Female Soviet Pilots in WWII

[ML]

Soviet Air Force officers, Rufina Gasheva (848 night combat missions) and Nataly Meklin (980 night combat missions) decorated as 'Heroes of the Soviet Union' for their service with the famed 'Night Witches' unit during World War II. They stand in front of their Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes. (Colourisation and research by Olga Shirnina from Russia).

WOW . . . who knew back in 1940s about the natural beauty of the SU gals?

Why did it take until 1980s that WM started pursuing them?

[Blighty]

WOW . . . who knew back in 1940s about the natural beauty of the SU gals?

Why did it take until 1980s that WM started pursuing them?

It actually started during the western military involvement in the Russian Civil War! I found a few articles on the internet about this subject.

A 1920 US Newspaper article ... 'Three hundred or more Russian “war brides,” who have come here from Siberia with their American soldier husbands' ... see
http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=THD19200616-01.2.91

A New Zealand Newspaper article about British Empire troops ... 'The evacuation from Archangel and Murmansk took place in September and October, 1919. Accompanying the troops were about 6000 Russian civilians, including war brides. From start to end of the northern Russia operation' ... see
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/role-kiwi-soldiers-russian-war

So it was happening 100 years ago!!

It would be interesting to check if this also happened during the Crimean War in the mid 1850s.

[msmob]

It would be interesting to check if this also happened during the Crimean War in the mid 1850s.

I seriously doubt it ..as it was a civil war and the US  / UK sided with the losing White Army and we WERE the enemy of Imperial Russia in Crimea

[Blighty]

Crimea has a complicated history and over the centuries has been governed by many different nations - e.g., Greece, Byzantine Empire, Genoa, Mongol Empire, Ottoman Empire, Russia, etc. It only became part of Russia during late C18, and so had a very diverse population at the time of the Crimean War. The 1897 census showed significant numbers of Germans, Jews, Bulgarians, Belarusians, Turks, Armenians, and Greeks amongst the Crimean population. Probably needs some research amongst the military records of UK and France for a definitive answer.

[Boethius]

Why did it take until 1980s that WM started pursuing them?

1990's, specifically, after 1991.  Soviets who were not Jewish were, for the most part, forbidden to emigrate before the Soviet collapse.

[ML]

Soviets who were not Jewish were, for the most part, forbidden to emigrate before the Soviet collapse.

Prospects for this to be reinstated . . . with respect to some of the FSU countries?

Now it's not just a brain drain . . . it's a body drain.