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THE NIGHT WITCHES OF WORLD WAR TWO

9.30AM, 8.05PM, WORLD SERVICE

★★★★ Using Polikarpov Po-2 wooden biplanes (right), the all-female crews of three Soviet air combat units would switch off their engines and fly low over their targets. Their planes made a swishing sound, like broomsticks, earning the pilots the name ‘night witches’. Underequipped, sometimes in oversized men’s uniforms and without parachutes, they often flew eight raids a night, notching up more than 23,000 missions in the course of the war and causing chaos to the Axis forces. Orna Merchant tells their story.

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2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/282724821063041

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