Mussolini

In October 1941 she joined the Soviet military and participated in battles on the Eastern Front starting in May 1942 after graduating from her military navigation courses. She initially served as a navigator but went on to become a pilot,[4] after which she was promoted to the position of promoted flight commander. Her regiment was officially designated the 588th Night Bomber Regiment until it was renamed in 1943 to the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. During the war she participated in bombing campaigns on the Southern, Caucasian, and Belorussian fronts as well as in Berlin, Crimea, Kerch, Kolberg, Kuban, Mlavsko-Elbing, Mogilev, and Osoweic. In addition to bombing enemy targets she flew missions to resupply the Red Army. By November 1944 she had dropped 89 tons of bombs on targets, destroyed three crossing points, a searchlight, three artillery batteries, and started 177 fires. Upon the end of the war she flew 968 missions, during which she had encountered many close-calls with death. For completing her first 773 sorties she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 23 February 1945.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeniya_Zhigulenko

Yevgeniya Zhigulenko, 1944

Nadezhda Vasilyevna Popova, (Nadia Popova), Soviet pilot (born Dec. 27, 1921, Shabanovka [now Dolgoye], Russia—died July 8, 2013, Moscow, Russia), stealthily navigated rickety biplanes (mostly former crop dusters) on nocturnal bombing missions against German invaders during World War II. Popova and the other members of the 588th Night Bomber (later the 46th Guards) Regiment—one of three units composed entirely of women volunteers in their late teens and early 20s—had been barred from combat until Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin issued an order to establish the women’s air force units. Wearing hand-me-down men’s uniforms and consulting only maps and compasses for direction, the lethal female combatants, dubbed “Night Witches” by the enemy, terrorized German encampments in three-plane formations, dropping more than 23,000 tons of bombs over the course of 30,000 missions. Like many other women in the late 1930s, Popova became enchanted with aviation at a young age; she joined a flying club when she was 15 and later became a flight instructor. Her decision to enlist as a bomber pilot stemmed partly from the loss of her brother, who was killed in the line of duty. After the war Popova remained in aviation and earned the rank of lieutenant colonel. She was named Hero of the Soviet Union and was awarded the Gold Star, the Order of Lenin, and the Order of the Red Star (three times).

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