Posted by Jason on March 5th, 2008 — in Night Witches
“1942 … the Germans were advancing very quickly, and our regiment was retreating with the army. One of our pilots made a reconnaissance flight with my aircraft, and upon landing she hit the propeller and knocked off part of the blade. The enemy tanks were closing in on our airfield, and our Regimental commander ordered us to redeploy to another location. There was no time to replace the propeller, and I had a choice of destroying the aircraft and leaving on a truck or flying it out if possible. I had the mechanic quickly cut off part of the opposite blade of the propeller to reduce the vibration. I got the aircraft into the air, and it was shaking so fiercely that only by holding the control stick with a strong grip could I manage to fly it. On my seat I was like a peanut jumping in boiling oil on a hot frying pan! I was escorted by the other planes of the regiment, but what was the use of that protection? If I fell down, nobody could save me. It was really moral support.”
- Senior Lieutenant Nina Raspopova, Pilot, Flight Commander, HSU
“On a mission near Novorossik, I had just dropped my bombs on the railway tracks and was turning away when I saw a German fighter, a Focke-Wulf, flying toward me. I managed to dive and make a sideslip. Only pure chance saved me, and I escaped the enemy’s fire. But the aircraft behind me, piloted by Dusya Nosal, was caught by the enemy fire. She was killed in her cockpit. Her navigator, Irina Kashirina, in the back cockpit knew how to fly and took over the controls, but the dead pilot had slumped forward over the control stick, and she was not able to use the controls. So she had to reach forward and hold the dead body by the collar with her left hand and control the aircraft with her right hand. The rough air over the Crimean hills almost caused her to crash, but she brought the plane with the body of the dead pilot back to the regimental airfield. She was in a state of shock.”
- Major Marina Smirnova, Squadron Commander, HSU
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Posted by Jason on February 20th, 2008 — in Business Solutions, Design, Night Witches, The Roach
The Roach Returns is getting the glossy perfect bound treatment but it’s slow going due to the weird pulp/flip-it-over format. People have asked and we want to get this out there.
Patrick’s got the Business Solutions draft (revision #60 if you are counting) for some initial kicking around. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with in terms of layout and graphic design. It’s out with playtesters and I’m waiting for some feedback before I get too crazy with revisions. It feels close to done, though. I really like it and want to play it some more!
Night Witches hasn’t moved in a week or so – I’ve been playing around instead of designing. And reading Dancing With Death. I’m not sure what will happen with this one once the game is playable. It’s insanely narrow in scope. It’s so narrow I think it represents a stylistic end point for that avenue of inquiry. I’m thinking about how nice it would be to do something open-ended. I’ve got a really interesting idea in that direction that I am mulling over.
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Posted by Jason on February 17th, 2008 — in Check this out dude, Night Witches
I should have known … Patrick took one look at that cover and was sold.
And while he was at it, since we’re going global…
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Posted by Jason on February 14th, 2008 — in Night Witches
I went digging in the big library today and found a couple of Russian aviation books. These are all written in Cyrillic characters and I don’t know what they are all about, but one is clearly focused on female aviators of the great patriotic War and the other has a boss cover and graphic design.:
Both are the real deal, printed on mouldering Soviet toilet-paper paper. The Soviet Union lionized the female flight crews, so there are plenty of staged propaganda photos to work with:
As well as tons and tons of headshots and personal photographs:
All this stuff is in the public domain and I need to figure out a way to use it. I think I need a Photo manipulation genius to help out because the original illos are a little low contrast and dodgy.
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Posted by Jason on February 4th, 2008 — in Night Witches
I knew I wanted something to give a broad overview of the war as of November 1941, but I didn’t know Stalin had already done my work for me. Thanks, Stalin!
STALIN, via Radio Moscow: The dangerous threat to our country continues to increase. The enemy has seized a large part of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia Lithuania, Latvia, Esthonia and a number of other regions, has forced his way into the Donetz Basin, hangs like a black cloud over Leningrad and is threatening our glorious capital, Moscow. The German-fascist invaders are destroying the towns and villages created by the labors of the workers, peasants and intellectuals. The Hitlerite hordes are murdering and outraging the peaceful inhabitants of our country, having no mercy on women, children or old people.
Streams of enemy blood have been spilt by the men and women of our Army and Navy, who are defending the honor and freedom of our Motherland, courageously beating off the attacks of the bestial enemy and displaying examples of valor and heroism. But the enemy stops at no sacrifice. He is straining all his efforts to capture Leningrad and Moscow before the advent of winter.
In four months of war we have lost 350,000 in killed, an equal number missing missing, and our wounded number one million. In the same period the Hitlerite bandits have in killed, wounded and prisoners lost more than four and a half million men.
All that, of course, is true. But it is likewise true that our army is suffering temporary reverses, and is obliged to surrender a number of regions of our country to the enemy. What are the reasons for the temporary military reverses of the Red Army?
One of the reasons is the absence of a second front in Europe against the German-fascist troops. The fact of the matter is that at the present time there are still no armies of Great Britain or the United States of America on the European continent to wage war against our shared enemy.
The other reason is our lack of an adequate materiel, particularly aircraft. Our aviation is superior in quality to that of the Germans, and our valiant pilots have covered themselves with glory as fearless fighters. But we still have fewer aircraft than the Germans.
Herein lies our present task. We must crush the military might of the German invaders, we must destroy, to the last man, the German forces of occupation who have intruded into our country for the purpose of enslaving it. (Long and prolonged applause)
Only when we have accomplished this task and routed the German invaders can we achieve a lasting and just peace.
For the complete rout of the German invaders! (Loud applause) For the liberation of all the oppressed peoples groaning under the yoke of Hitler’s tyranny! (Loud applause)
Long live the unshakable friendship of the peoples of the Soviet Union! (Loud applause)
Long live our Red Army and our Red Navy! (Loud applause)
Long live our glorious Motherland! (Loud applause)
Our cause is just—victory will be ours! (Loud applause. All rise. Shouts: “Cheers for the great Stalin!” “Long live Comrade Stalin!” Prolonged applause. The Internationale is sung.)
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