Soviet women bore their share of the burden in World War II (locally known as the Great Patriotic War). 800,000 women served in the Soviet Armed Forces during the war. Nearly 200,000 were decorated and 89 eventually received the Soviet Union’s highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union. They served as pilot, snipers, machine gunners, tank crew members and partisans, as well as in auxiliary roles. For Soviet women aviators, instrumental to this change was Marina Raskova, a famous Russian aviator, often referred to as the ‘Russian Amelia Earhart’. When World War II broke out, there were numerous women who had training as pilots and many immediately volunteered. Raskova is credited with using her personal connections with Joseph Stalin to convince the military to form three combat regiments for women. These regiments flew a combined total of more than 30,000 combat sorties, produced at least thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union, and included at least two fighter aces. The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment: This unit was the first to take part in combat (April 16, 1942) of the three female regiments and participated in 4,419 combat missions (125 air battles and 38 kills). Lydia Litvyak and Katya Budanova were assigned to the unit before joining the 437th IAP in the fighting over Stalingrad and became the world's only two female fighter aces (with 12 and 11 victories respectively), both flying the Yak-1 fighter. (Wikipedia)
Decals for:
Jak-1b, White 23, 296th IAP, 2nd. Lt. Lidija Vladimirovna Litvjak, 1943 Jak-1, Yellow 44, 296th IAP, Capt. Ekaterina Vasiljevna Budanova, Autumn 1942 Jak-1, Red 32, 296th IAP, 2nd. Lt. Lidija Vladimirovna Litvjak, 1942 Jak-1, White 42, 586th IAP, 2nd. Lt. Valerija Ivanovna Homjakova, Spring 1942