Lydia Litvyak

Her mother Anna Vasilievna Litvyak was a shop assistant; her father Vladimir Leontievich Litvyak (1892–1937) worked as a railwayman, train driver and clerk.

During the Great Purge, her father was arrested as an "enemy of the people" and disappeared.

Lydia became interested in aviation at an early age.

At 14, she enrolled in a flying club.

She performed her first solo flight at 15, and later graduated from the Kherson military flying school.

She became a flight instructor at Kalinin Airclub, and by the time the German–Soviet war broke out, had already trained 45 pilots.

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (Лидия Владимировна Литвяк; 18 August 1921 – 1 August 1943), also known as Lilya, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II.

Historians estimate for her total victories range from thirteen to fourteen solo victories and four to five shared kills in her 66 combat sorties.

In about two years of operations, she was the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first of two female fighter pilots who have earned the title of fighter ace and the holder of the record for the greatest number of kills by a female fighter pilot.

She was shot down near Orel during the Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German aircraft.

Lydia Litvyak was born in Moscow into a Russian family.

After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Litvyak tried to join a military aviation unit, but was turned down because of lack of experience.

Litvyak flew her first combat flights in the summer of 1942 over Saratov.

But according to other authors, the first air victory by a female pilot was achieved by Lieutenant Valeriya Khomyakova of the 586th Regiment when she shot down the Ju 88 flown by Oblt. Gerhard Maak of 7./KG76 on the night of 24 September 1942.

On 14 September, according to some authors, Litvyak shot down another Bf 109.

Her ill-fated opponent was probably Knight's Cross holder and 71-kill experte Lt. Hans Fuss (Adj.II./JG-3), injured in aerial combat with a Yak-1 on 14 September 1942 in Stalingrad area, when his G-2 fuel tank was hit, his plane somersaulted during the landing when he ran out of fuel flying back to base.

He was critically injured, lost one leg and died of his wounds 10 November 1942.

On 27 September, Litvyak scored an air victory against a Ju 88, the gunner having shot up the regiment commander, Major M.S. Khovostnikov, possibly Ju 88A-4 "5K + LH", piloted by Iron Cross holder Oblt. Johann Wiesniewski, 2./KG 3, MIA with all crew members.

Some historians credit it as her first kill.

From October 1942 till January 1943, Litvyak and Budanova served, still in the Stalingrad area, with this famous unit, commanded by Lev Shestakov, Hero of Soviet Union.

In September, she was assigned to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment, a men's regiment fighting over Stalingrad.

On 10 September she moved along with Yekaterina Budanova, Mariya Kuznetsova and Raisa Belyaeva, the commander of the group, and accompanying female ground crew, to the regiment airfield, at Verkhnaia Akhtuba, on the east bank of the Volga river.

But when they arrived the base was empty and under attack, so they soon moved to Srednaia Akhtuba.

Here, flying a Yak-1 carrying the number "32" on the fuselage, she achieved considerable success.

Boris Yeremin (later lieutenant general of aviation), a regimental commander in the division to which she and Budanova were assigned, saw her as "a very aggressive person" and "a born fighter pilot".

In the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Litvyak scored her first two kills on 13 September, three days after her arrival and on her third mission to cover Stalingrad, becoming the first woman fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

That day, four Yak-1s with Major S. Danilov in the lead attacked a formation of Junkers Ju 88s escorted by Messerschmitt Bf 109s.

Her first kill was a Ju 88 which fell in flames from the sky after several bursts.

Then she shot down a Bf 109 G-2 "Gustav" on the tail of her squadron commander, Belyaeva.

Litvyak, Belyaeva, Budanova and Kuznetsova stayed in the 437th Regiment for a short time only, mainly because it was equipped with LaGG 3s rather than Yak-1s, that the women flew, and was lacking the facilities to service the latter.

So the four women were moved to the 9th Guards Fighter Regiment.

In January 1943, the 9th was re-equipped with the Bell P-39 Airacobras and Litvyak and Budanova were moved to the 296th Fighter Regiment (later redesignated as the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment) of Nikolai Baranov, of the 8th Air Army, so that they could still fly the Yaks.

On 23 February, she was awarded the Order of the Red Star, made a junior lieutenant and selected to take part in the elite air tactic called okhotniki, or "free hunter", where pairs of experienced pilots searched for targets on their own initiative.

Twice, she was forced to land due to battle damage.

After deliberately exaggerating her pre-war flight time by 100 hours, she joined the all-female 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Air Defense Force, which was formed by Marina Raskova.

She trained there on the Yakovlev Yak-1 aircraft.

The Bf 109 was piloted by a decorated pilot from the 4th Air Fleet, the 11-victory ace Staff Sergeant Erwin Meier of the 2nd Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53.

Meier parachuted from his aircraft, was captured by Soviet troops, and asked to see the Russian ace who had shot him down.

When he was taken to Litvyak, he thought he was being made the butt of a Soviet joke.

It was not until Litvyak described each move of the fight to him in perfect detail that he knew he had been shot down by a woman pilot.