About this episode
On October 8th, 1941, with Stalingrad surrounded, Leningrad besieged, and the Nazis making new gains on Russian territory every day, Joseph Stalin ordered the creation of three new Air Force regiments... the first female aviation military regiments in world history. Led by famed civilian aviator Marina Raskova, these young women, most of whom were between the ages of 17 and 26, would have to transform from flight hobbyists to killer soldiers. The 588th Night Bombers Regiment would earn the nickname “the Night Witches” from the German soldiers they terrorized in the darkness. Flying no-frills wooden planes with ill-fitting uniforms and no parachutes, most runs would happen with three planes, the first two meant to draw attention and enemy fire, with the third being the one to drop the bomb. What made this so dangerous is the fact that the third plane, to avoid detection, would have to cut their engines and glide over their target as quietly as possible. Despite the danger, the Night Witches regiment alone would fly around 30,000 sorties and have 23 of their pilots awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union— and they would definitively help change the tide of the war against the Nazis. The badass story of the Night Witches and their female fighter counterparts, this week, on Timesuck. Want to apply for the Cummins Family Scholarship fund? The application process opens on MARCH 6TH, 2023. To apply click this link!: https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/cummins/ Click the "Scholarship Hub America" button. Register to create a Hub account with a unique username and password. Log into your account and complete the questions in the profile section. The list of scholarships will display on the website. Locate the Cummins Family Scholarship Fund application and click the “Apply Now” link to fill out your information! An online recommendation form must be submitted on your behalf. It is the student’s responsibility to follow up with their recommender to ensure they submit the information before the deadline. Next start filling out the application by completing all required fields and click the “Save answers” button. If all required data was entered, the Application section in the progress bar at the top of the page will turn green. An error message will display at the top of the page if any fields are missing or have incomplete information. Click the “Next” button at the top of the page and use the Add a Document tool available to upload your documents. Once all documents have been uploaded, click the “Next” button again to review your information before submitting your application. If all information appears correct, click the “Lock and Submit” button and click “OK” to submit your data to Scholarship America for processing. You will receive an email confirmation once the application has been successfully submitted. If you don’t receive the email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folder or search for an email from studentsupport@scholarshipamerica.org to confirm your application has been received. Questions can be emailed to cummins@scholarshipamerica.org Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camps are ON SALE! BadMagicMerch.com Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation : This month's donation is for $14,740 to Teach For America, a diverse network of leaders who work to confront the injustice of education inequity through teaching.You can learn more about Teach for America or get involved by going to teachforamerica.org An additional $1,640 is being put into the scholarship fund! Thank you to all of our patrons who are able to continue to support not only us but these amazing causes. Teachforamerica.org Get tour tickets at dancummins.tv Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KMwq1TzDRc8 Merch: https://www.badmagicmerch.com Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group ? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.