Women in Combat
The Night Witches were a group of highly successful bombers who proved that women could be effective fighters and paved the way for more women to enter combat.
"The average female performed at least as well if not better than the average male in each regiment" "By becoming the USSR's first qualified female air navigator, going on to become a qualified female pilot as well, and teaching both male and female aircrew, Raskova acted as an inspiration and role-model for other women to follow in her footsteps." |
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Women Air Regiments
After the success of the Night Witches proved to Soviet officials that women were capable of flying in combat, Raskova founded the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment and the 587th Day Bomber Aviation Regiment. "During World War Two Raskova and her all-female regiments demonstrated that women were able to be as effective as men on military air operations. So she and her fellow female pilots took on roles previously dominated by men — and received official recognition and approval for doing so, indicating a wide acceptance in Soviet society that women could be the equals of men and even outshine them" (Oakey).
These aviation regiments were composed of "about 1000 women, who collectively flew more than 30,000 missions, and earned at least 30 Hero of the Soviet Union awards" (Noggle).