Soviet Fighter Ace 

The highest-scoring female fighter ace in history. And she was 21 years old.

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak learned to fly at 14. Soloed at 15. By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, she'd already trained 45 pilots as a flight instructor. When she tried to join a combat unit, they turned her down for lack of experience. She added 100 hours to her logbook and reapplied.

They let her in.

On September 13, 1942 — three days after arriving at her new posting and on only her third combat mission over Stalingrad — Litvyak became the first woman in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft in aerial combat. And she didn't stop at one. Her second kill that same day was Staff Sergeant Erwin Meier of Jagdgeschwader 53, a Luftwaffe ace with 11 victories to his name, flying a Bf 109G-2.

Meier parachuted out and was captured. He asked to see the pilot who'd shot him down. When he was brought to Litvyak — blonde, barely five feet tall, 21 years old — he thought the Soviets were playing a joke on him.

She looked him in the eyes and described every maneuver of the dogfight in detail that only the two pilots involved could have known. Every turn. Every break. Every burst. By the time she finished, he knew.

The story goes that Meier, stunned, offered her his watch. She refused it.

Over the next year, Litvyak flew 168 combat missions and was credited with 12 solo aerial victories and 3 shared kills — a record no female fighter pilot has matched before or since. She flew the Yak-1 and later the Yak-1B, was wounded, crash-landed in enemy territory twice, and fought her way back to Soviet lines both times. She was awarded the Order of the Red Star at 21 and was selected for the elite okhotniki — "free hunter" missions where pairs of experienced pilots searched for targets on their own initiative.

The Soviets called her "The White Lily of Stalingrad" for the lily she painted on the fuselage of her Yak. In the West, the name became "The White Rose of Stalingrad." German pilots knew the marking. Her aircraft became infamous on the other side of the line.

August 1, 1943. The Mius Front, during the Battle of Kursk. Litvyak was on her fourth sortie of the day — she'd already shot down two Bf 109s that morning. On this mission, escorting Il-2 Sturmoviks, her Yak-1B was last seen diving into a group of German fighters. A fellow pilot saw her aircraft trailing smoke, pursued by as many as eight Bf 109s. She disappeared behind the clouds.

She was 21 years old. No parachute was seen.

Her fate remained unknown for decades. Soviet authorities listed her as missing in action — which, under Stalin's rules, meant she could have been captured, which meant she couldn't be honored. In 1979, remains believed to be hers were discovered near the village of Dmitriyevka in Ukraine. It took until 1990 — 47 years after her death — for President Gorbachev to finally award her the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Forty-seven years. For the greatest female fighter ace who ever lived.

All pad-printed. Collector-grade detail. A figure worthy of the story.