Our company
has received these two Russian Internet Services awards along with many
International and National Website Awards. Information about these awards
can be found on our Awards page. If your
server does not support graphics.  |
The 586 IAP (Fighter Aviation Regiment), the 587 BAP (Bomber Aviation Regiment), and the 588 NBAP (Night Bomber Aviation Regiment), all made up these experimental combat units. The training of these new units was being conducted at Engels on the Volga river north of Saratov. Besides allowing for the defence of this important rail and manufacturing center, the women's units were able to gain valuable experience for their upcoming combat commitment, while experiencing for the first time the comradeship experienced by men, or in this case sisters under arms. When the women of these three female
combat units were completing their training at Engels, the military situation
at and around Stalingad had become critical for the Soviets. With the large
quantity of losses suffered by the Soviet's fighter regiments in the defense
of Stalingrad, there were just not enough experienced replacements.
Because of the expertise of a number of the female fighter pilots of the 586 IAP, these women were transferred to male fighter regiments as replacements. These women, such as Starshina (Senior Sergeants) Lilya Litvak, Yekaterina (Katya) Budanova, and Marinya Kuznetsova, were all assigned to front line fighter regiments and immediately experienced male prejudice as far as their combat effectiveness and flying skills.
This page was last updated by the WebMeister on 20 October 1998, and all contents are strictly copyrighted to WebMeister, Snow Leopard Productions, and the BSW Group of companies. |
