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I'm going to tell you the amazing story of a group of women from the former Soviet Union

who helped to win the Second World War for the Allied forces. In what was very

much a man's world at the time, the female pilots became known for their successful

precision bombing. It's a little known story of skill and valor at the height of the conflict.

I'm one-imagined and this is the night which is of World War II on the BBC World Service.

When you picture the aircraft of World War II, you'll probably think of Spitfires,

Messerschmitts, maybe the Lancaster bomber or the Flying Fortress.

But that's the sound of the Russian polycarp of PO2.

It's a great big biplane, so two wings. It's constructed mainly of wood and fabric,

so it's very simple construction and as a result it meant they could make thousands of them.

There were about 20 to 30,000 of them built.

These biplanes had no armour and flew without guns, but their lack of protection

isn't the only remarkable element of their role in the Second World War.

Because these aircraft will become the sole and workhorse of the Soviet Union's first

or female combat units.

All the men laughed at us at first.

Hirena Rackabalskaya, former chief of staff, spoke to Rainer Pennington in 1993.

Then they saw how we flew and the men's night bomber regiments started calling as sisters

and the infantry called us the Heavenly Creations, not angels, but Heavenly Creations, Heavenly

...