The White Rose of Stalingrad
By gckatz
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The one you've all been waiting for: Lilya Litvyak!
One of just two female fighter aces in all history, Litvyak racked up 12 solo and 4 joint kills. Here she is over the ruins of Stalingrad, fresh off her first kill and hot in pursuit of her second: Luftwaffe ace Erwin Maier. Captured by the Russians after being shot down, Maier at first refused to believe that the pilot who had defeated him was a 5 foot tall, 22-year-old blond girl!
The story that Litvyak painted white flowers on her plane's fuselage and that German pilots fled when they spotted them is probably a myth. But this is the mythical Litvyak that I'm depicting.
EDIT: Lilya has been enlarged slightly and I should really stop marking edits because I'm never satisfied and I tweak these images all the time.
Yak reference (yeah, yeah, it's a Yak-3 not a Yak-1). Stalingrad reference.
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One of just two female fighter aces in all history, Litvyak racked up 12 solo and 4 joint kills. Here she is over the ruins of Stalingrad, fresh off her first kill and hot in pursuit of her second: Luftwaffe ace Erwin Maier. Captured by the Russians after being shot down, Maier at first refused to believe that the pilot who had defeated him was a 5 foot tall, 22-year-old blond girl!
The story that Litvyak painted white flowers on her plane's fuselage and that German pilots fled when they spotted them is probably a myth. But this is the mythical Litvyak that I'm depicting.
EDIT: Lilya has been enlarged slightly and I should really stop marking edits because I'm never satisfied and I tweak these images all the time.
Yak reference (yeah, yeah, it's a Yak-3 not a Yak-1). Stalingrad reference.
Previous -- Next
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You know popular history has portrayed the Russian Air Force as bunch of sitting ducks for Luftwaffe Experten, but between Lieutenant Litvyak and the likes of Colonel Pokryshkin and Major Kozhedub, I just can't see how people would think that.
Love this picture, my only little quibble with it is that either the fuselage is too big or Lilya is a little too small. But that may just be me.
Love this picture, my only little quibble with it is that either the fuselage is too big or Lilya is a little too small. But that may just be me.
Hmm, you may be right. Here she is slightly biggified. Does that look better?
Yeah, that works much better.
YAk-3, most unappreciated plane of WW2. Lilya Litvyak is an amazing woman. Shame she's so unknown to most people.
I wonder, did she fight Romanian aircraft as well?
Likely, as the Romanians did lend troops to Germany. It was the Romanian troops who's retreat opened the door for Russia to encircle the Germans at Stalingrad. So it's quite likely.
I know about Romania's involvement in WW2; fav.me/d70ynx0
I was just wondering if they encountered the Nightwitches or Litvyak at Stalingrad, as their air force fought at Stalingrad too.
I was just wondering if they encountered the Nightwitches or Litvyak at Stalingrad, as their air force fought at Stalingrad too.
Ah. I wandered off on a tangent then. But it's likely if they were flying on that flank/area.
Not that I know of.
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