Natalya Myeklin

Natalya Myeklin ( _ru. "Меклин, Наталия Федоровна") was a much decorated World War II combat pilot in one of the three women-only Russian air regiments nicknamed the 'Night Witches' by their German opponents.

She was born on September 8, 1922, in Lubny, Ukraine. In 1940 she joined the glider school at the "Kiev Young Pioneer Palace". When she was 19, in 1942 she joined the Night Witches, piloting a Polikarpov Po-2 light bomber, and by the end of the war had flown 980 night missions. =

After the war she worked as a translator before retiring. She became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers.

Awards and honors

*Hero of the Soviet Union
*Order of Lenin
*Order of the Red Star with sign of Honour
*Two Order of the Patriotic War
*Three Order of the Red Banner