Nadezhda Popova was a true heroine of the Soviet Union – a real-life Luke Skywalker who flew biplanes with canvas wings over enemy territory to drop bombs on the advancing German Army.
She was from Donetsk – that embattled part of eastern Ukraine that is mostly Russian-speaking today and was firmly a part of Stalin’s empire. In Russian, her name was “Nadia.” And, by all accounts, she was all woman.
The women of the...