Think about most of the teenagers you know. Are they readying themselves to complete their life work in the next few years? Are they are already focused and directed towards their goals in life? It would be completely unsurprising if in fact they were not. Most teenagers today have very little in common, at least in action, with some of the historical teenagers who have made their mark in the history books. Woman aviator Lydia Litvyak is the kind of teenager who today would seem quite rare. In fact, she was rare for her time as well. It was not like she had other female fighter pilots to look up to. While there were certainly Russian fighter pilots who were women during WWI, it was not exactly common. In fact, only two of these women earned the title of fighter ace during the war. So, who were these women? One of them was Lydia Litvyak. Lydia took an interest in flying early in life. She joined a flight club at the age of fourteen and had accomplished her first solo flight before she turned sixteen. She later attended a military flying school and spent time as a flight instructor at another flight club. It is said that by the time that the Russian-German war broke out that she had trained some 45 pilots. When the war broke out, Lydia headed straight to the enlistment office.
After being turned down due to lack of flight hours, Lydia headed off to another recruiting station, lied about her in-flight hours and headed off to boot camp. On only her second mission out she won her first aerial victory by bringing down a German Junkers Ju-88. She was the first woman ever to do so. About ten later minutes later she took down a highly decorated German pilot for her second victory. Overall Lydia had twelve solo kills and several assisted kills to her name. She was known to be somewhat of a free spirit but also a completely and intensely focused fighter. There were times when she flew four to five missions a day and was granted the status of "Free Hunter" which meant that she was able to fly into enemy airspace on her own initiative. One of her victories included taking down a German observation balloon, no easy task as it was (before she got there, at least) well protected. Lydia died at the age of 21. The exact circumstances of her death are unknown as she was last seen engaged in combat. She was posthumously awarded the highest honor possible: Hero of the Soviet Union.
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When it comes to female fighter pilots not many people can name the best, much less if you ask about Russian fighter pilots. When people learn the story of Lydia Litvyak, however, all that can change. This brave woman aviator flew over sixty missions to protect her beloved Motherland.
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