Nadezhda Popova died earlier this month. She rose to deputy commander of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment during WWII. At the young age of 15, Ms. Popova joined a flying club. After graduating from pilot school, she became a flight instructor. At age 19 she became a pilot in an all-female regiment, the night bombers. The ages of these women ranged from 17 to 26.
bi plane flown by the Night Witches during World War II
In jerry-rigged onetime crop dusters, these female aviators flew 30,000 missions over a four-year period. They had no parachutes, no guns, no radios, and no radar. Their cockpits were open. If hit by bullets, their planes would burn like paper. Yet, they dumped 23,000 tons of bombs on their German adversaries. Ms. Popova flew 852 combat missions and was shot down several times, but never seriously wounded according to a 14 July 2013 article in the New York Times.
Usually, these two-seaters, made of plywood and canvas, were flown in formations of three. Two would serve as decoys. The third would slip through the darkness and drops its two single bombs, one under each wing. The triad would then switch places until all bombs were dropped. In the last stages of each bomb run, they would shut down their engines so that the Germans could only hear the hiss of the air flowing across the wings. Because it sounded like a broomstick in flight the Germans called them Night Witches.
Ms. Popova, one of the Night Witches, was 91 when she died according to a 13 July 2013 article in The Washington Post.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: Nadezhda Popova, night bomber regiment, Night Witches, World War II
