Over the past almost eighty years, none of the female aces have come close to such a number of combat kills. Except for Katerina Budanova — a fellow soldier and Lily's best friend. Katerina holds second place.
Their regiment flew on Yak-1 fighter aircrafts. It covered attack aircrafts, transporters and ground troops. They fought over Stalingrad, Rostov and Mius Front. They converged in battles with German fighters, bombers and scouts. They returned from combat sorties with empty tanks and holes, fell on enemy territory, burned and sat on their belly, saved friends, suffered losses, were injured and returned to duty again and again...
They won and became legends.
On the first of August 1943, Lilya Litvyak was almost 22 years old. That day her plane took off for the last time and remained in the sky forever...