{"id":1582140,"date":"2020-10-28T12:59:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T11:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/?p=1582140"},"modified":"2024-07-09T09:49:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T07:49:13","slug":"lidya-litvyaks-yak-1-and-yak-1b-fighters-70028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/en\/blog\/2020\/10\/28\/lidya-litvyaks-yak-1-and-yak-1b-fighters-70028\/","title":{"rendered":"Lidya Litvyak\u2019s Yak-1 and Yak 1b fighters."},"content":{"rendered":"

The total war on the eastern front required the USSR to use all available forces to repel the German invasion and keep Stalin as the head of the state. Among millions of soldiers of the Red Army, there were also women. The most famous pilot was Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak. Her favourite aeroplane was Yak-1 in two versions.<\/p>\n

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How to become a female pilot?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lydia Litvyak was born in Moscow in 1921. When she was 12, she became interested in aviation after she saw an air show organised in the Gorky Park in Moscow on the Airman Day. Two years later she joined the aero club, and later she became the flying instructor. To join the VVS, she had to cheat. Although the Soviet government claimed that there was gender equality, it was hard for women to reach prestigious jobs.\u00a0 Being a pilot in the Soviet Army was one of them. So how did this small blonde girl manage to do it?<\/p>\n

It was not easy. Young aeroclub adept and the aviation instructor wanted to join the VVS at the beginning of the war, but it was not possible yet. On the 7th \u00a0November 1941, after listening to Stalin\u2019s fiery speech when the enemy was at the gates of Moscow, she tried again. She added 100 flying hours and joined an elite women\u2019s unit \u2013 586th IAP\/PVO of newly formed by Marina Roskova women\u2019s 12th Aviation Group.<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, she was rebellious. She did not want to cut her hair, improved her uniform and added fur to her flying suit. And she often traded with the hospital and swapped her supplies to perhydrol to dye her hair. To do it, she used warm water from her Yak cooler.<\/p>\n

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Lydia Litvyak was daughter of Polish socialist W\u0142odzimierz Litwiak, a friend to Felix Dzerzhinsky (founder of Cheka, then NKVD). Father left family in 1930s and then was executed during “Polish Operation” ethnic cleansing in Stalin’s purge in 1937.<\/div><\/div>\n

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Yak-1 Production No 4402, Yellow 44, flown by Lydia Litvyak in Spring 1943 (four aerial vicotries). From the left: L. Litvyak, K. Budanova and M. Kuznietsova. Photo: Yak Anthology.<\/em><\/p>\n

The White Lily of Stalingrad<\/h2>\n

After she finished her training on U-2 and Yak -1, Lydia Litvyak and her friend Katya Budanova were promoted Sargent, and 586th IAP started protecting Saratov, a city on the Volga, north of Stalingrad, that was\u00a0 the Yak-1 fighters production center. Dance parties with pilots from other units relieved uneventful patrols without contact with the enemy. When Gen Paulus\u2019s 6th Army attacked Stalingrad in September 1942, Liviak and Budanova with Maria Kuznetsova and Raisa Belayevan were sent to 437th IAP as replacements. On 13th September around 1000 German bombers attacked Stalingrad. The Soviets managed to send only third of that number. Litvya shot down one Ju 88 and later, when helping Bielayeva, a Bf 109G-6. According to the legend, Obfw Erwin Meier met his victor and could not believe that it was a woman.<\/p>\n

Jak-1b nad Stalingradem \u2013 samolot Jeriomina<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n