Fighter pilot Lydia Litvyak: "The White Lily of Stalingrad." Lydia Litvyak: biography, exploits, historical facts, photo Lydia Litvyak pilot instructor osoaviakhim

From the black-and-white photographs, a miniature blonde beauty looks at us. With such an appearance, she could well become a popular actress, drink icy champagne at social events, eat crispy baskets of caviar, pose for photographers in fur boas and diamonds, increasing the list of her film works every day. It is not for nothing that Lydia Litvyak saw an external resemblance to the "third great blonde of the USSR" Valentina Serova (the first, by the way, were Lyubov Orlova and Marina Ladynina). But our heroine had her own list of victories, and by no means on the movie screen or on the stage. For 8 months of heroic service of the Guard, junior lieutenant Litvyak carried out 168 sorties, took part in 89 air battles, shot down 11 enemy aircraft and 1 spotter balloon.

Such is the impressive list of the most feminine and charming aviator of the times of the Great Patriotic War... However, she still graced the cover of the popular Ogonyok magazine. In the photo, "White Lily of Stalingrad" (21-year-old Lilya Litvyak received such a poetic nickname) was together with her fighting friend Ekaterina Budanova, and below the caption: " 12 enemy planes shot down by these brave girls».

A note about the legendary pilot was published in April 1943, and after 4 months Lydia disappeared without a trace (an evil irony of fate: exactly what she, the daughter of the repressed, was most afraid of), happened. But first things first.

Lydia Litvyak, biography

The future queen of fighters Lydia Litvyak was born in Moscow on Aviation Day (a kind of signal of fate!) - August 18, 1921. Little Lily - she preferred to be called that way - was drawn to the sky from childhood. However, against the background of the general enthusiasm for aviation, this fact hardly looks surprising: on the contrary, it would be strange if a simple Soviet girl dreamed of reigning in the boudoir "with a sad thought in her eyes, with a French book in her hands." " Youth in OSOAVIAKHIM!"- said the cry of the era. So our heroine kept up with the times, easily exchanging dolls for an aviation club, and heels and dresses for overalls and a flight helmet. However, it is one thing to get carried away, and quite another to fly the most. That is why 14-year-old Lilya at first hid her trips to the air club from her parents, but it was simply impossible to hide such intense interest for a long time. A year later, the girl made her first flight on her own, and then another significant, but this time tragic event happened - her father, the railway worker Vladimir Litvyak, was repressed and shot. Lilya, of course, carefully concealed this fact: being the daughter of an enemy of the people is a heavy burden, especially for a 15-year-old girl who was desperately raving about aviation.

After school, Lida graduated from geology courses and went to the Far North, and then moved south and finally returned to flying. Litvyak graduated from the Kherson Aviation School, after which she worked at the Kalinin Club, where she independently trained 45 pilots. " She knew how to see the air", - said colleagues about her.

Fateful decision

"The war does not have a woman's face" is an indisputable thesis, however Soviet authorities... They clearly did not plan to admit young Komsomol members into the ranks of the regular army, except in the role of nurses. But the 20th century was breaking stereotypes. The famous Soviet pilot Marina Raskova personally sought permission from Stalin to form female combat units. The girls literally rushed to the front line, and it was useless to resist the desire of such a number of people, especially since the army suffered significant losses in the flight personnel. Therefore, already in October 1941, it was decided to form three women's air regiments. Lilya Litvyak, who independently attributed the missing flight hours to herself, submitted documents to the combat aviation and was enlisted in the 586 fighter regiment, to the very same Marina Raskova.

Signature handwriting

At first, the fragile blonde distinguished herself not by combat successes, but by an unexpected craving for ... fashionable accessories. Once Lilya cut high fur boots and sewed a fur collar onto her jacket. The strict Raskova was furious: instead of getting enough sleep before the exercises, the girl spent the whole night making fashionable nonsense for herself! For such a minor offense, Lilya was arrested, and she had to alter the fur back. " A strange thing: there was a war, and this little girl with blond hair was thinking about some kind of fur collar... "- Litvyak's colleague Inna Passportnikova recalled. However, isn't that what Olga Bergholts wrote about in her Forbidden Diary? “... They also ask us: "How can you live - think about dresses, about performances, because at any moment noise and whistling can begin, because he is death ..." How to explain to them that we can, that we just live - that's all and don't think about "her" at all.<...>, not because "heroes", but simply because they learned to live differently?»

Anyway. Lilya was initially remembered precisely for this girlish weakness.

They say that our heroine loved to wear long white parachute silk scarves and always kept a bouquet of wildflowers in the cockpit. Returning from combat missions, the pilot "drew" aerobatics in the air - for such hooligan panache, the girl, of course, again received reprimands from her superiors, but from now on it was her signature style, an integral part of the romantic image. After the first major victory, her plane was decorated with a lily. Since then, the flower has become her trademark and call sign.

Stalingrad successes

From April to September 1942, Lilya covered the Volga from enemy raids, after which she arrived in Stalingrad. Litvyak opened her list of victories more than brightly: first, the girl shot down a Ju-88 bomber. Then she rescued her friend Raisa Belyaeva when she ran out of ammunition. Lilya took her place and after a grueling duel knocked out Me-109, the pilot of which turned out to be a German baron, knight's cross, ace. They say that the German was shocked that he, an experienced pilot, was shot down by some blond girl! According to some reports, he even gave Leela his gold watch - in recognition, after she shared the details of the fight with him. However, it is quite possible that this is nothing more than fiction.

Unfortunately, the famous women's squad, created by Marina Raskova, did not last long. Soon, Lilya, along with her fighting friend Ekaterina Budanova, joined the 437th air regiment, which included only men.

Interrupted flight

Medal for the defense of Stalingrad, the Order of the Red Star, - the merits of the young pilot were appreciated. And she finally met her love - also a pilot, of course. At the beginning of 1943, always restrained to male attention, Lilya came to serve in the regiment, where Senior Lieutenant Solomatin became her mentor and soon her husband. Unfortunately, this beautiful couple was not together for long. On May 21, 1943, Alexei's plane crashed in front of his beloved wife and comrades. And two months later, another tragedy happened: Lily's best friend Katya Budanova died from her wounds. The atmosphere was heating up, the fighting became more and more fierce, but it was impossible to retreat. Lilya constantly took risks. She was wounded several times, but after a week she fled from the hospital and again found herself at the helm, despite all the prohibitions. It seemed that someone was saving the pilot and fate, having taken away the two closest people, favored her herself, but ... Litvyak's life also turned out to be short. On August 1, 1943, she was killed by shooting down three enemy planes.

Justice restored

Lilya is missing. Evil tongues claimed that in Marinovka they saw a miniature blonde girl getting into a car with German officers. This version has not received any official confirmation, however, it is easy to guess how such a rumor turned out for the daughter of an enemy of the people. So, with the award of the title of Hero Soviet Union it was decided to postpone. It took years to prove that Lilya really died on a combat mission. The search lasted 36 long years, and only in 1979 in the Donetsk region were the remains of a brave pilot found. After another 11 years, Lydia Litvyak was finally awarded the well-deserved title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

However, evil tongues did not calm down; when revelations became fashionable, memoirs appeared, in which Lilya appeared not as an experienced fighter, but as a blonde, "often having a poor idea of ​​where and why she was flying." Fortunately, there were few such “memories”.

One way or another, it was Lydia Litvyak who went down in history as the most productive pilot and even got into the Guinness Book of Records. Her “heavenly handwriting” was named Chkalov's, which is the highest mark of her combat talent.

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 in her last battle, died, 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 irresistible desire to fight the enemy could become a reality. 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, along with others, takes part in repelling enemy raids, accompanies special-purpose aircraft 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 a 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 captive 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, attacks 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. "Messers", suddenly appearing from the direction of the sun, attacked our "Petlyakovs", 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 Nazis "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 a clever 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 a falling balloon. June brought severe trials to Lydia Litvak. Katya Budanova, her best fighting friend, was killed. In addition, in front of 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 the IL-2 to the front line on July 16, 1943, 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 Junker and, with the support of her wingman, shot down a Me-109. And again the wound. When asked to go to the hospital, she categorically refused: "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" of 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 a reputation 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 went 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, 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, but for many years she 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 the Political Directorate of the 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 information 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 Personnel Directorate 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."

Thus, the last white spot in the fate of Lily was eliminated. After that, the idea of ​​conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to L.V. Litvyak and her posthumous promotion went to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 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 No. 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.

This story is about one of the most outstanding female pilots - Lydia Litvyak. The name of this brave pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, is entered in the Guinness Book of Records. Lydia Litvyak is the most productive Soviet female pilot of the Second World War.

She shot down 14 planes and a spotter balloon. At the same time, Lydia Litvyak fought for only eight months. During this time, she flew 168 combat missions and conducted 89 air battles. In less than 22 years, she died in battle

Girl and sky

Lydia Litvyak was born in 1921 in Moscow, on August 18, on the All-Union Aviation Day. Fascinated by airplanes since childhood, the girl was incredibly proud of this fact. At the age of 14, she enrolled in the Chkalov Central Aero Club, and a year later she made her first independent flight. Then she graduated from the Kherson Flying School, became an instructor pilot and before the start of the war managed to put 45 cadets on the wing.
And in 1937 Lydia's father was arrested as an "enemy of the people" and shot.

Fighter pilot

With the beginning of World War II, 19-year-old, in love with the sky, Lydia signed up as a volunteer pilot. But only a year later, in September 1942, the girl made her first combat mission as part of the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment. It was one of three female aviation regiments under the leadership of the pilot Marina Raskova, which were formed by order of Stalin due to the large losses of career pilots.

Pilots of the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
Less than a year later, on February 23, 1943, Lydia Litvyak received one of her first military awards - the Order of the Red Star. By that time, the fuselage of her faithful Yak-1 was decorated with eight bright red stars (the symbol of eight aerial victories) and a snow-white lily - a special sign of a pilot who is allowed "free hunting" - a special type of combat operations in which a fighter does not carry out a specific mission to cover bombers, but flies, tracking down enemy aircraft and "hunting" them.

Air ace

In one of the first sorties over Stalingrad, Lydia managed to shoot down two enemy aircraft - a Ju-88 bomber and a Bf-109 fighter. The Bf-109 pilot was a German baron, Knight's Cross, who won 30 air victories. The German was an experienced pilot and fought to the last. But in the end, his car burst into flames from a shell fired by Lydia and began to fall rapidly. The pilot jumped out with a parachute and was taken prisoner. During interrogation, he asked to show him the one who knocked him down. Seeing a twenty-year-old girl, the German ace flew into a rage: “Are you laughing at me? I am a pilot who shot down over thirty planes. I am a Knight's Cross! Can't be that girl run over me! That pilot fought masterfully. " Then Lydia with gestures showed the details of the battle known only to two of them, he changed in his face, took off the gold watch from his hand and handed it to her, the pilot who defeated him ...
It was there that Lydia Litvyak received the nickname "White Lily of Stalingrad", and "Lilia" became her radio call sign.

"Different people"

Co-workers said that the sky literally transformed Litvyak: the steering wheel in his hands changed her beyond recognition and seemed to divide her into two completely different people.
"Earthly" Lydia was a silent, modest beauty with blond hair, pigtails and blue eyes. She loved to read books and dress gracefully: she wore unusual things - a white comforter, a sleeveless jacket turned upside down, chrome boots, a collar for a flight uniform made of fur cut from high fur boots - and walked with a special gait, causing quiet delight among those around her. At the same time, the blonde girl was very restrained in the enthusiastic looks and words of her fellow soldiers, and, which especially appealed to the pilots, she did not give preference to anyone.
"Heavenly" Lydia was distinguished by decisiveness, composure and endurance: she "knew how to see the air," as her commander said. Her special handwriting in piloting was compared with Chkalov's, admired for her skill and marveled at her desperate courage.

The pilot of the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Junior Lieutenant Lydia Litvyak (1921-1943) after a sortie on the wing of his Yak-1B fighter.
On March 22, in the Rostov-on-Don area, Lydia participated in the interception of a group of German bombers. During the battle, she managed to shoot down one plane. And then Lydia noticed flying Messerschmitts in the sky. Seeing the six Bf-109, the girl entered into an unequal battle with them, letting her comrades complete the task assigned to them. During the battle, Lydia was seriously wounded in the leg, but managed to bring the damaged plane to the airfield. After reporting on the successful completion of the mission and two downed enemy aircraft, the girl lost consciousness. According to colleagues, her plane resembled a colander. The pilot was credited with extraordinary luck. Once during the battle, Litvyak's plane was shot down, and she was forced to land on the territory occupied by the enemy. When German soldiers tried to take the girl prisoner, one of the attack pilots came to her aid: with machine gun fire, he forced the Germans to lie down, and he himself landed and took Litvyak on board.

Love and friendship

At the beginning of 1943, Lydia Litvyak was transferred to the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment and assigned to lead the squadron commander Alexei Solomatin (the lead pilot should go on the attack, and the wingman should cover him). After several months of joint flights, in April of the same year, literally in between battles, the couple signed.
All this time, the girl was friends and fought with the pilot Katya Budanova, with whom fate brought her back at the beginning combat path- in the women's air regiment of Raskova - and did not part. Since then, they have always served together and have been best friends.

Fatal year

On May 21, 1943, her husband, Hero of the Soviet Union Aleksey Solomatin, died in a plane crash that took place right in front of her comrades and in front of Lydia herself.
And less than a month later, Lydia's best friend Katya Budanova received many wounds and died without regaining consciousness. On July 18, in a battle with German fighters, Litvyak and Budanova were shot down. Litvyak managed to jump out with a parachute, and Budanova died.
This fateful year was also the last for the White Lily herself. On August 1, 1943, Litvyak made her last flight. At the end of July, there were terrible battles to break through the German defense at the turn of the Mius River, which closed the road to Donbass. Fighting on the ground was accompanied by a stubborn struggle for air superiority. Lydia Litvyak made four sorties, during which she personally shot down two enemy aircraft and one more in the group. She did not return from the fourth flight. Six "Yaks" entered the battle with a group of 30 Ju-88 bombers and 12 Bf-109 fighters, and a deadly whirlwind ensued. Lydia's plane was hit by a German fighter ... In two weeks Lydia Litvyak was to be 22 years old.
A search for her was urgently organized. However, neither the pilot nor her plane could be found. Lydia Litvyak was posthumously nominated by the command of the regiment to the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. The front newspaper "Red Banner" of March 7, 1944 wrote about her as a fearless falcon, a pilot who was known to all the soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

A cruel joke of fate

However, soon one of the previously shot down pilots returned from enemy territory. He reported that he had heard the locals say that once our fighter had landed on the road near the village of Marinovka. The pilot was a blond girl. A car with German soldiers drove up to the plane, and the girl left with them.
Most of the aviators did not believe the rumor, but the shadow of suspicion had already gone beyond the regiment and reached higher headquarters. The command, having shown "caution", did not approve Litvyak's submission to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, confining itself to the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.
Once, at the moment of the revelation, Lydia said to her friend: “Most of all I am afraid of disappearing without a trace. Anything but this. " There were good reasons for such concern. Lida's father was arrested and shot as an "enemy of the people" in 1937. The girl perfectly understood what it meant to her, the daughter of the repressed, to go missing. Nobody and nothing will save her good name. Fate played with her cruel joke, having prepared just such a fate.

Fight, seek, find and don't give up

But they were looking for Lydia, looking for a long time and persistently. Caring fans organized their own investigations. In 1967, in the city of Krasny Luch, Luhansk region, school teacher Valentina Ivanovna Vashchenko founded a search detachment of the RVS (intelligence officers of military glory). While in the area of ​​the Kozhevnya farm, the guys learned that in the summer of 1943, a Soviet fighter had fallen on its outskirts. The pilot, wounded in the head, was a girl. She was buried in the village of Dmitrievka, Shakhtyorsky district, in a mass grave. The study of the remains made it possible to find out that the deceased was mortally wounded in the frontal part of the head. Further investigation established that it could only have been Lydia Litvyak. The girl was identified by two white pigtails.
So 45 years after the death of the pilot, in 1988, a record appeared in the personal file of Lydia Litvyak: "She died while performing a combat mission." And in 1990, Lydia was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lydia Litvyak is called the most productive female pilot during the Second World War. As a fighter pilot, she shot down many enemy planes, but one day she herself did not return from another flight ... She was less than 22 years old.

Goddess of Aviation

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak was born in Moscow on August 18, 1921, on the All-Union Aviation Day. This fact left an imprint on her entire future life. Lilya (as her relatives called her) from childhood was fond of airplanes. At the age of 14, she began to study at the Chkalov Central Aero Club and at 15 she already made her first independent flight. Then there was the Kherson Aviation School of Pilot Instructors. After graduation, Lilya went to work at the Kalinin flying club, where she personally trained 45 cadets.

With the outbreak of war, Litvyak asked to volunteer for the front. But only in 1942, she made her first combat sortie on a Yak-1 fighter as part of the 586th IAP. It was one of the three "women's air regiments" under the leadership of Marina Raskova, formed on the personal orders of Stalin. To get there, Litvyak had to go for a trick - to ascribe to himself the missing 100 flight hours.

In September, she was transferred to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 287th Fighter Aviation Division. In the same month, she shot down a Me-109 fighter over Stalingrad. The pilot, a German baron, was taken prisoner. He turned out to be a Knight's Cross, an experienced pilot with 30 aerial victories. The prisoner was unspeakably surprised when he learned that he had been hit by a young Russian girl. According to legend, the German took off combat awards and handed it to the brave pilot ...

Lily and the stars

On the fuselage of the Litvyak plane, at her request, a white lily was painted. "White Lily-44" (according to the aircraft's tail number) became her radio call sign. And from now on they began to call it "The White Lily of Stalingrad". Soon Lydia was transferred to the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, where the best pilots served, then to the 296th IAP.

One day her own plane was hit and she had to land in German-occupied territory. She miraculously escaped captivity: one of the Ikov assault pilots opened fire on the Nazis, and when they lay down, hiding from the shelling, he went down to the ground and took the girl aboard.

On February 23, 1943, Lydia Litvyak was awarded the Order of the Red Star for military service. By that time, on the fuselage of her "Yak", besides a white lily, there were eight bright red stars - according to the number of aircraft shot down in battles.

On March 22, in the Rostov-on-Don area, during a group battle with German bombers, Lydia was seriously wounded in the leg, but still managed to land the damaged plane. From the hospital she was sent home to complete treatment, but a week later she returned to the regiment. She flew in tandem with the squadron commander Alexei Solomatin, covering him during attacks. A feeling arose between the comrades in arms, and in April 43, Lydia and Alexei signed.

In May 43, Litvyak shot down several more enemy aircraft and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. But fate prepared two heavy blows for her at once. On May 21, her husband, Aleksey Solomatin, was killed in battle. And on July 18 - the best friend Ekaterina Budanova.

But there was no time to grieve. In late July - early August, 43rd Litvyak had to take part in heavy battles to break through the German defenses on the Mius River. On August 1, Lydia flew as many as four sorties. During the fourth sortie, her plane was hit by a German fighter, but did not immediately fall to the ground, but disappeared into the clouds ...

"Killed while doing ..."

After the war, former fellow soldiers tried to find traces of Lydia Litvyak. It turned out that the wreckage of a fighter with a white lily on the fuselage had been found by local residents and scrapped. Later it became known that the remains of an unknown pilot were found near the Kozhevnya farm by local boys. On July 29, 1969, they were buried in a mass grave in the village of Dmitrovka, Shakhtyorsky district, Donetsk region. In 1971, the search team of the 1st school of the city of Krasny Luch managed to establish the name of the pilot - Lydia Litvyak.

It is difficult to imagine a more masculine business than war. However, there are always women who can break the prohibition created by nature itself and stand up to defend the Motherland on an equal basis with men. Lydia Litvyak is officially considered the most prolific female pilot of the Second World War. For just one bright year, she was a hero glorified by the Soviet press, and then for many decades her name was erased from history. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Gold Star medal were awarded to Lydia only in 1990.

On August 18, 1921, a daughter was born into the family of the railway worker Vladimir Litvyak. For some reason, the girl did not really like the name Lida, and since childhood she insisted that her name should not be Lydia, but Lilia. However, it certainly could not be equated with a delicate plant. Aviation has become the girl's main hobby since early childhood. At the age of fourteen, she enrolled in the flying club, and a year later, having overtaken most of the guys, she already made her first solo flight.

Further, historians find it difficult to say exactly why steep "zigzags" begin in the fate of Lydia. First, she enrolls in geology courses and goes on an expedition to the Far North, and then enters the aviation instructor pilot school, but not in Moscow, but in distant Kherson. According to some reports, just at this time, in 1937, Lida's father, Vladimir Leontyevich, was repressed, but there is no documentary evidence of this fact left.

After graduation flight school Lydia Litvyak moves to Kalinin (today - Tver) and starts working at the Kalinin flying club. According to the widespread version, she was an instructor pilot and managed to train 45 cadets a few years before the war. However, this fact does not "fit" well with the fact that later, in order to get to the front, she was forced to ascribe 100 flight hours to herself. In any case, by 1941 the 22-year-old girl was an experienced pilot and from the very first days of the war she began to ask for the front. However, in the first months of battles, there were no female flight military units in our country yet.

In fact, at that time they were not in any army in the world. By the way, even by the end of the war, when the necessity forced all the participants to attract female pilots to the service, in Great Britain and the USA they served in auxiliary transport units, and the famous "Valkyries of the Luftwaffe" mainly flew in bombers or were testers. Our women fighters of the Second World War, including Lydia Litvyak, still remain a unique fact of true heroism and dedication.

By the fall of 1941, the Soviet command made a decision to create a female military aviation. This was mainly done by the efforts of the famous female pilot, the first woman - Hero of the Soviet Union Marina Raskova. October 10, 1941 Lydia Litvyak enlisted in the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment.

In the spring and summer of 1942, Lydia Litvyak, serving in the regiment, patrols the skies over the Saratov region, but on September 10, 1942, eight pilots from the first squadron of the air regiment were transferred to the male fighter air division - to Stalingrad. It is there that the glorious combat path of the winged "White Lily" begins. There is a legend that it was then that Lydia asked to paint a white lily on the fuselage of her plane (“Lily” was her call sign as well), but this detail is not visible in any photograph of those years, and the memories of contemporaries of this fact have not been preserved. However, in the people's memory, the blond young pilot really remained under this beautiful nickname.

Photo by L.V. Litvyak in the newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda"

On September 13, during the second sortie over Stalingrad, Lydia shot down a Ju-88 bomber and a Me-109 fighter. The Me-109 pilot turned out to be a German baron, who won 30 air victories, a knight's cross. On September 27, in an air battle from a distance of 30 meters, she hit the Ju-88. Then, together with Raisa Belyaeva, she shot down Me-109. Soon she was transferred to the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment - a kind of team of the best pilots. In total, 11 aerial victories will be counted for the Russian pilot.

One of the striking feats of Lydia was the shot down of an enemy balloon. This important spotter of fire was carefully covered by anti-aircraft guns. To deal with it, Lydia went deep into the rear of the enemy and, going against the sun, destroyed the aircraft. For this victory, she received the Order of the Red Banner. Several times she was wounded, but she always returned to service, as soon as she got to her feet.

Lydia also got a short personal happiness. In March 1943, she married a fellow soldier, Captain Alexei Solomatin, with whom she fought in a bundle (he is the leader, she is the slave). Only two months later, Alexei died, and not during a combat mission, but during a training battle:

“On that day, together with Lilia Litvyak, we were at the airfield. We sat side by side on the plane of the plane. We watched the training air "battle" that Aleksey Solomatin fought with a young pilot who had recently arrived at the unit. Over our heads were performed complex shapes... Suddenly one of the planes entered a steep dive and with every second began to approach the ground. Explosion! Everyone rushed to the crash site. Lily and I immediately sat down in the lorry, which was racing in that direction. We were sure that the young pilot had crashed. But it turned out that Alexey Solomatin died. It is difficult to convey how desperate Lilya was ... The command offered her a vacation, but she refused. "I will fight!" - repeated Lilya ... After the death of Alexei, with even greater ferocity began to fly out on combat missions. "(from the memoirs of Inna Passportnikova, fellow soldier L. Litvyak)

At the end of July 1943, there were heavy battles to break through the German defense on the line of the Mius River, which closed the road to Donbass. Military aviation supported the ground forces of our army. The day of August 1 turned out to be especially difficult. In one day, Lydia Litvyak made 4 sorties. On that day alone, she shot down two enemy planes personally and one in a group. The last flight was her last.

It is sad that the death of the heroic aviator has become a pretext for gossip and unverified accusations. Since her plane simply did not return, there were rumors that Lydia was taken prisoner by the Germans "traveling with the Nazis in a car." Because of this, L. Litvyak's nomination for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was postponed. For many years this name was simply forgotten "until the details of the case were clarified." Due to this confluence of circumstances, in the first post-war years the name of the "White Lily of Stalingrad" was not immortalized. Until now, there are large gaps in the biography of Lydia, since historians began to study her fate much later.

In the 60s, by the efforts of schoolchildren-search engines, the remains of Lydia were found in a mass grave in the village of Dmitrovka in the Shakhtyorsky district of the Donetsk region. Thus, thanks to the work of the detachment of the 1st school of the city of Krasny Luch, the fate of the legendary pilot became a little clearer, although we will probably never know about her last minutes of life. In May 1990, the Gold Star medal No. 11616 was transferred for safekeeping to the relatives of the deceased heroine.