About Lydia Litvyak
Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (Russian: Лидия Владимировна Литвяк; 18 August 1921 – 1 August 1943), also known as Lilya, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Historians' estimates for her total victories range from thirteen to fourteen solo victories and four to five shared kills in her 66 combat sorties. In about two years of operations, she was the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first of two female fighter pilots who have earned the title of fighter ace and the holder of the record for the greatest number of kills by a female fighter pilot. She was shot down near Orel during the Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German aircraft. == Early life == Lydia Litvyak was born in Moscow into a Russian family. Her mother Anna Vasilievna Litvyak was a shop assistant; her father Vladimir Leontievich Litvyak (1892–1937) worked as a railwayman, train driver and clerk. During the Great Purge, her father was arrested as an "enemy of the people" and disappeared. Lydia became interested in aviation at an early age. At 14, she enrolled in a flying club. She performed her first solo flight at 15, and later graduated from the Kherson military flying school. She became a flight instructor at Kalinin Airclub, and by the time the German–Soviet war broke out, had already trained 45 pilots.
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