Lydia Litvyak was shot down near Orel during the Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German aircraft.
24 Facts About Lydia Litvyak
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Lydia Litvyak was born in Moscow into a Russian family.
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Lydia Litvyak's mother Anna Vasilievna Litvyak was a shop assistant; her father Vladimir Leontievich Litvyak worked as a railwayman, train driver and clerk.
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Lydia Litvyak performed her first solo flight at 15, and later graduated from the Kherson military flying school.
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Lydia Litvyak flew her first combat flights in the summer of 1942 over Saratov.
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Lydia Litvyak's first kill was a Ju 88 which fell in flames from the sky after several bursts.
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When he was taken to Lydia Litvyak, he thought he was being made the butt of a Soviet joke.
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Lydia Litvyak's ill-fated opponent was probably Knight's Cross holder and 71-kill experte Lt.
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Lydia Litvyak was critically injured, lost one leg and died of his wounds 10 November 1942.
10.
Lydia Litvyak shot down one of the bombers but was in turn attacked and wounded by the escorting Bf 109s.
11.
Lydia Litvyak managed to shoot down a Messerschmitt and to return to her airfield and land her plane, but was in severe pain and losing blood.
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Lydia Litvyak was devastated by the crash and wrote a letter to her mother describing how she realized only after Solomatin's death that she had loved him.
13.
Lydia Litvyak scored against a difficult target on 31 May 1943: an artillery observation balloon manned by a German officer.
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Lydia Litvyak volunteered to take out the balloon but was turned down.
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Lydia Litvyak insisted and described for her commander her plan: she would attack it from the rear after flying in a wide circle around the perimeter of the battleground and over German-held territory.
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On 13 June 1943, Lydia Litvyak was appointed flight commander of the 3rd Aviation Squadron within 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.
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Lydia Litvyak was wounded again but refused to take medical leave.
18.
Lydia Litvyak shot down one Bf 109 on 19 July 1943, probably 6-kill ace Uffz.
19.
On 1 August 1943, Lydia Litvyak did not come back to her base at Krasnyy Luch on the Mius-Front.
20.
Schleef claimed a LaGG-3 kill on the same day, in the southern Ukraine area where Lydia Litvyak's aircraft was finally found.
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Cottam, an author and researcher focusing on Soviet women in the military, concludes that Lydia Litvyak made a belly-landing in her stricken aircraft, was captured and was taken to a prisoner of war camp.
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Lydia Litvyak believed that some pilots had luck on their side and others didn't.
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Lydia Litvyak 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.
24.
Lydia Litvyak has been called the "White Rose of Stalingrad" in Europe and North America since reports of her exploits were first published in English.