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After the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik, the Soviet Union's most common airplane in World War II was the Polikarpov U-2/Po-2 Kukuruznik trainer/bomber, which also holds the record of world's most common biplane with almost 30,000 built between the 1920s and 1950s. As a bomber, it was best suited for low-altitude tactical bombing at night, which disrupted German morale and combat readiness, and tended to escape as it flew well below the stall speed of German fighters. Later in the Korean War, it remained an effective stealth bomber, and was the only biplane ever to "kill" a jet fighter.

The best-known unit to fly Po-2s was the 588th Night Bomber Regiment (later 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment) or Night Witches. Their nickname was originally a German insult (Nachthexen), referring to the pilots being women and practicing the tactic of diving at night with the engine idle for stealth before dropping their bombs and flying away, but it seems to have turned into a compliment as a lot of insults do. They flew almost 24,000 missions in almost 29,000 hours' flying time, and 26 personnel (almost a full tenth of the regiment) were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union (and later of Russia and Kazakhstan) -- and that was only one regiment in a Red Army of over 34 million!

Unlike some other majority-female Soviet units, the Night Witches consisted entirely of women with notable members being Marina Raskova (founder), Yevdokiya Bershanskaya (commander), Serafima Amosova (deputy commander), Yevdokiya Rachkevich (political commissar), and Irina Sebrova (record of 1008 missions flown). Outside of the former Soviet Union, some Polikarpovs are preserved including the airworthy N3602 at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. I wonder what other tributes there are to the Night Witches -- it seems that with the internet and social media, the Soviet contribution in World War II is becoming much better known internationally, gradually reversing decades of Cold War-era history textbooks that reduced the "Eastern Front" to a few maps with large arrows.

Description

After the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik, the Soviet Union's most common airplane in World War II was the Polikarpov U-2/Po-2 Kukuruznik trainer/bomber, which also holds the record of world's most common biplane with almost 30,000 built between the 1920s and 1950s. As a bomber, it was best suited for low-altitude tactical bombing at night, which disrupted German morale and combat readiness, and tended to escape as it flew well below the stall speed of German fighters. Later in the Korean War, it remained an effective stealth bomber, and was the only biplane ever to "kill" a jet fighter.

The best-known unit to fly Po-2s was the 588th Night Bomber Regiment (later 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment) or Night Witches. Their nickname was originally a German insult (Nachthexen), referring to the pilots being women and practicing the tactic of diving at night with the engine idle for stealth before dropping their bombs and flying away, but it seems to have turned into a compliment as a lot of insults do. They flew almost 24,000 missions in almost 29,000 hours' flying time, and 26 personnel (almost a full tenth of the regiment) were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union (and later of Russia and Kazakhstan) -- and that was only one regiment in a Red Army of over 34 million!

Unlike some other majority-female Soviet units, the Night Witches consisted entirely of women with notable members being Marina Raskova (founder), Yevdokiya Bershanskaya (commander), Serafima Amosova (deputy commander), Yevdokiya Rachkevich (political commissar), and Irina Sebrova (record of 1008 missions flown). Outside of the former Soviet Union, some Polikarpovs are preserved including the airworthy N3602 at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. I wonder what other tributes there are to the Night Witches -- it seems that with the internet and social media, the Soviet contribution in World War II is becoming much better known internationally, gradually reversing decades of Cold War-era history textbooks that reduced the "Eastern Front" to a few maps with large arrows.