See that young lady sitting in the cockpit, grinning ear to ear? An observer today might chuckle and think she was a harmless little girl one would come across on a college campus or in a library. But the Nazis, at least the ones who survived her onslaught, would beg to differ. She was a war hero, and a deadly one. This was Natalya Meklin, an excellent combat pilot who flew PO-2 short-range low altitude night bombers into the thick of heavily defended Nazi strongholds. Natalya didn’t fight alone. On the contrary, she was a Night Witch – just one “fighting friend” in a whole unit of brave aviatrixes in the legendary 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the only combat aviation regiment in history that was entirely comprised of women,
history
Ballad of the Unknown Pilot
August 1942
The Pilot struggles to keep his Yak fighter level. The weather is worsening and the cloud ceiling low. But those are the least of his problems right now. His machine is riddled with holes and engulfed in black smoke from the smoldering engine. The Pilot feels scorching pain down his side. Enemy bullets passed through the cabin, and his body as well. The agony is almost unbearable, but a sign of life. A sign of life that’s slipping away and succumbing to numb bliss. Euphoria is a serene, deceptive enemy that must be stopped at all costs. To lose consciousness means death. Pilotless, the Yak will tumble from the sky into the forested mountains below.