Description:
Unique archive concerning Soviet female military aviator with original pilot's flying logbook.This is an archive of a senior lieutenant Galina Burdina-Ermak (1919-after 2007?), who served at the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War.
Initially women were barred from combat. However, Joseph Stalin issued an order to deploy three women's air force units on 8 October 1941. These Soviet airwomen are credited with being the first of their sex to serve in combat. The 586th Fighter Regiment was the first of the regiments to become operational in April, 1942. The unit mission was not to hunt enemy aircrafts but to guard special targets from destruction. Originally there were two squadrons of ten aircraft each, manned only by women pilots.
Galina Burdina studied at the civil aviation pilot school in Ulyanovsk and later worked as a pilot instructor and trained military… Read More
