Soviet Union women could not join the Soviet Air Force. However, in the 1930s, thousands of them were part of flying clubs.
Marina Raskova, one of the most famous aviatrixes, started receiving letters from all over the Soviet Union. Young women asked her to intervene and find a way for them to fight as air combatants during the war.
Raskova, exploiting the fact that Stalin admired her, showed him the letters, and managed to convince him to let women enlist in the war.
On the 8th of October 1941, Stalin granted Raskova to create an all-female fighting squadron with herself in charge. This regiment was the first all-female regiment in history. So many women enlisted that around a thousand were selected. Due to the big number, the regiment was split into three:
- 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
- 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment.
- 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
The Training
From October 1941 until May 1942 all the women had to attend intensive training in the small city of Engels, in Saratov. They had to learn how to fly, maintain the aircraft, and navigate. The training, which usually lasted 18 months for men, took only six months.
Most of these women were students between 17 and 26 years old. Due to the lack of women in the Soviet Air Force, they had to use old men’s uniforms, which were baggy and oversize. Other things missing were radios, radars, weapons, and other tools to facilitate the night navigation.
At the end of the training, Raskova decided the final post of each woman. The top-performing recruits were assigned to the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment and the least qualified to the 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment
The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment started active service on the 16th of April 1942, under the lead of Major Kazarinova. The female pilots received ten new Yak-1 fighter aircraft. They were single-seat monoplanes with wooden wings a composite structure.
The 586th missions were to escort important individuals and combat sorties focused on attacking German military installations, bombers, and their escorts. Among the escorted people, there was also Nikita Khrushchev, the then-future First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Throughout the missions, many female pilots lost their lives and consequently, an all-male squadron joined the regiment. From this moment, the 586th would never be again an all-female regiment. A new commanding officer, Aleksander Gridnev, joined as well.
Despite including the best recruits, the 586th received little recognition, compared to the other two regiments. Liliya Litvyak, one of the most successful female pilots during the war, was the first woman to shoot down an enemy plane. She also received the Hero of the Soviet Union Medal. Another impressive pilot was Valeriya Khomyakova. She was the first female pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft at night.
The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment executed 4,419 combat sorties. The regiment took part in 125 air battles, destroying 38 enemy aircraft.
The 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment
The 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, which was led by Marina Raskova herself, joined the war after the other two regiments. This was due to the planes they had to use, which were Sukhoi Su-2 bombers. Since they were slow and old, the training took more time.
Thanks to Raskova’s connections, in July 1942 she was able to swap those old planes with brand new Petlyakov Pe-2 dive bombers.
One of the problems that the pilots encountered was that the old plane’s aircrew consisted of two members. Instead, the Pe-2’s aircrew consisted of three members, a pilot, a navigator-bombardier, and a radio operator-gunner. Consequently, since there was no time to train more women, men took on the role of radio operator-gunners.
The 587th took part in battles in Belorussia, East Prussia, the North Caucasus, and Smolensk.
Marina Raskova’s Death
During its first assignment, two squadrons encountered a heavy snowstorm. While trying to land safely and wait for the end of the storm, Raskova’s plane crashed into the high west bank wall of the Volga river. The crash caused her death. Raskova died on the 4th of January 1943.
The 587th acquired a new commanding officer, Major Valentin Markov, and the honorific “M. M. Raskova”. The unit was later assigned the designation of 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, thanks to its successful operations.
Five female pilots received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The 587th took part in 1,134 missions, not just in the Soviet Union, but also in Poland and Lithuania. It also dropped a total of 980 tons of bombs on the Axis’ positions and transportation lines.
The 588th Night Bomber Regiment: The Night Witches
The 588th Night Bomber Regiment consisted of 260 women, including navigators, support staff and ground crews. Despite they were the least qualified, they became the most feared.
The regiment was led by Yevdokia Bershanskaya and was equipped with Polikarpov Po-2.
These planes were not suitable for war since they were usually used in training or as crop dusters. They were made of plywood and canvas and their maximum speed was 90 miles per hour.
The Po-2 could only carry two bombs, and due to their weight, the pilots had to travel low. Reason why these aircraft could only fly during the night. The pilots also could not carry a parachute and they had to rely on maps and compasses during their missions.
The Po-2 cockpits were open and consequently, the navigator was exposed to any kind of weather.
The advantages of this aircraft were that it was more manoeuvrable, due to its lightweight, and that it did not show up on the German radars because of its material.
Since the aircraft could only carry two bombs at a time, the female pilots had to carry out many bombing sorties, between eight to eighteen, in a single night.
The Night Witches’ Mission
The 588th mission was to disturb the Germans during the night while bombing important enemy’s sites. Due to the noise that the female pilots made during their sorties, which reminded the Germans of the sound of a witch’s broomstick, they started calling them “Night Witches” (“Nachthexen”).
Each night around 40 aircraft would fly on the Germans’ heads and disrupt their sleep, spreading fear.
After many flights, the Night Witches returned to the base with the aircraft full of bullets holes. Nadezhda Popova, one of the most famous Night Witches, once returned with 42 bullet holes in her plane, map, and helmet, but she was not injured.
Between June 1942 and October 1945, the Night Witches engaged in more than 30,000 missions. 32 Night Witches died in service and 22 received the Hero of the Soviet Union award.
After the war, the regiment was renamed the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. On the other hand, the Soviet Air Force decided to disband the 587th and many women returned to civilian life.
Conclusion
The life of all the female pilots was not easy even though the Soviet Union called them heroes. They often had to face discrimination and verbal abuse from the male pilots. Many men questioned their ability and aviation skills due to their being women.
Thanks to their performance during the war, these women managed to prove their abilities and made some men reconsider their roles.
Marina Raskova was the first Soviet woman to become a professional pilot. During her career, she inspired many young women and founded the first all-female regiment in history.
