Ace: Lilya Litvak
This is the moving profile of Lilya Litvak, the Soviet Union’s pre-eminent female fighter ace of World War Two. This was written by Rapier for the Fighter Ace gaming zone. Reprinted by permission of the author (Rapier) and Microsoft Corporation, publishers.Lilya Litvak, The White Rose of Stalingrad
By Rapier, Fighter Ace Content Manager–
Though Lilya Litvak is the most famous female fighter pilot of all time, little is really known about her, and records of her performance are inconsistent. Credited with 11 or 12 victories, depending on the source, she may or may not have the greatest number of victories — a claim also made of her counterpart and squadron mate Katya Budanova, who is credited with anywhere from 11 to 20. Even her first name is uncertain, being variously translated as Lydia, Lily, and Lilya. However, all accounts agree that she was a soldier of exceptional style and courage.
Lilya Litvak was the daughter of working-class parents, her father an employee of the state railway and her mother a shop worker. In 1937, at the age of 16, she sneaked off for flying lessons as part of the Osoaviakim — paramilitary flying clubs sponsored by the state.
Then came the horror of June 1941, when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Hundreds of planes were destroyed in the first 24 hours of combat. The Germans attacked 66 airfields, upon which 75% of the Russian aircraft strength was based. On the first day of the attack, the Soviet government admitted to losses of 1136 planes, 800 of which had been destroyed on the ground. By week’s end the figure had risen to 4017 aircraft. Russian aircraft and ground units were decimated. In desperation, many Soviet airmen resorted to “taran,” or suicide ramming tactics. The Soviet bear reeled under the Blitzkrieg, conceding thousands of miles of territory and untold millions of rubles worth of equipment. The mood of the nation was similar to that of the U.S. after Pearl Harbor. Able-bodied young men and women volunteered for military service by the thousands. Initially, young women volunteering for flight duty were turned down. One young woman was told, “Things may be bad, but we’re not so desperate that we’re going to put little girls like you up in the skies. Go home and help your mother.” Due to the activities of the Osoaviakim, many young girls had more flying time than the young men who were dying in the Barbarossa onslaught.
As Hitler pushed on towards Stalingrad and Moscow, the mood in the Soviet government changed. In desperation they planned three female air regiments (equivalent to an American air group). All personnel would be women, including the mechanics, armorers, and ground staff. They were headed by Maria Raskova, a Soviet folk heroine. She had gained fame as part of a three-woman team pioneering a route through Siberia. The plane had encountered severe icing conditions and had been drawn inevitably downward toward the mountainous terrain. The crew threw out everything they could move to lighten the plane further, but to no avail. Maria concluded that they could only make it if it was lightened by the weight of one more person. She marked the compass heading for the two pilots and then bailed out into the Siberian darkness. The two pilots made it, and Raskova was rescued by hunters.
To become soldiers, the women sacrificed a lot. The pride of every Russian woman at the time was her hair. Often it was never cut during her lifetime and was usually braided or allowed to flow free below the waist. The male commandant of the training facility ordered that no military personnel would be allowed to have hair over two inches in length. In tears, feeling they were being forced to give up their identity as women, they obeyed the order. The women pilots trained doggedly with their cast-off equipment, never losing sight of the goal of defeating the fascists.
Lilya helped found the 586th I.A.P. women’s fighting regiment, and began her first operational sorties along the Volga River north of Stalingrad. It was here that the Soviet air forces handed the Luftwaffe its first major defeat in the summer of 1942, when Lilya was just 21 years old.
The 586th fought with ferocious tenacity. In just three years, they flew over 4,000 combat sorties, through the Battle of Kursk. German ground-attack Experten, Major Bruno Meyer, described the 586th I.A.P. as an “elite unit” and called the pilots “brave daredevils, well-trained and excellent fliers with a sure flair for German weaknesses.” He said that they “attacked in a superior manner with short bursts of fire from all guns at short distances, directing their fire mainly at the lead aircraft of the German squadron or flight.”
Lilya made her first kills on her second combat sortie, claiming a Bf109 and a Ju88 on September 13, 1942. She flew the Yak-1 with brilliance and raw courage. Described as “strikingly beautiful,” Lilya had no time for anyone who thought that was the limit of her abilities. She is reported to have been fond of wildflowers and often carried them in the cockpit with her during missions. She is also said to have painted a white rose on each side of the cockpit of her Yak, and for this reason became known as the “White Rose of Stalingrad.” Flamboyance was not easy to maintain in the Soviet air force, however. Unlike American fighter pilots, she often flew multiple sorties a day, and the pace began to wear her down.
She was transferred to a female flight of the elite men’s unit, the 287th I.A.D., but apparently this did not sit well with some of the insecure males, who forced her to transfer to the 296th I.A.P. in January, 1943. Shortly after, she claimed a Ju88 and an FW190 on February 11, and her victory toll continued to climb. During the short Russian summer, the flight operations reached a fever pitch. Several times she was shot down, but still she climbed back in her fighter, even after sustaining serious injury. She was hurt for the third time in 1943 on July 18th, the same day that her good friend and rival Katya Budanova was killed. It was a premonition.
On August 1, less than two weeks later, she wearily pulled herself into the cockpit for the fourth and final time of the day. She had already claimed two kills in previous flights. Somehow she became separated from her flight. Legend has it that she encountered eight Bf109s and was shot down and killed. She had been only 22 years old.
Despite an intensive search by ground forces, her body was lost for several decades. Finally, in 1979, she was found, buried beneath the wing of her aircraft. During her official state funeral in May 1990, President Mikhail Gorbachev awarded her the Hero of the Soviet Union and a Gold Star. Though she fought in obscurity and died alone, Lilya Litvak left a shining legacy of courage, tenacity, and daring as an example to all of us.
Sources
- Duncan, Phyllis-Anne. Nachthexen: Russian Women Pilots. http://www.faa.gov/avr/news/Nexen.htm
- Morgan, Hugh. Soviet Aces of World War 2. London: Osprey Marketing, 1997; pp. 29, 80, and 81
- Sundin, Claes, and Christer Bergstrom. “Soviet Female Fighter Aces.” Red Star Black Cross.
- Whelan, James R. Hunters in the Sky. Washington, D.C.: Anthony Potter Productions, Published by Regnery Gateway, 1991; pp. 69, 75, and 177.
