Год выпуска: 2001 Автор: Anne Noggle Издательство: Texas A&M University Press Страниц: 336 ISBN: 1-58544-177-5, 0-89096-601-X
Описание
The world's first women combat pilots were members of the Soviet Army Air Force, flying fighters and bomber aircraft against the Luftwaffe. Thirty women flyers were named the Hero of the Soviet Union, one of that nation's highest honors. During three extended visits to Moscow during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Anne Noggle interviewed and photographed more than seventy of these veteran pilots. Freed by glasnost to speak openly of their experiences, they tell in their own words of flying flimsy aircraft, fighting distrust from male pilots and officers, and taking to the air for as many as a thousand nights during the war. The women who tell their stories here began the war mostly as inexperienced girls - many of them teenagers. In support of their homeland, they volunteered to serve as bomber and fighter pilots, navigator-bombardiers, gunners, and support crews. They saw many of their friends - as well as many of their foes - fall to earth in flames. ...
