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"Night Witches" is the English translation of ''Nachthexen'', a World War II German nickname (Russian ''Ночные ведьмы, Nochnye Vedmy'') for the female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces. The regiment was formed by Colonel Marina Raskova and led by Major Yevdokia Bershanskaya. The regiment flew harassment bombing and precision bombing missions against the German military from 1942 until the end of the war.〔"(We were called Night Witches )" by Rakobolskaya I. V. Kravcova N. F. Moscow:MGU, 2005 ISBN 5-211-05008-8〕 At its largest, it had 40 two-person crews. It flew over 23,000 sorties and is said to have dropped 〔BBC TV〕 3,000 tons of bombs. It was the most highly decorated female unit in the Soviet Air Force, each pilot having flown over 800 missions by the end of the war and twenty-three having been awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title. Thirty of its members died in combat. The regiment flew in wood-and-canvas Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes, a 1928 design intended for use as training aircraft and for crop-dusting, and to this day the most-produced biplane in aviation history. The planes could carry only six bombs at a time, so multiple missions per night were necessary. Although the aircraft were obsolete and slow, the pilots made daring use of their exceptional maneuverability; they had the advantage of having a maximum speed that was lower than the stall speed of both the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, and as a result, German pilots found them very difficult to shoot down. An attack technique of the night bombers was to idle the engine near the target and glide to the bomb release point, with only wind noise left to reveal their location. German soldiers likened the sound to broomsticks and named the pilots "Night Witches."〔http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/world/europe/nadezhda-popova-ww-ii-night-witch-dies-at-91.html?_r=0 New York Times obituary of Nadezhda Popova〕 Due to the weight of the bombs and the low altitude of flight, the pilots carried no parachutes. From June 1942, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment was within the 4th Air Army. In February 1943, the regiment was honored with a reorganization into the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment and in October 1943 it became the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.〔 (65-летие 4-ой Армии ВВС и ПВО )〕 "Taman" referred to the unit's involvement in two celebrated Soviet victories on the Taman Peninsula during 1943. == People == ; Commanders: * Yevdokia Bershanskaya—Regimental Commander * Yevgeniya Zhigulenko, Hero of the Soviet Union—Flight Commander * Tat'yana Makarova, Hero of the Soviet Union—Flight Commander * Nina Ul'yanenko, Hero of the Soviet Union—Flight Navigator ; Notable members: * Vera Bjelik * Rufina Gasheva * Polina Gelman * Natalya Meklin * Nadezhda Popova * Yevgeniya Rudneva * Irina Sebrova 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Night Witches」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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