Sources on Litviak in English



I will be providing detailed annotations on these sources in the future. For now, I have boldfaced the sources that are most reliable and accurate. Sources to be used with caution are so noted.

Bergström, Christer, Andrey Dikov, and Vladislav Antipov. Black Cross/Red Star: The Air War over the Eastern Front: Everything for Stalingrad. 4 vols. Vol. 3. Pacifica, CA: Pacifica Military History, 2006. [NOTE: Use with caution; relies on poor sources and contains errors and questionable information.]

Cottam, Kazimiera Jean. Soviet Airwomen in Combat in World War II. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower UP, 1983.
———. "Lily Litviak Blazed the Trail." Airforce (Canada) 13, no. 3 (1989): 2ff.
———, ed. In the Sky above the Front: A Collection of Memoirs of Soviet Air Women Participants in the Great Patriotic War. Manhattan, Kansas: Sunflower University Press, 1984.
———, ed. Women in Air War: The Eastern Front of World War II. Revised ed. Nepean, Ontario: New Military Publishing, 1997.

Crisci, M. G. Call Sign, White Lily: The Untold Story of a Beautiful Young Woman Who Became One of Russia's Most Decorated World War II Fighter Pilots. Carlsbad, CA: Orca Center Pub. Co., 2009. [NOTE: Use with caution; relies on poor sources, but generally avoids errors.]

Flerovsky, Alexei. "Women Flyers of Fighter Planes." Soviet Life, May 1975, 28-29.

Gordon, Yefim, and Dmitri i Khazanov. Soviet Air Power in World War II. Hinckley, England: Midland, 2008. [NOTE: Use with caution; no citations provided; contains errors.]

Greenwood, James R. "Russia's Female Fighter Pilots." Popular Aviation, Nov/Dec 1967, 9-13. [NOTE: Use with caution; contains many errors and questionable information.]

Krylova, Anna. Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Mellinger, George. Soviet Lend-Lease Fighter Aces of World War 2. Oxford: Osprey, 2006.

Meos, Edgar S. "Russian Women Fighter Pilots." Flight International, December 27, 1962 1962, 1019-1020.

Milanetti, Gian Piero. Soviet Airwomen of the Great Patriotic War. Rome: IBN/Crecy Publishing Limited, 2013. [NOTE: Use with caution; relies on poor sources and contains errors and questionable information.]

Myles, Bruce. Night Witches: The Untold Story of Soviet Women in Combat. London: Mainstream Publishing, 1981. [NOTE: Use with great caution; contains many errors and questionable information.]

Noggle, Anne. A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1994.

Pennington, Reina. "Wings, Women and War." Air & Space/Smithsonian, Dec/Jan 1993-94, 74-85.
———. "Stalin’s Falcons: The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment." MINERVA: Quarterly Report on Women and the Military XVIII, no. 3-4 (2000): 76-108.
———. Wings, Women, & War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. Edited by Theodore Wilson. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2001.
———. "Women and the Battle of Stalingrad." In Russia: War, Peace and Diplomacy - Essays in Honour of John Erickson, edited by Mark Erickson and Ljubica Erickson, 169-211. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005.
———. "Not Just Night Witches." Air Force Magazine, October 2014, 58-62. Downloadable with permission of Air Force magazine; Click for PDF.
———, ed. Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women. 2 vols. Vol. 1. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.

Polak, Tomas, and Christopher Shores. Stalin's Falcons: The Aces of the Red Star, a Tribute to the Notable Fighters Pilots of the Soviet Air Forces, 1918-1953. London: Grub Street, 1999.

Seidl, Hans D. Stalin's Eagles: An Illustrated Study of the Soviet Aces of World War II and Korea. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 1998.

"Soviet Women in the Great Patriotic War." Soviet Military Review, March 1975, 42-45.

Stafper, Hans-Heiri. Yak Fighters in Action. New York: Squadron/Signal, 1986.

Yenne, Bill. The White Rose of Stalingrad the Real-Life Adventure of Lidiya Vladimirovna Litvyak, the Highest Scoring Female Air Ace of All Time: Osprey Pub Co, 2013.

Zabavskaia, Liudmila. "Women Fighter Pilots." Soviet Military Review, March 1977, 61-62.