And I ask myself, ‘Nadia, how did you do it?’ ”  Then, they took part in the campaign of aerial warfare over Kuban. She was also awarded the Gold Star, the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star.“I sometimes stare into the blackness and close my eyes,” Ms. Popova said in 2010. “I can still imagine myself as a young girl, up there in my little bomber.

The pilots’ skill prompted the Germans to spread rumors that the Russian women were given special injections and pills to “give us a feline’s perfect vision at night,” Ms. Popova told Mr. Axell. She was a member of the Soviet Union’s all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment, referred to as the “Night Witches,” during World War II.

“We bombed, we killed; it was all a part of war,” she said in 2010. The lobbying of Marina Raskova, who had set several flying records and became the first commander of the women’s units, helped greatly. The Germans made up stories.

Anyway, they also took on precision bombing missions against the German Army. Ms. Popova, who died at 91 on July 8 in Moscow, was inspired both by patriotism and a desire for revenge. In a 2010 interview, Popova said: Nadezhda Popova “We bombed, we killed; it was all a part of war. Popova became adept at her unit’s tactics. Her delight at being accepted into the 588th Night Bomber Regiment gave way to steely seriousness after her first mission, in which a Soviet plane was destroyed, killing two friends. They were nicknamed as “Stalin’ s Hawks” by the Russian, but their German nickname is the one with which we still remember them: “Night Witches”.The regiment flew in wood-and-canvas Polikarpov U-2 biplanes, a 1928 design intended for use as training aircraft.

This was nonsense, of course. The lobbying of Marina Raskova, who had set several flying records and became the first commander of the women’s units, helped greatly.Nadezhda Vasilyevna Popova was born in Shabanovka in Ukraine on Dec. 27, 1921.

In total, 26 personnel of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero: 23 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 2 Heroes of the Russian Federation and one Hero of Kazakhstan.In order for you to never miss a story, you can subscribe to this monthly newsletter that will keep you up to date with the latest and greatest articles published each week. After graduating from pilot school, she became a flight instructor.Her delight at being accepted into the 588th Night Bomber Regiment gave way to steely seriousness after her first mission, in which a Soviet plane was destroyed, killing two friends.

"Almost every time we had to sail through a wall of enemy fire," Nadezhda Popova, one of the first volunteers -- who herself flew 852 missions -- said in an interview for David Stahel's book "Operation Typhoon: Hitler's March on Moscow, October 1941," published this year. They eventually separated but saw each other again several times during the war. “I was ordered to fly another mission immediately,” she told Russian Life magazine in 2003. She … When this battle was over, in October 1943 the regiment became known as “Taman” Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.In total, 261 people served in the regiment. They spread the rumor that we had been injected with some unknown chemicals that enabled us to see so clearly at night. In order to use AviationClub you must enable Javascript.The Nazis called them “Night Witches” because the whooshing noise their plywood and canvas airplanes made reminded the Germans of the sound of a witch’s broomstick.Ms. The Russian pilot corps clearly needed bolstering; in addition, some have pointed out, heroic women made good propaganda. In 30,000 missions over four years, they dumped 23,000 tons of bombs on the German invaders, ultimately helping to chase them back to Berlin. One of the most famous of the Night Witches, Nadezhda Popova, who herself flew 852 missions, earning her multiple medals and the title of Hero … These technical features made it impossible for the aircrafts to fly at high altitudes, so they had to stay low. Flying only in the dark, they had no parachutes, guns, radios or radar, only maps and compasses. Any German pilot who downed a “witch” was awarded an Iron Cross.These young heroines, all volunteers and most in their teens and early 20s, became legends of World War II but are now largely forgotten. They eventually separated but saw each other again several times during the war. I loved to tango, fox trot, but I was bored. But Ms. Popova, who rose to become deputy commander of what was formally known as the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, said she was mostly just doing a job that needed doing. The 588th Night Bomber Regiment, later known as the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, was a regiment of the Soviet Air Forces made up of females military aviators only. I loved to tango, fox trot, but I was bored. “We had an enemy in front of us, and we had to prove that we were stronger and more prepared.”As the war began, Moscow barred women from combat, and Ms. Popova was turned down when she first tried to enlist as a pilot. They struck up a conversation, and she read him some poetry. Popova was a member of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, a group of young Russian women who volunteered to fly planes during World War II. “No one in the armed services wanted to give women the freedom to die,” she told Albert Axell, the author of “Russia’s Heroes: 1941-45” (2001).But on Oct. 8, 1941, Joseph Stalin issued an order to deploy three regiments of female pilots, one of which became the Night Witches. Her brother was killed shortly after the Germans swept into the Soviet Union in June 1941, and the Nazis had commandeered their home to use as a Gestapo police station.In “Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II” (2007), by Amy Goodpaster Strebe, Ms. Popova is quoted recalling the “smiling faces of the Nazi pilots” as they strafed crowds, gunning down fleeing women and children.But Ms. Popova, who rose to become deputy commander of what was formally known as the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, said she was mostly just doing a job that needed doing.