Gul Mohar English Class 7 Chapter - 7 The Night Witches

Gul Mohar Edition 9 Orient Blackswan

Gul Mohar English Chapter - 7 The Night Witches

Writer of the story - Megan Garber

Question and Answers

Question 1: What were the disadvantages of the type of aircraft used by the female fighter pilots? What was the advantage?
Answer: The aircraft used by the female fighter pilots were built of plywood and canvas. It was because of their built up and small size, they were reserved for training and crop-dusting. One plane could carry only two bombs at a time, because of the weight of the bombs and at the low altitude at which they flew, they carried no parachutes. They had no radar to navigate their paths through the night skies. If hit by bullets, the plane could burst into flames. The planes had open cockpits, leaving the women’s faces to freeze in the chilly night air. A strong wind could even toss the plane.
However, the advantage of these small and flimsy planes was that they could be manoeuvred quickly and easily.

Question 2: Nobody could understand why the brave lad who had taken on a Nazi squadron wouldn’t drink vodka. What mistake were the people in this situation making? What does this say about female fighter pilots-were they a common or an uncommon figure at that time?
Answer: The people in this situation were mistaken in thinking the brave pilot to be a man, who in reality was a female pilot. The situation here showed that people in those times would hardly think of a female fighter pilot in combat missions.

Question 3: How did the female fighter pilots earn the title ‘Night Witches’?
Answer: The Soviet female fighter pilots flew their planes mainly at night, and often quietly and secretly, running their engines slowly as they neared their targets, gliding their way to their bomb release points. Due to this, their planes made soft whooshing noises as they flew by. This noise reminded the Germans, of the sound of witch’s broomstick. So, the Nazis began calling the female fighter pilots Nachthexen which meant ‘Night Witches’. In this way, the Soviet female fighter pilots earned the title ‘Night Witches’.

Question 4: Which factors made the Night Witches’ missions particularly dangerous?
Answer: The aircraft used by the female fighter pilots were built of plywood and canvas. One plane could carry only two bombs at a time, due to which each plane flew multiple missions in a night. It was because of the weight of the bombs and at the low altitude at which they flew, they could not carry parachutes. They had no radar to navigate their paths through the night skies. If hit by bullets, the plane could burst into flames. The planes had open cockpits, leaving the women’s faces to freeze in the chilly night air. A strong wind could even toss the plane. All these factors made their missions particularly dangerous.

Question 5: And they did all that while decorating their planes with flowers and using their navigation pencils as lip color. What is referred to as ‘all that’?
Answer: ‘All that’ refers to the bravery and achievements of the female fighter pilots - the thousands of missions they flew, the bombs they dropped and the challenges they overcame.