I’m reading Svetlana Alexievich’s astonishing oral history of Soviet women who fought in the Great Patriotic War and it is making me reconsider so many things about Night Witches. Here’s a sort of coda move for you:
The first time someone denies your lived experience after the war, roll minus medals.
On a 10+ you smile and nod your head and everything is fine.
On a 7-9 everything is fine, but choose one:
You minimize your accomplishments.
You play up the accomplishments of a male relative.
You change the subject to something other than the War.
On a miss you let them have it with the full force of a natural-born Soviet airwoman. Choose one and the GM chooses one:
You’ll never work in aviation again.
You’ll never have a position of authority again.
Your friends and family freeze you out.
Your neighbors view you with pity or suspicion or both.
Whatever the outcome, that’s how it is going to be for the next thirty years.
Oh yes.
I went to Boeing’s Museum of Flight on Saturday with a friend and I made sure that the Night Witches were represented in the WW2 room. They were, along with other women and other stories. It was really cool and I want to go back and read all the plaques.
Jesse Coombs they have a beautiful Po-2 in the collection, not sure if it remains on display.