Night Witch’s Archive.

Unique archive concerning Soviet female military aviator with original pilot's flying logbook.

This is an archive of a senior lieutenant Galina Burdina-Ermak (1919-after 2007?), who served at the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, one of the three Soviet women's aviation regiments founded by Marina Raskova at the start of the Second World War.
Initially women were barred from combat. However, Joseph Stalin issued an order to deploy three women's air force units on 8 October 1941. These Soviet airwomen are credited with being the first of their sex to serve in combat. The 586th Fighter Regiment was the first of the regiments to become operational in April, 1942. The unit mission was not to hunt enemy aircrafts but to guard special targets from destruction. Originally there were two squadrons of ten aircraft each, manned only by women pilots.
Galina Burdina studied at the civil aviation pilot school in Ulyanovsk and later worked as a pilot instructor and trained military pilots. At the begging of WWII she joined the regiment and became a night fighter. She delivered a very urgent message to the Stalingrad front during the battle and participated in the Second Battle of Kiev (1943) and Budapest Offensive (1945). The pilot shot down 3 enemy aircraft. Burdina was awarded the Order of the Red Star (February 1943) and the Order of the Red Banner (April 1944). After the war she returned to a pilot school and taught flying to cadets and flew in civil aviation for Aeroflot for 15 years.
The archive includes:
1. Pilot's flying logbook. – 'Restricted'.
Moskva, [1941-1945].
8vo landscape, 189, [2] pp. (112 pp. with handwritten text).
In original hardcover. With wax seal displaying the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment symbols.
In good condition, stained, wears at the cover, small losses of some page edges.
Used to correctly document all flights and missions, this logbook grouping contains a total of approx. 2 000 flights (including training flights), between July 23, 1941 and September 25, 1945. She flew aircraft including Polikarpov Po-2, Yakovlev UT-2, Yakovlev Yak-7, Yakovlev Yak-1, Yakovlev Yak-9. The logbook also contains information about training results, emergency landing (July 8, 1942) and awarding.
2. Collection of photos.
[Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna], [1945-1946, 1990s?].
14 photos: 12mo (3 photos), 12mo landscape (2 photos), 32mo (3 photos), 32mo landscape (2 photos), 64mo (1 photo), 64mo landscape (3 photos).
In good condition, slight wear at the edges, tears, small loss of one photo edge, some photos are signed on the back side.
This collection includes wartime daily life photos with soldiers from Burdina's unit: pilot and commander of the squadron Tamara Pamyatnykh (reshoot from original photo), aircraft mechanic Elizaveta Terekhova, pilot Valentina Lisitsina and Vera Tikhomirova, etc.
Group photo from early 1990s depicted the following Night Witches (left to right): Tamara Pamyatnykh, senior pilot Zoya Pozhidayeva, chief of staff Alexandra Makunina and Galina Burdina.
3. The 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment. [Victory Day 30th Anniversary Edition].
N.p., [1975].
4to landscape, 49 leaves, ill.
In hardcover binding. Photocopy
In good condition, small stains to covers.
This hand-made album about the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, most likely, was a gift for friends who served in the same unit. It contains very rare photos (wartime and after the war; all signed), plans and brief regiment history. The author used photos from private collections and photos which were published in the collection of memoirs V Nebe Frontovom (Moscow, 1962) for this album.
4. Burdina's Manuscript Self Biography.
N.p., [1985].
4to, 4 leaves with handwritten text.
In good condition, folding, tears, wear at the edges.
5. Burdina's Documents:
- Work record book [Riga?, 1950-1976];
- Pilot's certificate [Moscow?, 1954-1959];
- Military ID [Moscow, 1968].
6. A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. Text and contemporary portraits by Anne Noggle. Introduction by Christine A. White.
Texas A&M University Press, [1994].
8vo, XIV, 318 pp., ill.
In publisher's hardcover and illustrated dustjacket.
Near very good condition.
The book includes stories about young women in combat: the 46th Guards Bomber Regiment, the 125th Guards Bomber Regiment and the 586th fighter regiment (interview with Galina Burdina preserved).