During World War II, the Russian Army sent out several all-female bombing squadrons to disrupt the Nazi front lines. The planes that the 586th, 587th and the 588th squadrons piloted, dropped over 23,000 tons of bombs onto the Nazi positions. At the start of the war, Russia did not engage in using women in combat. As the war began to look bleak, the Russian government began to get desperate. Joseph Stalin gave orders to Marina Raskova, Russia’s first female aviator, to start the squadrons in the Fall of 1941. Their first mission was shortly after in the Summer of 1942.
Women Pilots
Marina Raskova
