It’s the 13th September 1942 and the bitter battle of Stalingrad is in the early stages.
High above in the skies are 4 Yak-1 fighters
from the 437th Fighter Regiment and they are on a mission to cover and defend the beleaguered city.
In command is Major Stepan Danilov, a combat experienced pilot,
but in his charge today is a young pilot who at the age of 21 has shown great promise, but has yet to score a victory.
Danilov plans to keep his eye on his young charge in the plane with number 32 on the fuselage.
In the distance a formation of Ju-88’s is spotted…
and they’re not alone, being escorted by Messerschmitt BF 109s.
The 4 Yaks increase speed and spring into action.
Rapidly approaching the Germans the four Soviet pilots pick their targets.
The Yak-1 was a fast maneuverable plane that was deadly in the hands of a capable pilot…
But it was lightly armed and needed a high degree of skill and accurate marksmanship in order to take down an enemy.
The melee ensues and the BF 109s from JG53 break formation to engage the Soviets.
The battle is on… but Danilov needn’t have worried.
Number 32 lines up the target and watches it loom larger and larger in the sights.
The Ju88 is at last within range and number 32 unleashes a hail of machine gun fire.
It’s on target and bullets rake the Junkers until it bursts into flames and starts falling in an arc towards the ground.
It’s the first kill for the young pilot, but that’s not the end for № 32 on this fateful day.
The 437th is a mixed squadron with men and women pilots.
Commander Raisa Belyaeva also in a Yak-1 is in trouble.
A BF 109 is all over her tail.
Raisa pulls hard into a turn desperately trying to shake off the German pilot, but it’s no good.
The 109 is on her like glue.
In the pilot’s seat of the 109 is German double Ace Staff Sergeant Erwin Maier.
Number 32 spots that the commander is in trouble and comes to the rescue.
With expert flying 32 manages to get behind Maier.
Experienced as he is, Maier spots the threat and knows he’s in trouble and so reluctantly breaks off from his intended kill.
Number 32 is having none of it though and deftly lets leash a burst of fire, perfectly timed.
It’s a critical hit and the BF 109 pours smoke and oil.
Maier knows there’s no way to get his bird down in one piece and opens the hatch,
and jumps out of his stricken warbird.
The parachute opens and he sees his nemesis,
the Yak 1 with 32 painted on the side zoom past him as he drifts slowly into enemy territory.
The red army conduct a search and capture the German.
Marching him back to base, Maier enquired if he could meet the pilot that bested him in the air… Number 32.
The Soviets agreed.
After landing the pilot of Number 32 was summoned for a meeting with their vanquished foe.
However, when the pilot entered the room, Maier was dumbstruck.
He was told that this is the pilot who had shot him down… who also happened to be a young, attractive woman.
Lydia Litvyak.
Maier cursed the Soviets for humiliating him with this joke in poor taste,
but Lydia stepped forward and in a clear voice and with obvious disdain for the invader,
she explained step by step how she bested the German Double Ace with 11 victories to his name.
Maier realizing he was face to face with the pilot that had vanquished him, apologized,
took off his gold watch and offered it to the young woman
Fixing the German with her piercing blue eyes, she responded “I don’t accept gifts from my enemies”,
turned on her heels and left the German to contemplate his fate.
She made history on that day by becoming the first woman pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft…
but this was just the start.
The next day she engaged in an aerial battle against another BF 109.
This time piloted by Lt Hans Fuss.
Fuss had 71 Victories to his name.
Litvyak managed to put a hole in his fuel tank.
Fuss disengaged from the melee and sped for home… But ran out of fuel on his return.
The 109 went down somersaulting on the ground before reaching base.
Lydia’s fame grew.
Her commanding officer said of her “She was very aggressive, a born fighter pilot”.
With her striking looks and fame in defending Stalingrad she was given the name,
“The White Lily of Stalingrad” by her comrades.
On February 1943 she was promoted to a Junior Lieutenant
and chosen to join a group of elite pilots that were permitted to search for targets under their own initiative.
These "free hunters", were made up of only the most experienced pilots.
In recognition of this status she had a white lily painted on the side of her plane.
In March 1943 Lydia was flying as 1 of 6 Yak fighters.
Spotting 12 Ju88’s the Yak’s engaged the group.
Litvyak ignoring the escorting 109’s lined up a Ju-88 in her sights and took the plane down.
But before she could get clear a 109 had her in its sights.
Raking the cockpit of Lidya’s Yak-1, the white lily was hit.
Shrugging off the pain as best she could, she managed not only to keep control of her plane
but engaged and shoot down another BF 109 piloted by Lt Franz Muller.
Despite being in severe pain and losing blood she managed to return to the airfield.
But injury wouldn’t stop Litvyak and she was back in the pilot seat by May.
Being in war and in a frontline position, her environment was very male dominated,
but Lydia continued to embrace her femininity and her rebellious nature.
She was good friends with her Mechanic, Senior Sergeant Inna Pasportnikova.
Lydia would ask Inna to fetch bleach from the hospital so she could dye her hair blonde.
She would pick flowers and leave them in the cockpit of her plane for luck…
Much to the annoyance of the soviet pilots that share the plane.
She was fun loving and when returning from a successful mission would "buzz" the aerodrome
and then show off doing aerobatics, knowing that it made her commander furious.
On August 1st 1943, just a few days before her 22nd birthday Lydia took off from her base at Krasny Luch.
While on a mission with pilot Ivan Borisenko, she engaged a group of German bombers.
She didn’t see 2 BF 109s that were protecting the bombers.
One of them piloted by Knights Cross holder Hans Jorg Merkel intercepted The White Lily of Stalingrad
and she was struck.
The planes disappeared behind a cloud out of Borisenko’s view.
According to German reports, the injured Soviet plane turned and rammed into the BF 109 killing it’s pilot.
Borisenko descended and searched for Lydia but found no trace of her...
The Soviets rarely if ever awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union to those that were captured by the enemy…
as time passed and the crash site wasn’t found the doubt lingered that Lydia had been taken prisoner by the Germans
Her friend Pasportinikova took it upon herself to prove that Lydia had not been captured.
It took her 36 years with metal detectors and help from Lydia's family.
Eventually in 1979 after finding more than 90 other crash sites,
Pasportnikova was told that a woman pilot had been buried in Dmitrievka after receiving a head wound.
The remains were exhumed
and a special commission concluded that this was the remains of the White Lily of Stalingrad
In 1990, 47 years after her plane had been downed
Lydia Litvyak was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union by President Gorbachev.
But that’s not the end of this story…
Many historians today believe Lydia survived…
In the year 2000 Nina Raspopova a veteran of the famous Night Witches bomber regiment who knew Lydia,
was watching a television broadcast from Switzerland.
On that TV show it featured a former Soviet woman fighter pilot who had been wounded twice
left the Soviet Union and got married and had 3 children…
Raspopova in shock, looked at this old woman on the grainy TV image… Could it be Lidya???
Unfortunately, we’ll never know as no further information was found on this mysterious Soviet veteran.
Pasportnikova when reminiscing of Lydia said “She never believed that she was invincible.
She believed that some pilots had luck on their side and others didn't.
She firmly believed that, if you survived the first missions, the more you flew
and the more experience you got your chances of making it would increase. But you had to have luck on your side.”
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