Lydia Litvyak at her plane
There, in Stalingrad, a memorable battle took place in her life, in which she shot down a German ace pilot from the Richthofen fighter division.
In that battle, Lydia Litvyak, together with her leader, met in a frontal attack with a link of German bombers. Frontal attack, as you know, is another test for a pilot. The most important thing here is not to turn away from the enemy, showing courage and endurance.
If we take the general statistics of such martial arts, then in most cases the nerves of the German, the so-called aces, could not stand it in the first place.
What, in fact, happened in that battle over Stalingrad.
When the Germans rushed to the sides, one was immediately hit by the leader. Another was shot down by Lydia Litvyak, and then another.
One of the pilots that Lydia shot down was taken prisoner. It turned out to be the captain of the German fighter division Richthofen.
At his request, he was shown the same Soviet pilot who shot him down.
By order of the commander of the unit, Lydia cheerfully entered the room and just as cheerfully reported: “Junior Lieutenant Litvyak has arrived!”
The German did not expect to see a fragile girl in the place of the Soviet ace pilot.
In his heart he said:
How? This girl? It can not be! That pilot fought masterfully. The real one was…
Well, when Lydia told all the details of the air battle, all doubts disappeared from the fascist, which made him completely sick.
