The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment was one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by
Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War after she convinced Joseph Stalin to allow her to form three all-female aviation regiments. The regiment was originally equipped with
Yakovlev Yak-1 aircraft and later acquired
Yak-7 and
Yak-9 aircraft in 1943. Sorties were conducted to patrol over military installations and carry out defensive missions. While the regiment was intended to be an all-female regiment it became coed with a preponderance of females after regimental commander
Tamara Kazarinova transferred to another unit in October 1942 and was replaced by a man, Aleksander Gridnev. The regiment yielded two female
flying aces,
Lydia Litvyak and
Yekaterina Budanova, who were posthumously awarded the titles Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Russian Federation respectively.[1][2][3]
Timeline and operations
Twenty-five women who had joined the regiment graduated from Yak-1 flight courses on 9 December 1941. The regiment was managed by
Yevgeniya Prokhorova until Tamara Kazarinova arrived to oversee the regiment's first combat operation, but Prokhorova remained the official regiment commander until March.[4][5]
23 February 1942 – the regiment's first combat operation took place when they were assigned to patrol a railway bridge in
Saratov to protect it from German bombers.
22 October 1942 – the unit was placed under the command of Aleksandr Gridnev after the death of Valeriya Khomyakova in suspicious circumstances and relocated to Voronezh.
February to September 1943 – the regiment provided air defense to an aircraft production facility in Voronezh as well as providing air support to ground troops transferring to the
Steppe Front, shooting down seven
Junkers Ju 88 and three
Focke-Wulf 190s in the process; four of the Ju 88 shot down during that time were shot down on 19 March 1943 when a group of 42 bombers approached the facility but turned around after having heavy anti-aircraft fire from
Raisa Surnachevskaya and Tamara Pamyatnykh followed by an attempted
aerial ramming.
September to November 1943 – the unit saw heavy combat in the battle of the
Kursk Bulge; all of the structures the regiment was assigned to defend survived German bombing attempts.
November 1943 to March 1944 – the unit was based in Kiev to protect Soviet soldiers
crossing the Dnieper, shooting down six enemy aircraft in the process.
March to September 1944 – the regiment saw fifteen aerial battles (seven during the day and eight at night) while protecting portions of a railroad near Zhitomir, shooting down two Ju 88 and one
Heinkel-177.
September 1944 to February 1945 – the regiment was assigned to protecting industrial cities, bridges, and railway junctions in the Dniester area of the
2nd Ukrainian Front.
February to July 1945 – the regiment was relocated to Hungary and fought over Budapest near the Danube and industrialized areas.
20 July 1945 – All enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the regiment were demobilized. Commissioned officers were relocated to Vienna and later to Romania.
November 1945 – All female officers and most male officers were demobilized; Aleksander Gridnev, the regimental commander, transferred to the 39th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.
In total the unit executed 2,073 combat sorties, fought directly in 125 air battles, and shot down 19 enemy aircraft.
^Stockton, Harold; Tyminski, Dariusz; Bergström, Christer (1998-12-09).
"Marina Raskova and Soviet Female Pilots". WWII Ace Stories (in Polish). Elknet.pl. Archived from
the original on 2011-12-13. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
^Noggle, Anne (1994). A Dance With Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. Texas A&M University Press. p. 157.
ISBN9781585441778.
^Noggle, Anne (1994). A dance with death : Soviet airwomen in World War II (1st ed.). College Station: Texas A & M University Press.
ISBN9781585441778.
OCLC29878340.