The squadron was the brainchild of marina raskova known as the soviet amelia earhart famous not only as the first female navigator in the soviet air force but also for her many long distance. The true story of russian women pilots during wwii when germany invaded russia and all men had been called to the front russian women massively answered yes when they heard that volunteers were needed to save the country the courses that might have lasted up to 2 years had been compressed to 6 months and they learned to fly at night to navigate with only the most rudimentary of instruments and without any radio communication with the ground the women were smaller than . The night witches were a highly skilled and cunning unit they were so talented and battle proven that they proved to all the male commanders in the soviet armed forces that women were equals on the battlefield the highly skilled soviet night witch pilots would cut their engines when approaching a target and simply glide towards it. Night witches the amazing story of russias women pilots in world war ii hardcover 272 pages paperback despite the occasional misinformation and the journalistic embellishment in novelizing these true historical events this is still a terrific book which gives recognition to the courage and sacrifices of female soviet pilots in the great patriotic war. This item night witches the amazing story of russias women pilots in world war ii by bruce myles paperback 1695 in stock ships from and sold by amazoncom