Litvyak is an interesting figure to study. There's a lot of different stories about her in circulation. I think it could be a really good movie subject.
An interesting site on Soviet women pilots:
http://pratt.edu/~rsilva/sovwomen.htm Here's the entry on Litvyak from "Stalin's Falcons":
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Litvyak, Lidiya Vladimirovna, Mladshii Leitenant
'Lilya' Litvyak was born on 18 August 1922 in Moscow. During 1937 her father was arrested during the repressions, and reportedly was tortured and executed. Already a qualified pilot and instructor before the war, she was one of the first female volunteers for the Air Force, answering an appearl from the well-known aviatrix, Marina Raskova. She graduated from the Kherson Military Air College, being posted as a Serzhant to the all-woman 586th IAP, which was employed in the air defense of Saratov. Described as a petite and very feminine blonde, she was transferred with several others to Stalingrad in September 1942 to form an all-female group in the 6th IAD. Here, flying a Yak 1 carrying the number '32' on the fuselage, she achieved considerable success, becoming the most successful of all female fighter pilots. Subsequently she operated on the South West Front in the 3rd eskadrilya of the 296th IAP, where she flew frequently with Leitenant Alexei Solomatin. During an action on 22 March 1943 she was wounded after claiming two victories, and was removed to hospital. According to her mechanic, she was in love with Alexei Solomatin, and after he was killed during a training accident, she became interested only in flying at every opportunity. She returned to the unit in May, and was then promoted Mladshii Leitenant. Soon after this the regiment became the 73rd GuIAP. During July 1943 she flew on the South Front. On 16th of that month she flew on of six Yak 1s which intercepted 30 Ju 88s and six escorting Bf 109s, again claiming two vicotries, but being obliged to force-land, having again been slightly wounded. On 1 August 1943 she claimed two victories during her third sortie of the day, one of them shared. On her next flight she again claimed a Bf 109, but was attacked by another, and was seen by another pilot diving into cloud. Thereafter her Yak 1M disappeared and was not seen again. She had flown 168 sorties and claimed 16 victories (four shared) and one balloon. It appears that she had crash-landed, but had died of wounds she had suffered, and was buried close by the aircraft by local people. Her commanding officer prepared the necessary documents for the posthumous award of the Hero of the Soviet Union, but as she had simply disappeared and it was rumored that she might be a prisoner of the Germans, the award was not made. In 1990, after many years of searching with a metal detector, her old mechanic, Starshii Serzhant Inna Pasportnikova, discovered her remains. She was then reburied, and on 6 May 1990 President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the citation awarding her the Hero of the Soviet Union gold star, and the Order of Lenin. In her lifetime her only award had been a single Order of the Red Banner.
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Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations
"The side with the fanciest uniforms loses."
[This message has been edited by Pyro (edited 12-24-1999).]
