My horizons were broadened, expanded, and generally widened today when an Arvo Job conversation led, via an op-shop book purchase (The Greatest Generation by Tom Brockaw) and reminiscing about an old movie (Jet Pilot, 1957, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh), to a discussion about World War II female pilots, which resulted in the revelation that there was a women-only combat regiment of the World War II Soviet Air Forces that was nicknamed the Night Witches by the Germans.Of course, being women, they naturally got the best war equipment available - ancient wood and canvas biplanes designed to be used as training aircraft and for crop-dusting. The Night Witches turned the slowness of their obsolete aircraft to their advantage and exploited the extraordinary maneuverability of the old planes. Their technique was to idle their aircraft's engine near the intended target and glide to the bomb release point. Only wind noise then revealed their location.
Night Witches. Nachthexen. Ночные ведьмы.
An idea for a story is now bubbling inside the cauldron of my head. I have a core scene. It will be a sad story, a supernatural war story, and it'll probably take a few years to put together (I can always tell when it's one of those stories). But one day...Night Witches.
3 comments:
Do you already know "Beneath Ceaseless Skies"? I came across it today and I've subscribed. The first story I read was good.
http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/page.php?p=submissions
Indeed I do. I've even dared to submit a story to BCS last year. Alas, it was rejected, but nicely, and with an invitation to feel free to submit again. Which I will, one day soon, when I have a suitably BCSish story in need of a home.
NB:in 2009, BCS published "Father's Kill" by Christopher Green, which went on to win an Aurealis Award.
I'll look back through the archives and read it. Thanks.
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