Many Soviet women and girls served in the Air Force of the USSR, serving with the Voyenno-Vozdushniye Sily (Air Forces, in Russian). In 1942, three air regiments were formed from female volunteers:
- The 586th Women's Fighter Regiment (initially equipped with Yakovlyev YaK-1s and later YaK-7Bs)
- The 587th Women's Day Bomber Regiment (flying Petlyakov Pe-2 2-engined bombers)
- The 588th Women's Night Bomber Regiment, the famous "Night Witches" (flying Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes)
Many other women also served integrated with men with other aviation units. They also served flying and as gunners in the famous Il-2 and Il-2M3 Shturmovik tank busters, the "Flying Bathtub".
Thousands of female aviators won orders and medals. 29 won titles of Hero of the Soviet Union. 23 of these went to the Night Witches.
Perhaps the most famous of Soviet female World War II era aviators was Lilya (Lidiya) Vladimirovna Litvyak, aka the White Rose of Stalingrad.
She had 12 personal kills and three shared. She died in action near Orel after having survived going down behind enemy lines twice.