The two Yakovlev Yak-1 featured in the Wings of Glory WW2 airplane packs are the ones piloted by Lydia Litvjak, the White Rose of Stalingrad, one of the world's only two female fighter aces, and the Capitan Sergej Danilovich Lugansky, a master of Taran attack.
Lydia Vladimirovna Litvjak
Lydia Litvjak, the 'White Rose of Stalingrad'
The woman ace Lydia Vladimirovna Litvjak (nickname Lylia) was born in Moscow on August 18, 1921 and joined the Soviet Air Force on January 1942, at the all-woman 586 Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP). On August, her merits led her to the all-male squadron 286 IAD (Fighter Aviation Division), and following to the 437 IAP, a men's regiment fighting over Stalingrad.
In the 437th Fighter Regiment, Litvjak scored her very first two kills on 13 September, three days after her arrival and on her third mission to cover Stalingrad, becoming the very first woman fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
On January 1943, she was transferred to the 296 IAP, and in that unit she flew the "Yellow 44" Yak-1, scoring six victories before the plane was hit by escorting Me-109s on March 1943. Litvjak managed to make her home base and crash-landed, and remained in the hospital until May 1943. When she returned, 296 IAP had been renamed 73 GvIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment) and was equipped with a fleet of improved Yak-1b aircraft. Lilya's aircraft was "White 23", and she was repeatedly successful on escort missions and scored four more victories until August 1, 1943.
That day, while escorting a unit of Il-2 "Shturmovik"s returning from an attack, her Yak-1b was shot down by some fighters Bf 109. Her body and aircraft were never found during the war, and there were a controversial about her death. Soviet authorities suspected that she might have been captured. On 1979, remains of an unidentified woman pilot were found buried in Dmitrievka, Shakhterski district, and a commission of specialists examined it and concluded the remains were those of Litvjak. On May 1990, the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" was conferred her by the president Mikhail Gorbachov.
When she presumably died, Litvyak was 22 years old. There are some controversies also about Litvyak's victory score, with conflicting claims in different publications; none are official records. Most often, 11 individual kills and 3 team kills are quoted, but also 12 individual and 2 team, 8 individual and 4 team, or other combinations. Litvyak was called the "White Lily of Stalingrad" in Russia and the "White Rose of Stalingrad" in Europe and North America, after reports of her exploits were first published in English.
Among the airplanes Lylia shot down there was the Bf.109 G-2 di Erwin Maier, from the Jagdgeschwader 53, who refused to believe that he had been shot down by a woman until she described him each movement of the duel.
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