1st Sqn, 65th Gv.IAP, 4th Gv.IAD
War is no business for women. The fate of Klava (diminutive from 'Klavdia') Blinova - an aerobatics pilot prior to the War - is a good case in point. Superb flying skills is not enough in war. To win, one has to watch the enemy like a hawk, foresee his every move and use them to one's own advantage. This requires the fighter pilot's special skill and reaction. Two girls - Blinova and Lebedeva - used to be great aerobatics pilots. Their colleagues in other regiments used to tell stories about them, discribing them as aces with many downed enemy pilots under their belts. However, real war is much harder, especially the inferno of the Battle of Kursk where fate threw those young girls. Blinova's technician Gds. 1st Sgt. Boris Aleksandrovich Yudin recalls: 'Before flying her last sortie on 4 August, she kissed me and said she'll never come back from that hell....' At 14.00 hours 4 August eight Yak-1 led by 1st Sqn Commander Gds Captain A.I. Samokhvalov escorted 8 Ilyushin Il-2 shturmoviks. In the target area (vic. Oryol - Naryshkino) the group was attacked from different altitudes by 14 FW-190s. A fierce dogfight followed. Out of it went down a FW-190 shot down by Gds Lt. I.F. Sychov, the German fighter being piloted by Hauptmann Hans Gotz (sp.?), 1./JG 54 Green Heart, Companion of the Knight's Cross, 82 combat victories according to German stats). However, three Yak-1s were lost too. Klavdia Blinova managed to bail out of her burning fighter in the vicinity of Bolkhovo where she was taken prisoner of war. Fate happened to have mercy on this pretty girl. She succeeded in recruiting an antifascist German General who set up an escape from the prison for her and a group of other POWs (11.08.43), having taken them right to the FEBA (forward edge of the battle area). Upon returning, Klavdia passed the security check-up and was allowed to fly again but no one dared to send her in combat any more.
Pictures, artwork and text taken from 'Piston-engined Yak Fighters, 1941-45, Vol.2' by A.V. Stankov available here
Thanks to "Ivan the Bear" for the translation.