ALTERNATOR BOOKS WOMEN PILOTS OF WORLD WAR II Lisa L Owens Lerner Publications Minneapolis
INTRODUCTION A NIGHT MISSION Nadezhda Popova donned a leather helmet a flight jacket and her lucky beetle pin It was a cold night in 1942 at the height of World War II 1939 1945 She had been assigned to deliver much needed food and medicine to Soviet marines at Malaya Zemlya a military base in the Soviet Union a nation based in Russia that existed from 1922 to 1991 That meant flying into a combat zone under enemy fire She later found forty two bullet holes in her 1920s wooden biplane
Women pilots of the Night Bomber Regiment receive orders for a mission in 1944 The mission was for the Soviet Union's 588th Night Bomber Regiment an air force unit made up of only women When the war started in 1939 the Soviets didn't allow women in combat But by October 1941 the Soviet Air Force needed more pilots They were willing to begin training women for the job
