Author: Kazimiera J. Cottam
Publisher: Focus
ISBN: 9781585101597
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book is a unique collection of WWII memoirs that tell, in a simple, unaffected style, the story of the three women's air fighting groups which owed their existence to Marina Raskova, a remarkable pioneer woman navigator-pilot. My superiors made no distinction between male and female regiments of which the girls were very proud. I must admit, however, I sometimes wished they remembered that our regiment consisted of women, and would not send them into the very hell. Every pilot, every crew member became dear to me. I loved them all, was proud of them, and dreaded the possibility that any one of them might not return...," wrote Major Valentin Markov, the male commander of the women's dive bomber wing, in this unique collection of WWII memoirs that tell, in a simple, unaffected style, the story of the three women's wings which owed their existence to Marina Raskova, a remarkable pioneer woman navigator-pilot. Of the three women's wings, the night bomber regiment was awarded an unprecedented number of Gold Stars of Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest Soviet decoration, and its aircrews at times flew as many as eighteen short-range missions per night. The unit was staffed exclusively by women. In contrast, the dive bomber and fighter wings included some male personnel, mainly in ground support roles. As well, the fighter wing eventually acquired one male squadron, in part as replacement of a female squadron previously sent to Stalingrad. Alexander Gridnev, the unit's second permanent wing commander, recently presented his controversial memoirs to Reina Pennington, Russian history professor and retired U.S. Air Force captain, for translation into English.
Author: Reina Pennington
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700615547
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
The Soviet Union was the first nation to allow women pilots to fly combat missions. During World War II the Red Air Force formed three all-female units-grouped into separate fighter, dive bomber, and night bomber regiments-while also recruiting other women to fly with mostly male units. Their amazing story, fully recounted for the first time by Reina Pennington, honors a group of fearless and determined women whose exploits have not yet received the recognition they deserve. Pennington chronicles the creation, organization, and leadership of these regiments, as well as the experiences of the pilots, navigators, bomb loaders, mechanics, and others who made up their ranks, all within the context of the Soviet air war on the Eastern Front. 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. Among their ranks were women like Marina Raskova ("the Soviet Amelia Earhart"), a renowned aviator who persuaded Stalin in 1941 to establish the all-women regiments; the daredevil "night witches" who flew ramshackle biplanes on nocturnal bombing missions over German frontlines; and fighter aces like Liliia Litviak, whose twelve "kills" are largely unknown in the West. She also tells the story of Alexander Gridnev, a fighter pilot twice arrested by the Soviet secret police before he was chosen to command the women's fighter regiment. Pennington draws upon personal interviews and the Soviet archives to detail the recruitment, training, and combat lives of these women. Deftly mixing anecdote with analysis, her work should find a wide readership among scholars and buffs interested in the history of aviation, World War II, or the Russian military, as well as anyone concerned with the contentious debates surrounding military and combat service for women.
Author: Katherine Sharp Landdeck
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
ISBN: 1524762814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450
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Book Description
The thrilling true story of the daring female aviators who helped the United States win World War II--only to be forgotten by the country they served. When Japanese planes executed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At twenty-two, Cornelia had escaped Nashville's debutante scene for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student were in the middle of their lesson when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground that morning. Still, when the U.S. Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Cornelia was one of the first to respond. She became one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation to make it through the Army's rigorous selection process and earn her silver wings. In The Women with Silver Wings, historian Katherine Sharp Landdeck introduces us to these young women as they meet even-tempered, methodical Nancy Love and demanding visionary Jacqueline Cochran, the trailblazing pilots who first envisioned sending American women into the air, and whose rivalry would define the Women Airforce Service Pilots. For women like Cornelia, it was a chance to serve their country--and to prove that women aviators were just as skilled and able as men. While not authorized to serve in combat, the WASP helped train male pilots for service abroad and ferried bombers and pursuits across the country. Thirty-eight of them would not survive the war. But even taking into account these tragic losses, Love and Cochran's social experiment seemed to be a resounding success--until, with the tides of war turning and fewer male pilots needed in Europe, Congress clipped the women's wings. The program was disbanded, the women sent home. But the bonds they'd forged never failed, and over the next few decades, they came together to fight for recognition as the military veterans they were--and for their place in history.
Author: Kazimiera Janina Cottam
Publisher: Nepean, Ont. : New Military Pub.
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
Personal stories of women in three air regiments on the Eastern Front during World War II
Author: BRENDA. RALPH LEWIS
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781782745471
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Author: Anne Noggle
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441778
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
For their heroism and success against the enemy, two of the women's regiments were honored by designation as "Guard" regiments. At least thirty women were decorated with the gold star of Hero of the Soviet Union, their nation's highest award.
Author: Kazimiera Janina Cottam
Publisher: New York ; Ottawa : Legas
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Author: Elizabeth Norman
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 081220297X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
Norman tells the dramatic story of fifty women—members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force Nurse Corps—who went to war, working in military hospitals, aboard ships, and with air evacuation squadrons during the Vietnam War. Here, in a moving narrative, the women talk about why they went to war, the experiences they had while they were there, and how war affected them physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Author: Jean Hascall Cole
Publisher: University of Utah Press
ISBN: 9780874804935
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
An oral history of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs).
Author: Marissa N. Kester
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781585663101
Category : Women soldiers
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
"Women have served in the United States Air Force since its inception, the first US military branch to rightfully claim that distinction. This monograph explores that history through research in archives, other published sources, and oral interviews"--
