Olga Golubeva was the navigator of the only female aviation regiment during World War II. From technician to regiment commander, only women and girls. The Germans nicknamed them "Night Witches" - as it turned out, the Soviet girls had a firm hand and an iron character.
Biography
Olya Golubeva was born in the Omsk region in 1923. Her father Timofei Vasilievich was an active partisan during the formation of Soviet power in Siberia and even organized an uprising against the White Guards. Since 1920, Timofei Vasilievich served in the judiciary. This activity involves a frequent change of residence. Therefore, Olga in childhood traveled almost all of Siberia. She went to first grade in 1931 in Omsk, and finished school in Tobolsk in 1941. Between them there were several more schools. But despite the frequent change of school groups, the girl studied well, the exact sciences were especially successful for her. Olga considered physics her favorite subject.
Olga was very helped by her cheerful character and sociability. She easily made contact with the guys and teachers. She participated in all possible circles where it was possible to show acting talent. Therefore, I chose a creative direction for admission.
A few days after the graduation, news came of the start of the war. Olga's first desire was to immediately go to the front. She even visited the draft board, but there she was sent home. So far, volunteer girls have not been taken to the front, and Olga left for Moscow. Soon she entered VGIK at the acting department, but she did not study there for long.
Olga Golubeva, circa 1942.
The front line advanced inland, the Soviet troops experienced enormous difficulties, including the number of soldiers. The institute began the evacuation process. Already on the train, leaving deep into the country, Olga, along with her friend Lidia Lavrentieva, at one of the stations saw the medical staff. Instantly the idea came to get there for any job. They were accepted by the orderlies.
The work was hard and almost around the clock. The matter was complicated by the nasty character of the train chief, who found fault with all the little things. Therefore, Olga and Lida, as soon as possible, transferred to Saratov, where the formation of the air regiment began.
The female regiment was assembled by the famous Soviet pilot Marina Raskova. Subsequently, it will be the famous 46th Guards Regiment of night bombers. Lavrentieva did not have any problems with the device - before the war she went through an aeroclub program. Golubeva did not have such knowledge, so she could be taken only by a master electrician at Po-2. For a year of working in this position, Olga provided 1, 750 sorties, and in none of them there were any complaints about her actions. Due to her fault, there were no failures of electrical equipment on airplanes.
However, the girl dreamed about something completely different. Since she did not have tenacity, in August 1943 she passed the exam for the navigator. She spent most of the training on her own, spending precious hours on it, designed for relaxation.
"Night Witches"
Only three training flights were needed for the girl - and now she was allowed to fly sorties. By the beginning of the fall of 1943, Golubev had already completed eight sorties. Golubeva’s courage and skill manifested from the very first tasks. For example, in one of the sorties, the Po-2 crew managed to bomb the fuel depot for a German tank regiment. This despite the fact that the bombing at that time was carried out almost blindly, and the crew was in no way protected from direct and fragmentation hits.
The Germans called the female air regiment "Night Witches." Po-2 was a slow-moving aircraft, which allowed flying over enemy positions at low altitude. And the pilots departed mainly at night. Hence the great damage that aviation did.
Olga’s nickname “Dragonfly” quickly appeared in the regiment, which stuck to her with the light hand of Colonel Pokoevoy, the division commander. Presenting the Blue Order of Glory of the III degree, he remarked: “It looks like a dragonfly, but how it comes to a fight is a lioness”
Olga Golubeva was one of the first to receive the Order of the Red Banner. And she was only nineteen. About 600 sorties she made during the whole war, and the last fell on May 4, 1945. The number of bombs dropped by her is close to 180 thousand tons.
Battle way regiment.
