That's the first thing that came to my mind after reading the title.
It may seem a joke but you actually can learn history with Sabaton.
Stevvo [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Meanwhile, the B-29 was under development in the US.
Built almost entirely by women, men refused to fly it citing safety concerns.
So Paul Tibbets, (who went on to drop Little Boy on Hiroshima) taught a crew of women to fly the aircraft.
The logic being; if women can fly it safely, then surely men can too.
pjmlp [3 hidden]5 mins ago
I think the logic was more like a ego thing, like it cannot be that they can do it and we not, as seen in many man first cultures.
derektank [3 hidden]5 mins ago
In the US and the UK, members of the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) and the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) numbered in the tens of thousands, where they served as switchboard operators, air traffic controllers, and deployed barrage balloons. They occasionally got close to combat, the UK’s Flying Nightingales who served as air-ambulance nurses, first flew into Normandy just a week after D-Day to evacuate servicemembers injured during the initial assault. Both countries also employed many female aviators as training and cargo pilots, but they were almost all civilian employees of the armed forces unlike members of the WAAC and WAAF.
msabalau [3 hidden]5 mins ago
There is also a (very niche) TTRPG about the Night Witches by Jason Morningstar.
Love the premise but couldn't get the night phase to work when I ran a one-shot. It quickly became repetitive thought that may have been just my lack of experience with the game.
In the Apple TV series "Star City" the head of the KGB surveillance department is referred to as the "Night Witch"
gcanyon [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Shout out for Star City (and For All Mankind of course). The first ten minutes of FAM hit me unexpectedly hard, and the overall science fiction of both series is awesome.
archerx [3 hidden]5 mins ago
“An attack technique of the night bombers involved idling the engine near the target and gliding to the bomb-release point with only wind noise left to reveal their presence. Allegedly, German soldiers likened the sound to broomsticks and hence named the pilots "Night Witches".”
That’s an interesting story behind the name.
gustavus [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Sabaton, a swedish historical power metal band, also wrote a song about these women if you're into that kind of thing.
There's a pretty good depiction of them in David L. Robbins' Last Citadel.
stackghost [3 hidden]5 mins ago
In one of the IL-2 Sturmovik games you could fly the Polikarpov Po-2. It's pretty fun because it can maneuver effectively at a speed below the stall speed of most German fighters, so it's pretty much impossible for them to "saddle up" on you for a tracking shot.
As a result unless the AA batteries get you, or Fritz gets lucky lobbing a Mk 108 shell at you from long range, it's actually pretty safe and effective.
Onavo [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Interesting, seems like the Soviets love low stall speed planes. The AN-2 was also famous for having a vertical descent speed slower than parachutes at full back elevator deflection.
bebe9494i4 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
[flagged]
delichon [3 hidden]5 mins ago
From a military perspective, fertile women are also useful for producing more soldiers, logistics workers, and taxpayers, making males preferrable draftees where their warfighting qualities are similar.
Russia has suffered ~1.4M casualties in Ukraine. If around half of those were fertile women it would increase the rate of their current demographic collapse by several percentage points.
bebe9494i4 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Quite opposite, if Russia drafted women, there would be a baby boom in Russia.
Based on data from US military (professionals, not draftees), female service members are very likely to get pregnant, just before combat deployment.
So drafting women is a double win, it increases number of soldiers and increases fertility.
delichon [3 hidden]5 mins ago
So when they get pregnant at the last moment their training is wasted and a soldier is lost. And if they don't get pregnant with the right timing, they get fed into a meat grinder at the front? It seems suboptimal.
And if the survival of your culture depends on forcing women to breed on fear of death, better if it doesn't.
derektank [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Also, men are just physically stronger, which makes them more effective as infantry forces. The advent of mechanical warfare and the creation of roles like pilot or sensor technician or satellite operator which don’t require physical strength have provided a lot more opportunities for women to serve effectively in conflict.
zulban [3 hidden]5 mins ago
No need to put down men to talk about how awesome this women's pilot team sounds.
HN.zip
Cast their spells, explosive violence
Russian night time flight perfected
Flawless vision, undetected
(Sabaton)
It may seem a joke but you actually can learn history with Sabaton.
So Paul Tibbets, (who went on to drop Little Boy on Hiroshima) taught a crew of women to fly the aircraft.
The logic being; if women can fly it safely, then surely men can too.
https://bullypulpitgames.com/products/night-witches
That’s an interesting story behind the name.
https://www.sabaton.net/discography/heroes/night-witches/
And if you are into all kinds of things
As a result unless the AA batteries get you, or Fritz gets lucky lobbing a Mk 108 shell at you from long range, it's actually pretty safe and effective.
Russia has suffered ~1.4M casualties in Ukraine. If around half of those were fertile women it would increase the rate of their current demographic collapse by several percentage points.
Based on data from US military (professionals, not draftees), female service members are very likely to get pregnant, just before combat deployment.
So drafting women is a double win, it increases number of soldiers and increases fertility.
And if the survival of your culture depends on forcing women to breed on fear of death, better if it doesn't.