Brave Female Fighter Pilots Called The Night Witches Bombed Nazis After Nightfall, And They’re Rarely Mentioned In History Books

Absolutely fascinating I didn't know about the night witches.

This is where metal comes to the rescue. The Swedish power metal band Sabaton focuses their music on historical events; in particular the stories not told in WW1, WW2, and other events, without any type of slant (Sweden was neutral in both wars, IIRC). One of the songs off of their album Heroes is the song Night Witches, which addresses this very story. Here's an animated story video for their song, made by Sabaton themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YPo8zDkvy4

I did not know about them until my daughter wanted me to do a drum cover of the song.

Lubbock has a museum called "Silent Wings," dedicated to the military's glider program. I first learned about the night witches there. It's an interesting way to kill an hour or two if you're into aviation history and around the area.

https://ci.lubbock.tx.us/departments/silent-wings-museum

These women would fly as high as they could, then reduce throttle to idle and silently dive down and strafe the German positions. Quite often, the Germans had no idea they were coming. Scary and effective.

Wow… what a story. Never heard about it before. Most medaled unit…. Women fly many of our military aircraft…good idea...

I’ve seen many stories and articles about the “Night Witches” in many books and magazines I’ve read since childhood in the 60s. Maybe more recent history books have left them out. Thanks for bringing up the 588th again.

I found five books on this subject on Amazon. Check them out.

Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie Runyon is a good read about these aviators.

Not well researched. There are numerous photos of the actual pilots, why a fake stock photo. The Night Witches were more than just pilots. There were also navigators/bombardiers, most of the maintenance teams were female. No mention was made about their trademark bombing runs made with the engines off. What’s with the reference to infrared detection (although inverted in the 40’s, not part of the German combat arsenal)? Was this done by a junior high student? These pioneering. innovative, brave aviators deserve better.

I remember listening in amazement a few years ago when I heard about them on the Sofa King podcast (yes it's funny if you say the name out loud).

Here's the ep in case anyone wants a bit of a deep(ish) dive into them: https://sofakingpodcast.com/night-witches-russias-secret-terror/

Spoiler alert, there's a fair bit of waffle up front (and swearing throughout), so have the ffwd button ready and be mindful of any young ears in the vicinity :)

Pretty much anyone who paid attention to the history of aviation on the Eastern Front knew of them. Headline's misleading - The "Night Witches" weren't fighter pilots. There were Russian women fighter pilots too. Among their numbers were a number of aces and Heroes Of The Soviet Union (roughly CMH equivalent)

I wonder: How many female Russian fighter pilots are seeing action in Ukraine now? My guess would be 'zero' to 'not very many'.I'd also guess that there are quite a few Russian women piloting drones.