# Night Witches....world war 2 pilots, here's an interesting story **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/night-witches-world-war-2-pilots-heres-an-interesting-story/475642 "2008-12-04T06:45:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/night-witches-world-war-2-pilots-heres-an-interesting-story/475642/1 "2008-12-04T06:45:10Z")
> **[Night Witches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches)** > > "Night Witches" (German: die Nachthexen; Russian: Ночные ведьмы, Nochnyye Vedmy) was a World War II German nickname for the all-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. Though women were officially barred from combat at the time, Major Marina Raskova used her position and personal contacts with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to obtain permission to form female combat units. "Comba... In Soviet Union, witches burn you! ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/night-witches-world-war-2-pilots-heres-an-interesting-story/475642/2 "2008-12-04T07:07:17Z")
They have an airworthy Polikarpov PO-2 at Paul Allen’s [Flying Heritage Collection](http://www.flyingheritage.com/). There’s an excellent video next to it that tells their story and the docents seem to know even more.