Lidija Vladimirovna Litvyak
Lidija Wladimirowna Litwjak ( Russian Лидия Владимировна Литвяк ; born August 18, 1921 in Moscow , † August 1, 1943 near Stalingrad ) was a Soviet fighter pilot in World War II .
Life
Her father was a railroad worker and her mother was a clerk. In 1937, her father was declared an enemy of the people and later executed. Actually, this fact should have hindered her career, but she still achieved the rank of Mladschi Leitenant ( Младший Лейтенант ); this rank corresponds roughly to the rank of sub-lieutenant in the NVA . In 1940 she finished middle school and got her pilot's license . At the age of 15 she completed her first solo flight and later made her flight instructor license . Then in 1940 she became a flight instructor at the Aeroklub WP Tschkalow in Moscow. In 1941 she became a flight instructor at the Saratov flight school.
Time with the Soviet Air Force
When, after early defeats against the German Reich in World War II, there was a shortage of men suitable for fighter pilots, some women from civil aviation in the Soviet Union offered their services, but were turned away - but later accepted. On October 15, 1941 Lidija Litwjak received her military training in Engels . In 1942 three squadrons were formed, which consisted only of women:
- the 586th fighter regiment
- the 587th Bombing Regiment and
- the 588th Night Bombing Regiment (also known as Night Witches )
On September 10, 1942, she was transferred with three other talented fighter pilots to the 437th Fighter Regiment. In 1943 she was transferred to the 269th IAP. On February 19, she was promoted to Mladschi Leitenant. When she was injured on March 22, 1943, she had to stay in the hospital until May . When she returned to her regiment , it had been renamed the 73rd Guards Fighter Pilot Regiment. She scored 13 own and four group kills in 168 missions.
death
When she took off again on August 1, 1943 to search for bombers, she spotted a swarm of Junkers Ju 88s and launched the attack. She had not noticed the Messerschmitt Bf 109 flying over the bomber escorts , but as they turned towards her, she attacked head-on. Her squadron mate saw everyone disappear behind a cloud. He only saw Litwjak again when her Jakowlew Jak-1 spun to the ground without steering. Her machine crashed near a small village, the residents of which she buried under the wing of their yak (some sources report that she was buried under the whole plane ). Witnesses from the village told of a young, blonde woman who was hit in the head. Because the wreck was removed, her grave could not be located until 1989. When the grave was finally found, she was solemnly buried in a mass grave.
Planes
Litwjak first flew a Lavochkin La-5 , later she was retrained to the Jak-1. Her Jak-1 at the 296th IAP was camouflaged in green and black and carried a yellow 44. At the 73rd GwIAP, she flew a Jak-1b, which differed from her other Jak-1b mainly by the full-view hood. This machine was also camouflaged in black and green, but carried a white 22. She died on this plane. Her mechanic reports that she had posted a postcard with yellow roses on the left side of her dashboard. She also painted a white lily on her yak, which gave her the nickname “White Lily of Stalingrad”. The lily was a nod to her nickname Lilija . It was also wrongly claimed that it was a white rose.
Awards
On February 17, 1943 she received the Order of the Red Banner . The commander of her unit applied for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for her. The application was denied because her body could not be found. The award took place posthumously on May 5, 1990, after the bones were found in 1989.
literature
- Jim Winchester: Fighter Planes: The Best Fighters and Fighter-Bombers in the World - From 1914 to Today . Parragon Books, 2006, ISBN 1-4054-4940-3 .
- Gian Piero Milanetti: Soviet Airwomen of the Great Patriotic War - A pictorial history . Istituto Bibliografico Napoleone, Rome, Italy, 2013, ISBN 9788875651466 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Litvyak, Lidija Vladimirovna |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Литвяк, Лидия Владимировна (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Soviet fighter pilot |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 18, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Moscow |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 1, 1943 |
| Place of death | at Stalingrad |