The Night Witches - How the Soviet 588th Flew Canvas Biplanes to War in the Dark

The Night Witches were the pilots and crews of the Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment, an all-female unit that flew obsolete Polikarpov Po-2 canvas-and-plywood biplanes on night raids against German forces on the Eastern Front. Between 1942 and 1945 they flew more than 23,000 combat sorties, gliding silently over targets with their engines cut so the only warning was the hiss of wind through the wires. Twenty-three of them were named Hero of the Soviet Union, the country’s highest honor.

Who Were the Night Witches?

The name came from the Germans. When these biplanes glided in with their engines throttled back, the wind sighing over the fabric wings sounded like a broom sweeping across the sky. German troops began calling them Nachthexen - “Night Witches” - out of fear. The women took the insult and wore it as a badge of honor.

Behind the legend was a real military formation: the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, staffed entirely by women. Pilots, navigators, mechanics, and armorers were all female, most of them barely out of their teens. They were former students, factory workers, and schoolteachers, many of whom had learned to fly at local aeroclubs on weekends.

How the All-Female Regiment Was Formed

In 1941, Germany launched the largest land invasion in history against the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Air Force was being mauled. Thousands of young women were writing letters begging to fly and fight, only to be turned away at recruiting offices.

Those letters landed on the desk of Marina Raskova, a famous long-distance aviator often described as the Soviet Union’s answer to Amelia Earhart. Raskova took the appeals directly to Josef Stalin and secured approval to form not one but three all-female air regiments: a fighter regiment, a dive bomber regiment, and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment.

What Aircraft Did the Night Witches Fly?

They flew the Polikarpov Po-2, a 1920s-era two-seat biplane originally built as a basic trainer. It was made of wood and doped fabric, powered by a five-cylinder engine producing roughly 110 horsepower, with a top speed of only about 90 miles per hour in a dive - and a cruise far slower than that.

The aircraft carried no radio, no defensive guns (at first), no armor, and no parachutes in the early days - the weight was traded for a few extra pounds of bombs. Navigation gear was minimal: a compass, an altimeter, a stopwatch, a flashlight, a pencil, and a paper map on the navigator’s knee.

The open cockpit exposed crews to brutal cold on the Russian steppe, where winter temperatures dropped to 30 or 40 degrees below zero, freezing goggles, eyelashes, and hands to the controls.

Why an Obsolete Biplane Was So Effective

On paper the Po-2 was a death trap. In practice, its weaknesses became weapons.

It was too slow to shoot down easily. German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters had a stall speed higher than the Po-2’s top speed. To line up a shot, a German pilot had to slow his fighter to the edge of falling out of the sky - and would still overshoot the tiny biplane before he could fire.

It could operate from anywhere. The Po-2 landed slow enough to fly out of cow pastures, roads, and fields just behind the front line, and it could throttle back to almost nothing - the key to its signature attack.

How the Night Witches Flew Their Missions

Crews flew in groups of three, coming in high and quiet under cover of darkness. On the approach to a target - an ammunition dump, a fuel depot, a troop position - the pilot would cut the throttle to idle or shut the engine off entirely and glide.

With the engine silent, the only sound was the wind over the canvas. Bombs fell out of the dark with no warning roar - just a whisper, then the blast. The pilot would then fire the engine back to life and claw away into the night.

To beat German searchlight-and-flak teams, the Witches developed a courageous tactic. Two aircraft would deliberately fly into the searchlights, jinking and weaving to draw every light and gun onto themselves, while the third crew slipped through the dark to the target. Then they rotated - the bait became the bomber, and another crew took its turn dancing in the light.

How Many Missions Did They Fly?

The pace was relentless. Crews did not fly one mission a night - they flew many. On short summer nights a crew might fly 8 to 12 sorties; on long winter nights, record-holders flew as many as 18 missions in a single night.

Turnarounds were as short as five minutes. Ground crews - also all women - ran out to hang bombs by hand in the freezing dark, top off the fuel, and send the crews right back up, all night, every night. Bombs were carried on racks under the lower wings, a few hundred pounds at a time, with the regiment making up for the small payload through sheer repetition.

Notable Night Witches

Nadezhda Popova flew more than 850 missions. After one night raid she counted 42 bullet holes in her aircraft - in the wings, the map, her helmet, and her flying scarf - and flew again the next night. Decades later she said she still could not understand how she survived.

Marina Raskova, who started it all and commanded the dive bomber regiment, was killed in 1943 flying in bad weather. She was given the first state funeral of the entire war, and her ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.

The Legacy of the 588th

Over the course of the war the 588th flew more than 23,000 sorties in plywood biplanes, at night, most with no radio and no parachute. More than 30 of the women were killed. When the medals were finally awarded, 23 members were named Hero of the Soviet Union.

Their story is a reminder that the aircraft is only a tool. A cutting-edge fighter in timid hands accomplishes nothing, while an obsolete trainer flown with nerve and discipline became one of the most feared weapons on the Eastern Front. Same sky, same physics - lift, thrust, weight, and drag - but the courage to glide silently toward an enemy, and to go back up when a friend didn’t come home, is something no engineer can build into an airframe.

Key Takeaways

• The Night Witches were the all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Force, active from 1942 to 1945.
• They flew the obsolete Polikarpov Po-2 biplane - wood and fabric, ~110 hp, ~90 mph top speed, no radio, armor, or early parachutes.
• Their signature tactic was cutting the engine and gliding to the target; the wind over the wires reminded German troops of a witch’s broom, giving them their name.
• The regiment flew more than 23,000 sorties, sometimes up to 18 missions per crew in one night, with five-minute turnarounds.
• More than 30 were killed and 23 were named Hero of the Soviet Union; founder Marina Raskova received the war’s first state funeral, and ace Nadezhda Popova flew over 850 missions.