Flying Heritage Museum: Soviet Night Witches and their airplane (museum exhibit)

by Ojibwa for Kossack Air Force

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Friday, Apr. 11, 2025 Friday, Apr. 11, 2025 at 7:15:05am PDT

The Soviet Polikarpov PO-2 was a reliable and uncomplicate biplane that was used by female pilots during World War II in conducting nighttime raids against German forces. Flying close to the ground, the pilot would cut the engine, glide through a bombing run, and then, starting the engine, would fly home. Kept awake at night, the German soldiers became demoralized and called the pilots Nachthexen (“Night Witches”).

During the 1930s the Soviets had state-subsidized flying schools in which thousands of Soviet women had learned to pilot gliders and light aircraft. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union, many of these women joined the all-female 588^th Night Bomber Regiment.

Polikarpow Po-2 was designed by Nikolai Polikarpov (1892-1944) as a trainer which would replace the U-1 trainer (a copy of the British Avro 504). Production of the U-2 (later designated as Po-2). At the beginning of World War II, it was used as a reconnaissance aircraft and then was fitted out with bomb carriers beneath the lower wing as a light, short-range bomber.

The PO-2 has a top speed of 99 mph, a cruising speed of 68 mph, a range of 249 miles, and a ceiling of 15,091 feet. It is powered by a 115 HP Shetsov M-11D 5-cylinder radial engine. It carried six 50-kilogram bombs and a 7.62mm ShKAS machine gun in the observer’s cockpit.

The Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum in Everett, Washington has a Polikarpove U-2/Po-2. The airplane on display was manufactured in 1944 and flew on the Russian front. It is painted with the markings of the female 46^th Guards Regiment.

According to the Museum:

“At first it sounded like a thin whistle in the quiet night, then—bombs exploded.

Starting in the summer of 1942, this became the new night-time normal for German troops invading the Soviet Union. It took a few weeks for the Germans to discover that the mysterious assaults were piloted by women. These skilled aviators flew in low, wings brushing treetops. At the last minute, they cut engines and glided silently over their targets.”