Lydia Litvyak is the most productive female pilot. Lost in the clouds. The story of Lydia Litvyak - the legendary “White Lily”

She was born on August 18, 1921 in Moscow. Graduated from high school. In 1935 she entered the Kirov flying club. After graduating from the Kherson Aviation School of Pilot Instructors, she worked at the Kalinin Aero Club. To the beginning of the Great Patriotic War trained 45 pilots.

On October 10, 1941, she voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army. From April 15, 1942, she conducted combat work in the air defense system of the city of Saratov (144th Fighter Aviation Division, Saratov-Balashov Air Defense Divisional Area). She flew 35 patrol and escort missions for transport aircraft. Since September 10, 1942 - a pilot of the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, in the same month he was enlisted as a flight commander in the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment (287th Fighter Aviation Division, 8th Air Army, Stalingrad Front).

On October 10, 1942, she was sent to the 9th Guards Odessa Fighter Aviation Regiment (by that time she had 1 personal and 2 group victories). On January 8, 1943, she was transferred to the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment (on March 21, 1943, it was transformed into the 73rd Guards IAP). She won another personal victory in February and was soon awarded the Order of the Red Star.

On March 22, 1943, she took part in the interception of a group of Ju-88 bombers and shot down one Junkers. In the same battle she received a shrapnel wound in the leg. After treatment, the regiment returned. On May 5, not yet fully strengthened, she flew to escort a group of bombers. In the ensuing air battle, she shot down an Me-109 fighter. On May 31, she destroyed an artillery fire spotter. For this victory (and 4 personally shot down enemy aircraft) she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On July 16, she was again wounded by shrapnel in the leg and shoulder. By the end of July 1943, she won 2 more victories (1 in person and 1 in the group).

On August 1, 1943, the flight commander of the 3rd Squadron of the 73rd Guards Stalingrad Fighter Aviation Regiment (6th Guards Don Fighter Aviation Division, 8th Air Army, Southern Front) Guard Junior Lieutenant L.V. Litvyak did not return from a combat mission ... By that time, she had completed 138 combat missions, in air battles she personally shot down 5 and as part of a group of 3 enemy aircraft, destroyed 1 spotter balloon (based on the materials of the last award list, she completed 150 sorties, shot down 6 aircraft personally and 6 in a group, more 2 knocked out; operational documents all this is not confirmed).

For her exploits she was presented by the command of the regiment to the rank of Hero Soviet Union posthumously. Since there was no exact data about her death (there were rumors that she was in captivity), the command of the division did not approve this idea, limiting itself to the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.

The grave of L. V. Litvyak was found only in the summer of 1979 in the village of Dmitrovka, Shakhtyorsky district, Donetsk region (buried in a mass grave). After that, the veterans of the regiment renewed their petition for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on her. By the decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990, the Guard Junior Lieutenant Litvyak Lidia Vladimirovna was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Order of Lenin No. 460056 and medal " Golden Star"No. 11616 was transferred for storage to the relatives of the deceased Heroine.

Awarded with the orders: Lenin (05.05.1990, posthumously), the Red Banner (22.07.1943), the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (10.09.1943, posthumously), the Red Star (17.02.1943); the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" (1943).

On August 1, 1943, the Guard Junior Lieutenant Lydia Litvyak, the flight commander of the third squadron of the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, did not return from a combat mission. The fellow soldiers could not find either the pilot or the plane. After Alexander Evdokimov, led by Lydia Litvyak, died in her last battle, the search was stopped altogether - only he knew where his commander's Yak fell ...

For the aviation unit, this was one of the heaviest losses in a year of hostilities: a fighter pilot, the regiment's favorite, a skillful and fearless fighter, who destroyed one spotter balloon and 14 enemy combat aircraft in air battles, died.

"Missing in action." The military archive card contains precisely this laconic and completely indefinite entry. “Missing” - this entry may mean that she died heroically and voluntarily surrendered. This is exactly what the officials were counting on: the main thing is to play it safe, and time will do its job ...

Lily (that was the name of her close friends) came to aviation when she was fourteen years old. She made her first independent flight at fifteen. She began her career as a pilot at the Kherson School of Pilots. After graduation, Litvak was transferred to the Kalinin flying club, becoming one of the best pilot-instructors in it. All her flights were gambling, Lydia Vladimirovna reveled in flights. Forty-five boys "got up on the wing" under her command.

Lilya really wanted to go to the front. While in Ufa, where the entire flying club was evacuated, she becomes aware that the formation of female aviation regiments has begun in Moscow. An irrepressible desire to fight the enemy could come true. Lilya leaves for the capital. She decided that she would fight the Nazis exclusively on a fighter plane. However, achieving this goal was not easy. It is not known how Litvak managed to attribute the missing hundred hours to the existing one. In any case, but this "deception" helped to get into the training and combat unit. Lilya after her graduation was enrolled in the 586th Women's Fighter Aviation Regiment.

Summer 1942. Burn in the air over Saratov. Constant Heinkels and Junkers raids on ferries and defense enterprises. The pilots of the air defense regiment defend the city, covering it from the air. Lilya, together with others, takes part in repelling enemy raids, accompanies aircraft special purpose to the front line. In September 1942, Litvyak, entering a group of girls, goes to the disposal of the 6th Fighter Aviation Division, which defended the skies of Stalingrad. For Lily Litvyak, Raya Belyaeva, Masha Kuznetsova, Katya Budanova, her fighting friends, from this time the days of severe tests by heavy air battles begin.

Yak-1 L.V. Litvyak, 296th IAP, Stalingrad Front, spring 1943

Intense air combat took place on almost every sortie. Litvyak won her first victory on September 13th. The Junkers, accompanied by the Messers, flew to Stalingrad. Lily, as part of her group, enters the battle. This was her second sortie on the Stalingrad front. Having chosen the target, Lilya comes up from behind from below to the "Junkers". The approach was successful: she shot the enemy plane in cold blood, as if it were happening at the range. The account is open! However, the fight is not over yet. Seeing that Belyaeva Raya is fighting a single combat with Messerschmitt, Lydia Litvyak throws her Yak to help her friend. And this help came in handy - Belyaeva ran out of ammunition. Taking the place of her friend, and imposing a duel on the fascist who was trying to leave, Lilya knocks him down as well. One fight - two victories! Not every combat pilot can do this.

And in the evening Lilya again saw her opponent. The pilot of the downed Messer, a captured ace from the Richthofen squadron, a German baron, wished to meet the winner. A blond, tender-looking young woman came to meet him. This simply infuriated the Baron. The Russians wanted to make fun of him!

Two female crews, Lydia Litvyak and Ekaterina Budanova, in January 1943 were enlisted in the 296th Fighter Regiment, which at that time was based near Stalingrad at the Kotelnikovo airfield.

The situation in the air in March 1943 became complicated: groups from the famous fascist squadrons Udet and Richthofen began to invade the regiment's area of ​​operation. Lilya, as part of the six "Yaks" in the sky of Rostov on March 22, took part in the interception of a group of "Junkers-88". In battle, Litvyak knocks down one of them. Six Me109, which came to the rescue of the Nazis, attacked on the move. Litvyak was the first to notice them. To disrupt a sudden enemy strike, she alone stands in the way of the group. After a fifteen-minute battle, the wounded pilot managed to bring the crippled Yak to her airfield.

From the hospital Lilya went to Moscow, to her home on Novoslobodskaya Street. At the same time, they took a receipt from her that within a month she would undergo further treatment at home. However, after only a week, the capital had to be abandoned.

On May 5, not yet fully strengthened, Lilya is seeking directions to accompany our bombers as part of a cover group. During the flight, an air battle ensued. The Messers, suddenly appearing from the direction of the sun, attacked our Petlyakovs, which were marching in a dense formation. In the ensuing battle, Litvyak shoots down another enemy plane. On May 7, she again "breaks out" into the sky. Another "Messer" leaves the crosshair of her sight, smoking.

In the sector of the front, where the regiment was operating, at the end of May the fascists "suspended" an observation balloon. The artillery fire, corrected by observers, began to give our troops much more trouble. Lily goes on a mission alone. Taking off, the pilot undertakes an ingenious maneuver - going deep into the rear of the enemy, she enters the balloon from the direction of the sun, from the depths of enemy territory. At maximum throttle, having dispersed her Yak almost to flutter, she goes on the attack. From a distance of about 1000 meters, she opened fire from all points and did not stop it until she slipped near the falling balloon. June brought severe trials to Lydia Litvak. Katya Budanova, her best fighting friend, was killed. In addition, before the eyes of the entire regiment, the plane of Aleksey Solomatin, the only Hero of the Soviet Union at that time in the regiment, an excellent guy and Lilin's beloved, crashed ...

Yak-1B L.V. Litvyak - her last car, 73rd GvIAP, summer 1943

Escorting on July 16, 1943 to the front line of the Il-2, six of our "Yaks" entered the battle with thirty-six enemy aircraft. Six Messerschmitts and thirty Junkers tried to strike at our troops, but their plan was thwarted. Litvyak in this battle tore apart another "Juncker" and, with the support of her wingman, shot down a Me-109. And again the wound. On the demand to go to the hospital she replied with a categorical refusal: "I have enough strength." The next fight took place just three days later.

Litvyak on July 21, together with Ivan Golyshev, the regiment commander, flew out on a combat mission. Our couple during the departure was attacked by seven "Messers". The commander "got" four fascists, the slave - three. Possessing a sense of mutual assistance, Litvyak did not forget about the commander for a minute. She managed to bring down one "messer" from those who were pressing on Golyshev. However, the forces were unequal. Lily's plane was hit, and she, pursued to the ground by enemies, put the car on the fuselage half a kilometer from the village of Novikovka.

All along the front there was fame for the valor of the female fighter pilot. All the pilots of the regiment loved and protected Lilya. However, they did not save ...

On August 1, 1943, Litvyak raised her Yak into the skies of war three times. The third battle was very difficult, it was fought with a large group of enemy fighters. Shooting down Me 109 in this fight, the pilot won her fourteenth personal victory. Lily's last sortie was the fourth that day. Six of our fighters had to fight forty-two enemy aircraft. Two enemy vehicles did not return from this battle.

The battle was fading in the sky over Marinovka. The dispersed fascist armada was leaving to the west. Cuddling to the top of the clouds, our six, who did not lose a single car, headed home. At that moment, a crazy "messer" suddenly jumped out of the white shroud and before diving into the clouds again, he gave a turn for the leader of the last pair ... Yak-1, tail number "23", did not return to the airfield. On August 4, 1943, by order of the Eighth Air Army, the guard of junior lieutenant Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna was forever enlisted in the lists of the 73rd Guards Stalingrad Fighter Aviation Regiment. Four days later, on August 8, Litvyak was posthumously nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. She undoubtedly deserved this award.

However, then Leela was not awarded this high rank. As a posthumous award, instead of the Golden Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree came ... Lily's plane fell on the territory occupied by the enemy, in a grove near the Kozhevnya farm (Dmitrovka village, Shakhtyorsky district). Who and where buried the pilot is unknown.

Local residents in 1946 handed over the remains of Lilin's plane for scrap. The trail of the brave pilot was lost for a long time.

Fearless Lilya, died a heroic death in her native sky, was also buried in her own land, however long years was missing. This uncertainty lasted for forty-five years. however, the trail of the brave pilot has been stubbornly searched for all these years. They were looking for fellow soldiers, soldiers, schoolchildren.

The newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in 1968 tried to restore Lily's honest name. Registration "Komsomolskaya Pravda" submission for assignment Litvyak L.The. the title of Hero was sent to political governance air force. The Air Force command supported the noble impulse of the newspaper staff, but did not forget about the principle of "caution is not a hindrance." Command verdict: "Search. You will find, we will speak."

In 1971, young soldiers of the Intelligence Unit of Military Glory under the leadership of Valentina Vashchenko, a teacher of the 1st school in Krasny Luch, joined in the search for Litvyak. For several years, the girls and boys of the detachment "combed" up and down the outskirts of the village of Marinovka.

Lilin's trail was found unexpectedly, almost by accident. Later the following became known. The remains of an unknown pilot, discovered by local boys by accident, along with the remains of other soldiers who died in the area, were buried on July 26, 1969. The burial took place in the center of the village of Dmitrovka (Shakhtyorsky district). Before that, the doctors established that the remains of the pilot were female. So at the mass grave "19 S. Dmitrovka, among many names appeared" Unknown pilot ".

Yak-1 Lydia Litvak

So the fighter pilot was buried! But the question is - who exactly? In the 8th Air Army at that time there were two of them - Ekaterina Budanova and Lydia Litvyak. Budanova died heroically in June 1943. The place of her burial is also known. So Lilya? Yes, of course it was. The certificate received from the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense confirmed the conclusion. The name of Lydia Litvyak was immortalized in July 1988 in the burial place, a mass grave "19, located in the center of the village of Dmitrovka. In November 1988, by order of the Deputy Minister of Defense, a change was made to paragraph 22 of the order of the Main Directorate of Personnel of September 16, 1943, regarding the fate Litvyak wrote:
"She disappeared without a trace on August 1, 1943. It should be read: she died while performing a combat mission on August 1, 1943."

So the last White spot in Lily's fate was eliminated. After that in The Supreme Council The USSR left the idea of ​​conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to L.V. Litvyak and posthumously raising her in rank. This high rank of the guard was awarded to Senior Lieutenant Litvyak on May 6, 1990.

List of victories won by Litvak Lydia Vladimirovna:
Departures No. 1 and 2, 09/13/1942, Bf 109 and Ju 88 were shot down on La-5, respectively.
Departure No. 3, 27.09. 1942, Ju 88 was shot down on La-5.
Departure # 4, 11.02. 1943 on a Yak-1 was shot down by an FW 190A.
Departures No. 5 and 6. 1.03. 1943 FW 190A and Ju 88 were shot down on the Yak-1, respectively.
Departures Nos. 7 and 8 15.03. 1943 Yak-1 shot down one Ju 88.
Departure # 9 5.05. 1943 Yak-1b data on downed aircraft are missing.
Departure # 10 31.05. 1943 a balloon was shot down on the Yak-1b.
Departures No. 11 and 12. 1.08. 1943 Yak-1b data on downed aircraft are missing.

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak is a legendary Soviet pilot of the times. She was born on August 18, 1921 in Moscow. WITH early childhood was fond of aviation. At the age of 15, Lydia made the first independent flight in her life. After graduating from a flight school in Kherson, the girl gets a job as an instructor at the Kalinin flying club. During the time spent there, Lydia Litvyak managed to train 45 pilots.

She went to the front in 1942, enrolled in the 586th IAP, secretly called the "women's aviation regiment". When registering, I attributed to myself 100 missing flight hours. Lydia Litvyak quickly mastered the Yak-1 fighter and in the summer of 1942 made her first combat mission. At the end of the summer of the same year, the young pilot shot down her first enemy plane - the Ju-88 bomber.

At the beginning of autumn 1942, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to the fighter regiment No. 437. On September 13, in an air battle over Stalingrad, a pilot in a group shot down two aircraft, one of them was piloted by a German baron, knight's cross, an ace pilot, on whose account there were 30 downed aircraft. In the fall of the same year, Lydia Litvyak shot down two more planes.

On the fuselage of the Yak visual memory of Lydia Litvyak was depicted White Lily... Therefore, many called her nothing but "", soon "Lilia" became her radio call sign.
Some time later, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to the Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment No. 9. In December 1942, she shot down a Luftwaffe Do-217 bomber. At the end of 1942, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to the 296th regiment.

On February 11, 1942, Lydia Litvyak shot down two planes - one personally and another in the group. In the same month, in one of the air battles, her Yak-1 was hit, and she had to make an emergency landing in enemy territory. The German military tried to take her prisoner, but one of the Soviet attack aircraft forced them to withdraw with heavy machine gun fire. Then the pilot landed and took Lydia on board. February 23, 1943 Lydia Litvyak becomes the owner of her first award -.

On March 22, 1943, during an air battle not far from Rostov-on-Don, she shot down another plane. In the same battle, performing a diversionary maneuver, she entered into an unequal battle with six enemy aircraft. She was seriously injured, but managed to independently fly to the airfield and land the damaged plane.

Quickly recovering from her wounds, Lydia Litvyak returned to the front, and in May 1943 she shot down two enemy aircraft. At the end of the month, the girl knocks down a German balloon, which served as an artillery spotter, which for a long time could not be brought down because of the enemy's heavy anti-aircraft fire. For completing the assignment, Litvyak is awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In the same month, her husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, Senior Lieutenant Solomatin, who served as squadron chief in the same regiment, was killed in action. In an air battle on June 15, the pilot shot down two German planes.

At the end of July 1943, there were fierce battles on the Mius River, in which aviation played one of the leading roles. On August 1, 1943, Litvyak made four sorties, during which he shot down 3 Luftwaffe aircraft. The girl did not return from the last departure. The command of the division prepared documents for the presentation of the pilot posthumously for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, due to the fact that Litvyak was officially considered missing, the procedure was postponed. After the war, the remains of the pilot were discovered. On May 5, 1991, almost 48 years after her death, Lydia Litvyak was awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Lydia Litvyak, the most productive female fighter of the Second World War, according to the recollections of her colleagues, was a model of femininity and charm. The main thing for her was the fight against fascism, and this she gave all her strength.

A short blonde girl was very restrained in the enthusiastic looks and words of her fellow soldiers and, which especially appealed to the pilots, did not give preference to anyone.
Lilia Litvyak was born on August 18, 1921 in Moscow. At the age of 14 she entered the flying club, at the age of 15 she performed her first independent flight. Then she studied at the courses of geologists, participated in the expedition to the Far North.
After graduating from the Kherson pilot school, she became one of the best instructors of the Kalinin flying club. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, she managed to "put on the wing" 45 cadets - future air fighters.
From the first days of the war, Litvyak tried to get to the front. And when she learned that the famous pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, Marina Raskova, began to form women's air regiments, she quickly achieved her goal. Cunning, she managed to attribute 100 hours to the available flight time and get an appointment to the air group of Marina Raskova.
Senior sergeant Inna Passportnikova, who during the war years was an aircraft technician for Lydia Litvyak, recalls:

“In October 1941, when we were still training at the training base near Engels, during the formation, Leela was ordered to be out of action. She was in winter uniform and we all saw that she cut off the tops of her fur boots to make a trendy flight suit collar. Our commander Marina Raskova asked when she did it, and Lilya replied: "At night ..."
Raskova said that the next night Lilya, instead of sleeping, would open her collar and sew the fur back onto the fur boots. She was also arrested and placed in a separate room, and she did indeed reverse-sew the fur all night.
This was the first time that other women paid attention to Lily, because before no one even noticed this short, petite girl. In her 20s, she was so thin, pretty and very similar to the actress Serova, who was popular in those years. A strange thing: there was a war, and this little girl with blond hair was thinking about some kind of fur collar ... "
The brave pilot made her first sorties as part of the 586th female fighter aviation regiment in the spring of 1942 in the sky of Saratov, covering the Volga from enemy air raids. From April 15 to September 10, 1942, she flew 35 sorties to patrol and escort transport aircraft with important cargo.
On September 10, 1942, as part of the same regiment, she arrived at Stalingrad and flew 10 sorties in a short period of time.


On September 13, in the second combat sortie to cover Stalingrad, she opened her combat account. First, she shot down a Ju-88 bomber, then rescuing her friend Raya Belyaeva, who ran out of ammunition, took her place and, after a stubborn duel, knocked out the Me-109.
At the end of September, she achieved a transfer as part of a group of girls - pilots to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which defended the skies of Stalingrad.
The female fighter squad did not last long. Its commander, senior lieutenant R. Belyaeva, was soon shot down and after a forced parachute jump was treated for a long time. Following her, M. Kuznetsov was out of action due to illness. Only 2 female pilots remained in the regiment: L. Litvyak and E. Budanova. It was they who achieved the highest results in battles. Soon Lydia shot down another Junkers.
Since October 10, the female couple has been under the operational control of the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Already 3 shot down German planes, of which one - she personally had when she came to the regiment Soviet aces... Lily Litvyak's short but noticeable stay in the regiment, her technique of Inna Passportnikova and Katya Budanova remained in the memory of the Guards for a long time.
In those days, the main task of the girls was to cover the strategically important front-line center (the city of Zhitvur), escort transport aircraft. Litvyak completed 58 such sorties.


For the excellent performance of the tasks of the command, Lydia was enlisted in the group of "free hunters" for enemy aircraft. Arriving at the forward airfield, she flew 5 combat missions and conducted 5 air battles. The school of the 9th Guards IAP tempered the brave pilots and improved their combat skills.
Their glory was crowned with new military victories after the transfer on January 8, 1943 to the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment. By February, Litvyak completed 16 sorties to escort attack aircraft, reconnaissance of enemy troops and cover for our ground forces.
On February 5, 1943, the command of the 296th IAP Sergeant L.V. Litvyak was presented with the first award - the Order of the Red Star.
On February 11, 1943, the regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel N.I.Baranov, led four fighters into battle. And again, as in September 1942, Lida won a double victory: she personally shot down a Ju-88 bomber and, in a group, an FW-190 fighter.
In one of the battles, her "Yak" was hit and Lydia made an emergency landing in enemy territory. Jumping out of the cockpit, firing back, she rushed to flee from the German soldiers approaching her.

But the distance between them was rapidly closing. Already the last cartridge remained in the barrel ... And suddenly our attack aircraft swept over the heads of the enemy. Pouring fire on the German soldiers, he forced them to throw themselves to the ground. Then, releasing the landing gear, glided alongside Lida and stopped. Without getting out of the plane, the pilot desperately waved his hands. The girl rushed to meet, squeezed the pilot on his knees, the plane took off and soon Lida was in the regiment ...
On February 23, 1943, Litvyak was presented with a new military award - the Order of the Red Star. A little earlier, on December 22, 1942, she was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad".