Nadezhda Popova, WWII ‘Night Witch,’ Dies at 91

Nadezhda Popova  has died at the age of 91. She was a female military aviator of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces known as "Night Witches" because the whooshing noise their plywood and canvas biplanes made reminded the Germans of the sound of a witch’s broomstick.. The regiment flew bombing missions against the German military from 1942 to the end of the war.  It flew over 23,000 sorties and is said to have dropped 23,000 tons of bombs. Any German pilot who downed a “witch” was awarded an Iron Cross. Each pilot flew over 800 missions and thirty of its members died in combat.



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