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Show RED WOMEN FLYERS ARE BRILLIANT PILOTS i Some of Their Exploits Ar Almost Unbelievable. WASHINGTON. According to the Leatherneck, a marine magazine, Russian women are doing "brilliant" work as combat fliers. There is one all-woman air regiment of night bomber pilots, the Leatherneck said. The magazine stated seven Ru sian women fighting pilots held the rating of ace, and that "some of the exploits of these girls are almost unbelievable." Vera Lomako, 21, it was said, shot down her first Nazi plane a montb before she had a baby, and her second sec-ond two months after the infant was born. Another, Capt. Nina Russakova, 28, was reported to be the wife of Major Dikolayev, and the two were ,said to be thought the "first husband hus-band and wife fighter team to fly in combat." The night bomber group, the Leatherneck said, was commanded !by Lt. Col. Evdokia Bershonskaya, 31, and even the ground crews in the units are all women. These fliers reputedly made 10,538 sorties ; against 800 Nazi objectives during a Russian offensive, with 136 girls ; winning decorations for valor under 'fire. The Leatherneck said that at the 1 beginning of the war the Russians attempted to discourage women 'from combat flying, but that the girls wouldn't take "no" for an an-! an-! swer. "These Russian girls are no ama-lons," ama-lons," the magazine said. "Picture ihow them to look like a group of American girls -of the same age. Many of them are married to pilots flying on different fronts and some are fighting to avenge husbands who have been killed in air battles. But many of them are flying in combat because they refused to take a back eaJLwhn war came". - I |