The “White Lily. ” Lydia Vladimitovna Litvyak, The Jewish Soviet Fighter Ace.
This Soviet Fighter Pilot Ended The Career Of A Few Nazi Aces.
Lydia Vladimitovna Litvyak was a Soviet flight instructor who had trained 45 pilots by the German invasion of Russia. She began flying at 14 and had her first solo flight at 15 yard of age. Of course when Barbarossa broke out and the massive Wehrmacht was making its way into the interior of the country, she tried to fly for the Soviet Air Force. After several turndowns she eventually was allowed not the 586th Fighter regiment, the famed Soviet all female regiment formed by Marina Raskova. She began training on the Yak-1, the Soviet’s scrappy and reliable small single seat fighter.
She was called the “the White Rose of Stalingrad”, or the white Lily.
During her combat dories, she claimed 14 kills give or take a few that may be in dispute. It is not in dispute that she was an aggressive and highly skilled aviator who was obsessed with flying infighting the Nazis. She claimed Me-109s and Focke Wolfe 190s and Junkers 87 Dive Bombers. There is a story that she ws taken captive an confronted by the german officer she downed. She shot down General Wolfram Freiherr Von Richtofen, a relative to the Red Baron who was also a German Ace who shoot down 11 fighters and was award the Iron Cross three times.She also shot down Staff Sergeant Erwin Maier, another German ace. He parachuted don and was taken prisoner. He asked to see if it was true that he aaas best by a woman and he allowed to meet her. She accurately described all the maneuvers in the flight and therefore he knew it was true.
Twice she crash landed and once she was hit and wounded in her plane and lost a lot of blood on the way down. On August 1st, 1943, while escorting some Sturmoviks into theater, her plane disappeared. Soviet pilots saw that she missed the two Me-109s that were flying top cover for two German bombers she was headed for.
She was awarded many combat medals including Hero of the Soviet Union. She was 21.
