Imagine flying a flimsy, open-cockpit biplane at night, engine cut to glide silently over enemy camps, knowing a single hit could set the wooden frame ablaze.

A closer look

Imagine flying a flimsy, open-cockpit biplane at night, engine cut to glide silently over enemy camps, knowing a single hit could set the wooden frame ablaze. That was normal life for the 'Night Witches', an all-female Soviet bomber regiment in World War II. Their planes were so slow that German fighters had trouble shooting them down without stalling, and the women used that to their advantage, making multiple harassing bombing runs each night. They navigated by star and stopwatch, with no radios, in winter air that froze their faces. The nickname 'Night Witches' came from the whooshing sound of their gliding planes, which terrified soldiers on the ground. Despite their effectiveness, many of these pilots faced sexism during and after the war, receiving little recognition. Their story cuts through the usual heroic stereotypes: courage isn't just polished medals and big machines; sometimes it's exhausted women in repurposed crop-dusters refusing to stop.