Petlyakov Pe-2 Gunner

摘要

The Great Patriotic War between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany saw many extremes not known elsewhere in the Second World War. One was the female aircrew of the USSR. Prior to the Second World War a very few women had managed to fly in their nation's military, and even fewer operationally. However, all the other nations involved in the war flatly refused to countenance female operational combat aircrew, but after a great deal of pressure directly on Stalin by pre-war record-setting navigator Marina Raskova, three women's squadrons were formed: one flying fighters; another flying Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes on night harassment; and the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment (GvBAP) flying Petlyakov Pe-2 medium (dive) bombers.