The 588th Night Bomber Regiment was one of three all-female aviation units created by Major Marina Raskova — the "Soviet Amelia Earhart." The regiment consisted entirely of women: pilots, navigators, mechanics, ground crew, even the commanding officers. Most were between 17 and 26 years old.

They flew the Polikarpov Po-2 — a wood-and-canvas biplane designed in 1928 as a crop duster. It had an open cockpit, no radar, no radio, no guns, and no parachutes (the weight of two parachutes would have meant fewer bombs). Its maximum bomb load was two bombs — about the weight of a heavy suitcase. Its top speed was barely 100 mph, slower than the stall speed of a German Bf 109 fighter — which ironically made them difficult to shoot down, as German fighters would overshoot them.

The Tactics

The regiment flew exclusively at night. Their technique was extraordinary: approaching the target, the pilot would cut the engine and glide in silently, navigating by the stars. The only sound the Germans heard was a soft whooshing — which they compared to a witch's broomstick. Hence the name: Nachthexen. Night Witches.

Each crew flew multiple sorties per night, sometimes as many as 18. They would return to their airfield, rearm and refuel in minutes, and take off again. Over the course of the war, the regiment flew over 30,000 combat sorties and dropped approximately 23,000 tons of bombs.

The Women

Twenty-three members of the regiment were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Thirty-two pilots were killed in action. The youngest was 17.

Nadezhda Popova, who flew 852 combat missions, later recalled: "At night, sometimes, I would look down and see the fires from the burning buildings and think: I did that. And then I would think: But they invaded my country. And I would fly another mission."

The regiment was never disbanded for the remainder of the war. They continued flying missions until VE Day.