Do Go On - 369 - The Night Witches

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

The Night Witches were an all-female squadron of badass bomber pilots who the Nazis were shit-scared of! Tune in for the story!This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 3:36 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report). Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodLive show tickets: https://dogoonpod.com/live-shows/  Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/suggest-a-topic/ Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas Do Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present.  REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-nighthttps://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/06/night-witches-wwii-female-pilotshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/01/fierce-feared-female-wwii-pilots-known-night-witches/https://www.wrightmuseum.org/2020/10/01/the-soviet-night-witches/http://thefemalesoldier.com/blog/marina-raskovahttps://warfarehistorynetwork.com/the-red-air-force-night-witches-flight-of-the-rodina/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dev Warnikey and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart.

Hello, Matthew. Hey Jess, how nice is it to be alive? I started my tone was like we're fighting, you know? We're a divorced couple. Oh, hello, Matthew. Oh, that says a lot about me. I just took it at your word. You were just greeting me.

Yeah. Well, tell Jess, Matt. Oh, no. To go fuck herself. David? No. Ah, you look You're still here

Unwell Thank you I don't feel very good Can I go home? No Damn it Hey you guys Let's be a little more

friendly to each other This is the most friendly And blissful time of the year This is Blobember I love Blobba The ass end of Block tober And that's the good bit

Yeah Oh what are you saying You're saying that like you're confused The ass of course is the good bit Yeah It's the best bit of anything. You know, if you having a roast, people want the rump. Oh, yeah, can I please have the ass?

Anyone else? Anyone else? I'm going to take the ass end here. Ass end of the pig. That's all mine. Okay. Thank you very much. Now, for people who don't know what Blobemba is or what Blochtober is, Matt, what are we doing here? Well, it's all started a few years ago where we wanted to do a month of the biggest blockbusterist topics of the year. These are the topics that were suggested by the most people. put them all into a massive poll, and then everyone got to vote all listeners,

and we had thousands of votes, and now we're counting down the top nine for 2022. And we are up to the third most voted-for topic in... History. Whoa. Of 2020. On this show. So we're on the podium now.

That's right. We've already had some epic, big topics, but I can only imagine what is going to be the third most voted for for 2022. Brons Meta. People's block trees are starting to wilt. We're getting to the end of the run here. That's right. Water those trees.

Sofa grace is feeling tired. He's not allowed to sleep during block tofa grace period. Some people have started to take down their block decorations. Yeah, too early. Too early. Come in. Put them back up, you dolls. How weird it would be like taking down the Christmas wreath.

Mid-December. Yeah. Are you losing your minds? That would be absolute mayhem. Get your block trees back. Oh, you're Grinch? Yeah. Block Grinch?

Are you a blinch? Blinch. Blinch. You bloody blinch. But just more broadly than just block, Jess. How does this show do go on work? Well, one of the three of us, Matt, Dave and me, Jess. We take it in turns researching a topic, usually suggested by our listeners.

We bring it back to the other two. We tell them all about it. We learn. We laugh. We live. We, your lumber. And it is Matt's turn this week to tell us a little diddy. Oh.

Nobody lets me talk this long. Five, six, seven, eight. Is Yolumba the goon company? Yeah. The slogan was like live, laugh, yolumba. Oh, that's awful or awesome. I'm not sure. And we usually start with a question.

Matt, do you have a question? I do have a question. My question is, what is the spookiest? cleaning implement. Spookiest. Yeah. Vacuum. Oh yeah.

A robot vacuum. Dogs hate them. Oh, that's true. My dog actually loves a vacuum. Really? Yeah, it gets really excited when I get the vacuum out. It's very cute. He puts peanut butter on the vacuum.

And what else, it's not that. What else do you think it might be? A feather duster. You're getting close to them. Broome. Yes, correct. What? Spooky.

Brooms are spooky. You don't think brooms are spooky? Who rides on a broom? Witches! And that's the top. topic this week, the night witches. Oh. If witches weren't spooky enough for you.

Yeah. We're taking them at nine. A witch down the shop, doing a grocery shopping. Whatever, not spooky. Yeah, she's getting basil. Glinda's a day witch. Yeah, do your life. Do your life.

Who's the green witch? Glinda and... The wicked one. Yeah. She's a knight witch. It's weird to see her out in the day. Sort of like an owl. Anyway, this...

You're going to drive me insane. Like an Esmeralda type thing. No, it's, I've seen wicked three times. Fuck. Have you really? Is that too many times? So, has it, on average, the three of us have seen wicked once each. Thank you.

Great. I don't have to see it now. This topic, while you're looking at up, Jess, was suggested by Katie in the USA. Duncan Moran from Edinburgh in Scotland. Luke Parker from London. Carl Stevens from Halesham in the UK. Alphaba. Alphabar.

Sorry for you. I could have waited. A common name, Alphabar. Alphabet, that's bad writing. This topic was also suggested by Alphabar from the West. No offence. Luke Park from London. Carl Stevens from Halesham, UK.

Benjamin W. Hunt from Orville, Ohio. God's country. Jamie Alcantara from London. Marcus Bristman from Gothenburg in Sweden. Kayla Hodkowitz from Tom's River in New Jersey in the US. McKenna Middlebrook from Schneckedy, New York. James Deany from Dublin. Ross Smith from Glenn Gormley in Northern Ireland

Claire Norris from West Sacramento and California Amanda Lissent Clayton from Kensington, Melbourne, Australia She was the last one. Should have said an Anne before her. Wow. McKenna Middler's come up a couple of times in Block, I'm sure of it. I feel like McKenna just, he like suggests topics that get done on the regular. Yeah, great suggestor.

Well done. He also just has a very memorable name. McKenna Middlebrook. McKenna Middlebrook. God, that is good. That was a varying locations there too. Cross the world. Love that.

That's right. And did you catch where McKenna's from? Where? Shinnikady. Oh, yes. Shinikady. Shinnikadi. Which can't be a real place.

But anyway, let us begin. This, let's kick it off with a few words from Eric Grundhauser, writing for Vanity Fair. In the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union, German soldiers had a very real fear of witches, namely the night witches, an all-female squadron of bomber pilots who ran thousands of. of daring bomber raids with little more than wooden plains and the cover of night. And broomsticks, I assume. Yeah, well, are you familiar with the night witchers? Not at all. I didn't know about them all either.

What? So they're kind of quite a, I mean, until recent years, it seems like they're getting written about more now, but for a long time, they were sort of just not really spoken about for some reason, sort of forgotten the history a little bit. Wow. On June the 22nd, 1941, nearly two years after World War II began, Nazi Germany, launched Operation Barbarossa. You familiar with Operation Barbarossa?

Yes, I am. This is when they decided to take on the Soviets. That's right. They went in an all-out campaign. Which I think not in well for them. Okay, interesting. All right, it's on take. Okay.

So you don't think the Nazis won? Let's find out. Okay. According to Britannica, for the campaign against the Soviet Union, the Germans allotted almost 150 divisions, containing a total of about 3 million men. This is just for one campaign. They're already fighting a war on other fronts.

Yeah, and they're like, let's just take 3 million people away from there. We'll march into Russia at the beginning of winter. What? Yeah, so the timing was slightly delayed, and unfortunately it ended up, the winter came a little early. So things didn't go great for Hitler. It was a shame. Unfortunately.

He was due a bit of luck. In total, the Barbarossa force had about 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces and 2,500,000 aircraft. It was in effect the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history. The invasion along an 1,800 mile or 2,900 kilometre front took the Soviet leadership completely by surprise and caught the Red Army in an unprepared and partially demobilized state. I should say, by the, I was only joking there about Hitler. I think he was a real bitch. You should say that, yeah. He was a dog.

A dog bitch? He was like, I don't want to talk in too strong a terms, but he was a bit of a dickhead. Are you going to beep some of those words? I probably should. I'm feeling a little P-Oed, just thinking back. What does that mean? Pist off.

Don't make me talk like this. Another whisper beep that? Another few beeps, yeah. Peep-beep-beep! But like, but like, Dave says, it didn't end well for him, Jess. I know you're not a, you're not a big history buff. No, I don't get it.

But he ended up shooting himself in the face. Okay. On purpose, it wasn't an accident. Horrible messapid, fallen over. Which I think would have been way better. I wish that happened a few, you know, maybe 10, 20 years earlier. That would be sick, actually. You never know.

That might have happened to some other Hitler. In a parallel universe. They accidentally shot themselves in a face before they became a despot or whatever he was. Is that the right word? I don't know. Dictator. Yeah, but that wouldn't have been funny for the people because they wouldn't know. They wouldn't know exactly.

They'd be like, oh, what a horrible tragedy. It's like what people always talk about with the kid going back to kill baby Hitler. When you go back, it just, to everyone else, it just looks like you're killing a baby. Killing a baby, yeah. That's not cool. No. Not cool to kill baby Hitler? No.

Oh, no, babies. Right. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Leave babies alone. Got on a weird place early. So, yeah, so huge contingent marches into, and flies and, you know. And tanks.

Tanks. Tanks. Tanks. Horses? Gallops. Okay. Submarining. Yeah.

Cross land. In short, the Soviets were under the pump. And this is the backdrop the Soviet leadership faced when the night witches were born. According to Bryn Holland, writing for History.com, using female bombardier wasn't a first choice. While women had been previously barred from combat, the pressure of an encroaching enemy gave Soviet leaders a reason to rethink the policy. It's either women or toddlers. Oh gosh. And we're out of toddlers. Okay. Bombadier is a fun way, isn't it? Yeah, I love Bombadier. That's right up there. Pompadour, Bombardier, these are some of the cram de la crem

of words. A few months after Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union began, the Germans were pressing on Moscow. So they were making pretty quick work of it early. Leningrad was also under siege and the Red Army was struggling. The Soviets were desperate. The squadron was the brainchild of Marina Raskova, known as the Soviet Amelia Earhart. Famous not only is the first female navigator in Soviet Air Force, but also for many long-distance flight records. She was a badass. Awesome. So who was Raskova? Well, according to the female soldier.com, Marina Raskova was a Soviet pilot, navigator and commander. Born in 1912 to a middle-class Russian family, Raskova initially had aspirations of becoming a musician,

but eventually abandoned the idea to study chemistry. While working in a dye factory as a chemist, she met Sergei Raskov, an engineer, who she married and had a daughter with. I think this was like when she was like 18 or something. Wow. She changed careers in 1931, I think she's like 1920, when she joined the aerodynamic navigation lab of the Soviet Air Force as a draftswoman. In 1933, she became the first female navigator in the Air Force, and the following year

became the first woman to teach at the Zugofsky Air Academy. In 1935, she divorced from her husband and focused on her flying career. I'm leaving you for a plane. Yeah. She became a famous pilot as well as a navigator, setting a number. of long distance records, including the famous flight of the Redina. It just feels like, remember earlier in Block, I told the story of the Dole Air Race. Yeah.

This is an American race that happened, you know, in her lifetime while only a few years before she started flying. But in that race, the only woman involved went along basically as a mascot. And that was seen as being like very progressive. Yeah. But over in Russia, women are pilots and flying and teaching flying. Honestly, my first thought when I was like, okay, she's married, but she's had a career change because in that sort of time, you didn't work if you got married.

Yeah. So I'm like, she's working and she's like, she's a badass. Like what she's doing is really cool. And it just feels like, yeah, the 30s in Russia or the Soviet, I don't know. I found a lot of the surprising. Wow. Yeah, yeah, sometimes think of, of, uh, of, uh, progression is linear, but it doesn't necessarily get people gain and lose rights over time.

Absolutely. Yeah. The article, so yeah, mentioned there the flight of the Rodina, which I'll talk about now, was a record-breaking non-stop airplane flight covering 6,000 kilometers from Moscow to Komsomolsk in a twin engine A&T-37 named Rodina. That's where it got its name. I know Dave's thinking no relation, but there is a relation here. A coincidence. The crew was three Russian women, Raskava, as well as Polina Ossopenko and Valentina Grizzar de Bova. According to George Tipin Wilson, writing for the Warfare History Network, Raskifer was the cruise navigator, not a licensed pilot at the time. As the Rodina was nearing the end of its fuel supply, the women began to jettison the planes furnishing to coax extra miles

from the engine and make certain they were setting a new distance record. Whoa. What are they throwing out? Couches. Chairs, couches, the bar fridge. Yeah. The wine fridge. We're not going to need this bath. The full set of weights.

Yeah. Quite heavy. Spambells, barbells. Spare plane. Ditch that. Get it out. We don't need it. They then flew into a blinding snowstorm.

Since they had thrown everything movable overboard, Raskova, deeming herself as the most expendable, donned a parachute and exited the plane in a brave and selfless move to ensure the record was set. No. way. In a snowstorm. In a snowstorm, she's like, well, we need, we'll get a few extra miles if I jump out. You don't need me. I'm just a navigator. There's two of you. You got this. I'll just jump out here wherever this is. It's been an honour.

Herope. She wandered around the wilderness for several days before finding the plane and her comrades. According to the female soldier.com, she survived with no water and almost no food for 10 days before she found her way to the landing site and reunited with her team. Ten days. Isn't that hectic? What? All three women were decorated with the hero of the Soviet Union Award, the first women to ever receive it. It's like one of the very top honours. And, you know, this is the 1930s.

Wow. The plane was in a Siberian swamp on the Manchurian border after their 26-hour and 29-minute flight ended in a crash landing in the area. So it was, you know, a similar kind of time to that dull air race. And like the lone wolf, they crashed into a swamp. Yeah, that's right. That's right. They got a little bit further first. His swamp was next to the runway.

This was 6,000 miles away. Yeah, and obviously both flights were tough conditions, one over an ocean that had never been or rarely been crossed. But this one through snowstorms. I mean, he didn't get to the ocean. He crashed into the field next to the runway. Yeah, fair call. Look, I want to give him a chop out.

He'll blow him the lone wolf. Yeah, exactly. His fight was also perilous if he'd made it. Yeah, that's true. If he'd taken off, it would have been scary. Similar length of time to the ones who did make it, I should say. Yeah, to the ones who did make it, amazing achievement. But the guy who crashed twice, not so good.

According to Wilson, by the following week, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin had added his congratulations to those of the world. He noted that the 4,036-mile non-stop flight was longer than Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight and far exceeded any non-stop aerial journey made by women at that point. Wilson continues, in Moscow later that month, Lazar M. Kaganovic, the commissar of heavy industry, faded the trio at a glittering reception. Apparently inspired by the war clouds gathering over Europe, Commissar Kagonovic remarked that if the Soviet Union is attacked,

Quote, we have flies who can chase the enemy back to his own territory, referencing the three heroes here. One wonders if the commissar realized just how prophetic his words would turn out to be. Oh, wow. The next day, at another reception for the three, Stalin appeared to put a stop to any more record-breaking quests. While he was stoked with the record-breaking flight, he was sanded by the recent death of another aviator on a different record attempt from the last couple of weeks, saying,

The government, probably saying this in Russian. Okay, but tell it to us in English, because my Russian's a little rusty. Okay, rusky. The government will be extremely severe henceforth toward permitting record-setting flights. The lives of the pilots are more precious to us than any records, no matter how great or renowned they may be. So he's basically going, no more of this. No life is worth it. Ah, Raskerva must have been like, but I didn't.

I jumped out into a snow. I disagree. I'd say keep chasing those titles. Yeah. Fuck your life. But that was, she was like, all right, you know, we won't. We won't do that anymore. Fair enough.

But is the plan there like, we don't want you to do it in case you die, but if you do do it, you will be punished with death. Yeah, I think that's a fair system. By this time, Raskerva was already known throughout Russia for her heroic flying exports. And when war broke out, the women of the Soviet Union were flooding her letterbox, putting themselves forward to join the war effort. They were looking for her to help put their names forward. They'd sort of been sidelined.

They're like, you know, Stalin. Yeah, come on. Get in easy, would you? Have a word. Yeah. According to the female soldier, while there were no formal restrictions on Soviet women in the military, many found their applications were denied or mysteriously delayed.

Back to Holland. Seeing an opportunity, Raskova petitioned Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to let her form an all-female fight. fighting squadron. On October the 8th, 1941, Stalin gave orders to deploy three all-female air force units. The women would not only fly missions and drop bombs, they would return fire, making the Soviet Union the First Nation to officially allow women to engage in combat. Previously, women could help transfer planes and ammunition, after which the men took over.

So, yeah, this one is... Thanks, love, I'll take it from here. I've got it. Yeah, I'll take this. I wonder what the reasoning behind not letting women be in combat. I think it was just old school thinking women shouldn't be in the front lines. This is a man's job. Get him angry. You're fucked.

You know what I mean? That enemy. Yeah, one of the night witches I mentioned later was motivated by revenge. Perfect. That's the best thing to be motivated by, I reckon. Oh, yeah. According to the Wright Museum of World War II, the three all-women fighting group

style and authorized were the 586th fighter aviation regiment, the 587th bomber aviation regiment and the 58th night bomber aviation regiment. After the training, the pilots deemed most qualified were assigned to the 586th fighter aviation regiment. The second most qualified to the 587th bomber aviation regiment and the least qualified to the 58th night bomber aviation regiment.

But in a year, unique twist of fate, the least qualified, became the most feared and famous. Oh. Right. They don't know how to land a plane, so they will crash it into you. Yeah, so, and these names did, if people are looking into these stories, these regiment names did change in time, but which confused me for a while. Right.

I'm like, wait, why is the information so inconsistent? but I think they were renamed. Okay. But I'm just going to keep calling them the 58th. Yeah, sure. Or just the night, which is. Just for nice and, it'd be nice and clear.

Chosen to lead the 58th was Yevdokia, Bershanska. She was born on the 6th of Feb, 1913 in modern-day Russia. After graduating from secondary school, she studied at the Batasque School of Pilots in 1931. After graduating, she worked as a trainer there for the next eight years before being appointed as commander of the 218th Special Operations Aviation Squadron. So she's studying at the School of Pilots in 1931,

four years after the Dole Air Race in America. Yeah. When the 588th was formed, she got the gig of leading the regiment due to her 10 years of flying experience. I should say, which one of you did the Amelia Earhart episode? Jess. When was... I just look at Dave, I was like, Dave, well, no. I'm talking about it like America was behind on this stuff,

But when did Amelia Earhart? When was her sort of... Well, Jess'll answer this, having done the report. And I'll just go and have a look at that report now in my... I don't remember. She was... So her final flight was in 1937 by the looks of it. So she was also flying in the 30s.

So I think things just came on quickly with all of the flying stuff. Yeah. especially in the big powers around that time. According to Grunthuser, the 58th was also the only one of the three units that remained exclusively female, where everyone from the pilots to the commanders to the mechanics were women. The regiment began filling out in 1942 with young women ranging in age from 17 to 26. This feels right that you're doing this as the feminist of the podcast. Because this is like, this is really cool and quite groundbreaking for the time.

all women mechanics and the whole team, that's great. I'm not sure how to feel about it, so I need you to explain to me. And earlier I said I was surprised by some of this stuff. I shouldn't, I don't mean surprise that the women are up to it. Of course not. Certainly not. I was surprised that the men in power allowed it. That's right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The men are the problem. That's what I'm saying as a feminist. I hate myself and Dave, but I love you, Jess. Dave, anything to add? It's all fair, isn't it? And do you love me, Dave? Yeah, I love women in general.

Love supporting them. Because like, honestly, how hot are women? Oh my God, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How hot are women? Welcome to new listeners. Some baffling in jokes here.

Okay, so, so 17-26-year-olds. So they're all, you know, quite young. and they all headed to the small town of Engels to begin flight training. The future pilots were greeted by Raskova herself with a no-nonsense military manner. One of the women who signed up was 19-year-old Nadezja or Nadja Popova. I apologize for all these. I think you're doing great. Thank you.

Povov. Pippova. Pipova, who volunteered after her brother was killed in battle. She was motivated by revenge. I love it. I love that. According to the Moscow time, she became one of the best and one of the luckiest. Sweet combo to have.

Born December 17, 1921, in what is now the Ukraine, Popova planned to become a teacher or a doctor until one day a plane landed near her home and she met the pilot. And this is a quote from Popova that was published in a book called A Dance with Death. I had thought only gods could fly. It was amazing to me that a simple man. could get in a plane and fly away. And here he was, the simplest man I ever met. God, he was dim.

I met him. Yeah, it was like talking to a bloody brick. Oh, my God. There's nothing between the ears. They let you fly that. Wow, if he can do it, anyone came. Honestly, I could do it and I'm a little girl. Give us a go.

I'm a child. I don't even have, I haven't fully developed my fine motor skills and I could do it. This guy's an idiot. according to emily langer writing for the washington post povover joined a flying club and later graduated from an aviation school when the war started she was working as an instructor she said that she decided to join the military after losing her brother and after watching germans abuse her townspeople she's like

fuck these guys yeah i'm in uh this is a quote from her i saw the german aircraft flying along our roads filled with people who were leaving their homes firing at them with their machine guns seeing this gave me feelings inside that made me want to fight them. Yeah. According to Holland, from more than 2,000 applications, she selected around 400 women for each of the three units, most being students.

When I say she selected them, this is a resk of her. They underwent a highly... It feels like it had a pretty good chance of getting in there. 2,400 for each, 1,200 made it, if you didn't make it. Yeah, those numbers are... Yeah, that's not bad. That's pretty good. I mean, like a lot of these sort of reports,

the numbers vary. I've saw like way less than that, you know, in the tens. And then, anyway, so it's hard to know for sure. But I did see 400 and a few times, so I'm going with that. And Holland, you know, Holland writes for... Holland wouldn't lie. Holland. Wait, are you calling Holland a liar?

No, I'm saying they wouldn't lie. Jess, Holland wouldn't lie. She's writing for history.com. Yeah. Not fiction time. Dot org. Yeah, agreed. Love that website, though.

It's great. I mean, it's a great website. Fiction on George on my homepage. Start by a day with a bit of fiction. Yeah. Holland continues. They underwent a highly compressed education, expected to learn in a few months

what it took most soldiers several years to grasp. Each recruit had to train and perform as pilots, navigators, maintenance and ground crew. Beyond their steep learning curve, the women faced skepticism from some of the male military personnel who believed they added no value to the combat effort. Raskofa did her best to prepare her women for these attitudes, but they still face sexual harassment. According to Steve Proust, author of The Night Witches,

the men didn't like the little girls going to the front line. It was a man's thing. As well as getting bad attitudes from the male soldiers, the new recruits also received their hammy downs. The military was not prepared for women pilots, so they were given uniform and boots that were often too big. Like putting on your boyfriend's jumper or something. They look cute.

Love that messy bun, oversized shirt, no pants. Do you also put on, is it also cute to put on your boyfriend's ill-fitting underwear? Yes! Because that's what they were also given. It's cute.

Why can't they just wear their own underwear? Why does it have to be military underwear? Also, I find it pretty funny when the men are like, oh, the ladies shouldn't go to the front line. That's a man's job, but it's like they're, okay, so going to the front means, you might die, you'll probably die. I'd be like anybody else can go.

Absolutely, of course. You want to go have a crap? Please, before me, please. You know? And just them doing it. Doesn't that prove that what you're saying isn't true? They're already there doing it. That's a man's job that you're doing quite well over there, Toots.

It sounds like as they trained and whatnot, they won a lot of them over, but there was remaining sexism throughout. But, you know. Really? Yeah, yeah. Wow. Sorry, I've grown up in a world. without it, so I can't even picture what that might be like.

Yeah, it is, well, I don't know, to you, this is sounding like made-up stuff.org. These women flew. These women flew so that I could saw, you know what I mean? Because you go to the front line every day now. Every day, people say, welcome to the front line, Jess. No one bats an eyelid when you go to the front line. Nobody cares that I'm there. And I rock up for my shift on the front line.

Yeah, you pop in, pop out. According to Prouse, they had to tear up their bedding and stuff them in their boots to get them to fit. Just, I'd B.Y.O. Boots. Honestly, at this point, I'm wearing my own undies and don't worry, I've got some boots that fit me. Yeah, let us know ahead before we get here. Yeah, let me know what to pack. Underwear, some shoes. All right, no problem.

Are you going to provide some pants in a top? Great. Thanks heaps. I'll bYO shoes. Back to Holland, their equipment wasn't much better than their clothes. The military provided them with outdated Polikopov-Pov-Po2 biplanes, 1920s crop dusters that had been used as training vehicles. These are already out of date, like well out of date. You know, they're already over 20 years old or something.

It's like we have an 89 barina. Yeah, yeah. I figure out how to fly. We don't have any tanks left. But here's a Mazda 2. It does not have power steering. So it will give you the same sort of feel as a tank. It's, you know, it's zippy.

I imagine the tanks have power steering. Oh, they must. They should, right? They're so big. They've got great turning circles. So I'm sure they do. These light two-seater open cockpit planes were never meant for combat. Made out of plywood with canvas pulled over,

the aircraft offered virtually no protection from the elements or bullets. Oh my God, so they're like on the Wright Brothers plane flying over the wall. Stop! Stop! Stop, I'm here! Stop it, stop at once. They're flying so like so they could just slap some of the soldiers. Drop a bag of marbles on someone. Flying at night, pilots endured freezing temperatures, wind and frostbite. In the harsh Soviet winters, the planes became so cold, just touching them would rip bare skin off. Oh my goodness.

Due to both the planes limited weight capacity and the military's limited funds, the pilots also lacked other luxury items, luxury and quotation marks. Oh, there's the bar fridge gone. Here from Holland, saying, instead of parachutes, which were too heavy to carry, or radar, guns and radios, they were forced to use more rudimentary tools, such as rulers, stopwatches, flashlights, pencils, maps, and compasses. I don't know which one of those were replacing the guns, which one were replacing the parachutes. He's a map.

We're going down, grab the ruler. There was some upside to the older aircraft. Their maximum speed was slower than the stall speed of the Nazi planes, which meant these wooden planes, ironically, could maneuver faster than the enemy, making them hard to target. They also could easily take off and land from most locations. But the downside, if they happened to be hit by tracer bullets, which carry a pyrrower, pyrotechnic charge, their wooden planes would burst into flames. It's a bit of a downside. There's a bit of a downside.

I put it out with the ruler. Other negatives of the lightweight nature of the planes meant they couldn't carry many bombs at a time. Saw some saying they could carry six at a time. A few others said only two, one under each wing. So do you mean water bombs? No, they were proper bombs? They would just throw bricks.

Explosive bricks. Brickets. Brickets. And they'd light them just before dropping them off. No, they were just smaller bricks for ladies' little hands. Oh, I can't hold one big brick. Even with less bombs, their weight meant they had to fly at lower altitudes, which was also good for, you know, the fact that they didn't have parachutes if they had to chop up.

No worry, we're only a meter off the ground. This made them easier targets for the Germans, which is why they only flew at night. At the peak of the squadron, up to 42 women crews would be sent out on bombing raids each night. To get off a meaningful amount of bombs, the teams would complete between 8 and 18 missions and night, returning to rearm themselves between each mission. It was an exhausting schedule. Like each one might take 40 odd minutes. And it's just nonstop. Go, come back, refuel, reload, go, come back.

And they'd be out waiting for night to fall. And then when the sun started coming up, that was the end of the day. That was the end of the day. That was the end of the day. Of, yeah, according to the start of the day was the end of the day, Dave. Okay, all right. New day starts, day over. Okay.

How's that? You see the sun come up, time to go home, not night. Good night. It's night time. It's not time. It's not time. Do I have to explain what's happening? Oh, these women.

According to the Wright Museum of World War II, the 588th had to operate very close to enemy lines, constantly moving operations during the day so the women could fight at night. Because of their combat schedule, the women slept and trained during the day and flew during the night. Understandably, they didn't get a lot of sleep, but neither did the German units nearby that had to be prepared for nighttime air raids. The psychological effect of the Night Witch raids took a toll on the German troops. When interviewed by NBC many years after the war, Arena Racco Bolskaya, Chief of Staff

for the Night Witches said, quote, One girl managed to fly seven times to the front line and back in her plane. She would return shaking and they would hang new bombs, refuel her plane, and she'd go off to bomb the target again. This is how we worked. Can you imagine? No. It's wild. Just hectic, hectic, hectic.

And like that example is seven, I heard up to 18 in a night, which is... If we have a day where we record two episodes of the podcast, I'm exhausted. I go home, I lie on my bed for a bit, just to, you know, just to recharge a little bit. I'm so tired. Yeah. That reminds me, people should listen. Dave and I did a big day of recording recently. What a podcast do we do?

Plumbing the Death Star. Yep. Thumb cramps. They're two Sanspans Radio ones and then Dave went home after two. Lay down on Justice's bed, had a recharge. I hung around, did a who knew it with Matt Stewart and a, primates. So they're all with the Sandspans guys and

yeah, it was too many. That's too many. That's psychotic. That was yesterday. And now you're doing this. Yeah. I was writing this report in between recordings. That's fucking song. I live to pod. Your lumber.

Your lumber. Live to pod. You lumber. I'm just saying. Seven, 18 trips. back and forth, in a war zone, in freezing conditions, in a tiny little shitty plane, that is... Yeah, it's badass is what it is. We're just not built the same.

But you're forgetting that a lot of these women are motivated by revenge. Yeah, that's true. You're up there freezing. The only thing keeping you warm, that's revenge. Spite. Yeah, I'm not podcasting out of revenge. The cold actually helps because it is a dish best served that way. according to the right museum of World War II

each flight was extremely dangerous because the Germans surrounded what they thought would be likely targets with concentric circles of spotlight and flak guns that night witches would have to fly through to reach their targets. So the Germans knew what they're up to.

It was like a game of cat and mouse every day. They knew they were coming. They're trying to guess and they would often guess close. And they'd light them up in the sky and light them up with bullets. Exactly. So that was...

So they're like, well, how do we deal with this? And they devised a strategy to foil the Germans. They would fly in groups of three, three planes. When they neared their target, two planes would fly through the circles and then veer off in different directions, which caused the searchlights and flak guns to target them. So it sort of split them up a bit. Then the third plane would fly towards the objective.

When the navigator tapped her on the shoulder, she would kill the engine and drift near silently towards the target. with only the faint wushing sound of wind through the struts signaling their impending attack. Oh my God. This wishing sound was said to sound like a broom sweeping. Then the navigator would drop her bombs and the pilot, hopefully, would restart the engine and fly off.

The three planes would switch places until they dropped all of their bombs and then returned to the base for more. That's so good. That is so good. Can we ask Matt, what would that sound like, then switching the engine off. Okay. And then the bomb is being dropped.

So the engine's on at the start? Yep. I don't think he's ever used to broom. Okay, come to the bomb. They said it's a whooshing sound. Yeah, but it's such a gentle broom. Like, no wonder nothing's getting done in that house. If you're sweeping at that speed.

I used to broom for a living. When I was a trolley boy at the supermarket, that was one of my duties. Oh, you're a trolley bar a broom boy? Yeah, I know. Okay, now the bomb's dropping. from the washing, that gentle, gentle washing. Oh, what's that, this mosquito?

Well, it's getting closer. Oh, no. louder. I'm dead. Damn you night witches! They wush away. So, yeah, so the Germans apparently that they heard this wushing sound

and when they heard it, they basically shat themselves. They're like, oh, fuck, it was so eerie. And they're like, we know what that sound means. It just sounds like it would have been horrible. And this is why the Germans nicknamed them the Nacht-Hexen or Night Witches. God, that's such an amazing talent.

What is it? Nact Hexen. Wow. That is good. I'm probably not saying that right. Day, well, you're a German man. Or German, you've got German in you. That's right.

And you never forget, even if you've never learned. And, yeah, I guess they've gone from broom sounds. I'm not sure. It feels like maybe, it definitely was the Germans being pejorative when they're calling them Night Witches. But apparently the pilots of the 58th quickly took it on with pride. Yeah, nice.

They're like, yeah, we're night witches. I love that. Nacht Hexen, that's fucking badass. Thank you. Thank you for that sick nickname. That's awesome. We were looking for something. We want to get matching tats.

No, you reckon that? That sounds like they've done that in reverse, so saying, oh, no, we just called them that. because of the the wushing sand. It's not because it was women flying at night. Yeah, yeah, couldn't be that.

According to Prowse, the wishing sound was the only warning the Germans had. The planes were too small to show up on radar or on infrared locators. They never used radio, so radio locators couldn't pick them up either. They were basically ghosts.

They didn't use radios because they weren't given any. A lot of the, like they made a lot of negatives into positives. Right. The Germans had two theories about why these women were so successful. Firstly, they were all criminals who were masters at stealing had had been sent to the front line as punishment or they had been given special injections that allowed them to see in the night. So a couple of pretty... I think it's both. Yeah, they're both true. Yeah, that's the weird thing. It's not one or the other Nazis, okay? Sometimes it can be both.

They're thieves. With injections. With cat eyes. But what's the theory they're such good thieves? That's why they're such good pilots. Yeah. Yeah, they're not interchangeable skills. Yeah. Well, the Germans didn't know that. I didn't back then. True. Yeah, I was thinking with today's brain.

Yeah, you're right. Try and think with a 1940s Nazi brain. Of course, yeah, I try. I try. It's hard to get in the mindset. It is tough. Yeah, it is tough. Popova.

Popova. Popova. Popover. I think that's what you said the first time. Pop over. Pop over? Pop over for a cup of tea? Why not? A pop over talked about this rumor of them being out of seen

the dark in Albert Axel's book Greatest Russian War Stories saying, this was nonsense of course. What we did have were clever, educated, very talented girls. Who could see in the dark? And were thieves.

Who ate their veggies. Remember carrots make you see them. That's right. Yes. They were also tough as nails, as Popova later discussed, saying, when the wind was strong, it would toss the plane.

In winter, when you'd look out to see your target better, you got frostbite. Our feet froze in our boots, but we carried on flying. If you give up, nothing is done, and you are not a hero. I'd be given up. I'm okay with not being a hero. Great. I'm not a hero and I'm fine.

I'm all right. Yeah, I've got a warm bed and my feet aren't frozen off. Cowardly warm bed. Yeah, great. Cowardly unfrozen feet. Oh, heaven, great. I'll happily be a coward. Are you kidding me?

Yeah. I mean, what they went through was awful. But there was a world war on, and their country was. had been invaded. I reckon you'd jump to action. No, I just don't think I would. I'd be like, take me as a P-O-W. Let's go.

I don't want to. I don't think that's as good as probably what you've heard. You might be getting a few of those things anyway. I don't know. I mean, it depends on who's, maybe they'll be, maybe they'll be like, hey, we look after our POWs, whoever this regime taking us down. Yeah, true. Maybe they're like, hey, actually, we were hoping that our prison

camps, a little glum. Do you reckon you could do some radio put on some tunes for people? I could jush them up a bit? I'm like, you know what, I actually have the skill set for that, yes. We could give you a little grand, set you up. And we're so sorry about the state of the place. The pool is getting clean tomorrow. It's okay, I guess. So yeah, Popova was that, you know, badass. But she saw some horrible things. As Langer wrote, once Popova watched four planes crash carrying eight women to their deaths, saying, what a nightmare. Poor girls, my friends. Only yesterday we had slept in the bunks together. This is her talking years later. I don't know why she said yesterday.

Pobova remarked that perhaps she was born lucky. One time she counted 42 bullet holes in her plane. Catcher, my dear, she said to her navigator, we will live long. She's like, we're lucky. I'm feeling good about this. There's another famous story about another knight witch pilot who lost the bottom of her plane to enemy fire but kept on flying and returned home safe. She was just, her legs were running underneath. Yeah, like literally her feet were dangling her other ones. She landed Fred Flintstone's stuff. She'd get to put her heels down to slow the plane down.

How did she land? I guess she pulled up her feet. Oh, that's crazy. That's a good question. In all, Popova flew 852 combat missions, including 18 during one night, and was honored as a hero of the Soviet Union, one of the nation's highest decorations.

Over the course of the war, Popova said, she fought in Belarusia, Poland and Germany. In 1942, she was shot down, but she survived and ended up living to the age of 91. Whoa! So she wasn't lying when she said to her navigator, we're going to live long lives. We will live long.

Decades after the war, she reflected on the perils she'd endured, saying, at night sometimes, I look up into the dark sky, close my eyes and picture myself as the girl at the controls of my bomber. And I think, Nadia, how on earth did you do it? So sick, I was a big, big fan.

Sadly, the founder of the night witches, Marina Raskova, who we talked about before, one who jumped out of the plane into the snowstorm. Unfortunately, she didn't share the same luck as Popova. And on January the 4th, 1943, she died. According to the female soldier, she died while attempting to lead two other P2s to a safe air She was forced into making a forced landing on the Volga Bank, which resulted in the deaths of the entire bomber crew. Raskova received the first state funeral of the war, and her ashes were buried in the Kremlin

wall beside those of fellow pilot Polina Ossopenko. She was posthumously awarded the Order of Patriotic War First Class, and the regiments she created continued to serve for the duration of the war. As the war was drawing to an end, the squadron's last flight took place in early May of 1945. According to Holland at the time, the night witches were within 60 kilometres, approximately 37 miles of Berlin. Three days later, Germany officially surrendered. All together, they flew more than 30,000 missions in total, or about 800 per pilot navigator. That's awesome. The pioneering all-female 58th night bomber regiment dropped more than 23,000 tons of bombs on Nazi targets, and in doing so, they became a crucial

Soviet asset in winning World War II. Some of the targets they damaged or destroyed include 17 river crossings, nine railways, two railway stations, 26 warehouses, 12 fuel depots, 176 armored cars, 86 prepared firing positions and 11 searchlights. And a partridge in a pear tree. The grimmest Christmas carol ever. Plus they also made 150 supply drops for food and ammunition to Soviet forces. Holland continues.

They lost a total of 30 pilots, which you think about all the, if it's true that they had 1,200, it's a pretty good record. Yeah. Although, no, I think 12 across the 3, so it would be 400. But even if it's 30 out of 400.

Yeah, considering how dangerous their missions are. Absolutely, yeah. But you're like I say, I'm not 100% on these numbers. They do vary a little bit. But if you take Holland's numbers, yeah, it was 400 and it's only 30. I take Holland's numbers.

History.com. Yeah. Holland's not here to fuck about. Yeah, not horse manure. Fanny. Horse manure. Fanny. Don't forget the sound I made.

Yeah, that was a hard one for them to get. Very hard to Google that one. Horse manure. Fanny. So they lost the title of 30 pilots and 24 of the flies were awarded their title, Hero of the Soviet Union. They were feared and hated so much by the Nazis that any German airmen who downed one was automatically awarded the prestigious Iron Cross Medal. Wow.

That's amazing. Yeah. That's how scared they are of these tiny little women in their little shitty shitty planes. Mad of wood. You know, women can't fly planes and shouldn't be fighting, but they're so scared of them that if you shoot one down, you're automatically a hero. It's so great. How scared they are of you. Amazing.

Despite, this is a slightly grimer finish. Despite being the most highly decorated unit in the Soviet Air Force during the war, the Night Witch's Regiment was disbanded six months after the end of World War II. And when it came to the big victory parade in Moscow, they weren't included because it was decided their planes were too slow. So they're like, oh, we're doing a big celebrated parade, but yeah. Well, how fast is the parade traveling? It's a parade. They're all slow.

Yeah. I thought, yeah, I thought that was very strange. Or put them in a car. Yeah. Put them in the back of a Toyota Hylux. Like a walk along. Yeah. Because in my head, I'm like, I think if a war just finished like that and you had this

such a successful sort of mysterious regiment, you wouldn't want to give away what their planes were. And people see them in the light and go, oh, we probably should have been able to knock them out of the sky. But you couldn't. But so maybe you'll be like, oh, if they wanted to keep a secret, fair enough, but just surely let them march. Yeah, put them on the back of a truck or something. That's strange. Well, that says Holland wrote it. And I did sound like, I saw another article did say that the squadron continued on, but I read multiple ones saying that, yeah, months after the war, they were disbanded.

Yeah. But, you know, the amount of medals that were won by the women involved is ridiculous. the leader. She had this, I mean, I could read them all out, but there's like seven different high medals, including one that she's the only woman to ever win one. Wow. Yeah. I wonder what you do with your life after that, you know, like just going and like, I don't

know, getting an average nine to five job and living in the suburbs and which is nothing wrong with that life. But it'd be a come down. Totally. Yeah, but then you look up at the sky one day and go, how did I used to do it? Nadia, how did you do it? The hell? That's wild.

There were, some of them went into chemistry and were like in science and these sort of things. But, yeah, you know, as exciting and as high octane as science can be day to day. It's probably not quite the same as bombing Nazis. Rock and roll. Slightly warm. Better hours, though, hey. Oh, yeah. You know?

Because when it gets dark, day is over nighttime. Not night over nighttime. Yeah. Not I mean? Yeah. So, yeah, better hours. It would have taken a while to get used to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Unless they went into night shift work at a supermarket. Oh, yeah, that could work or like nursing. Yeah. Do a lot of shift work. That's true. Maybe a hotel concierge. Yes, yeah, that would work quite well for them. Doing the night shift.

Yeah, specifically. Oh, sounds up. Nighttime. Just as a final note, unbelievably, Dave, you might be able to help me with this. How many of our previous topics have the Swedish metal band Sabaton made songs about? Because I think it's at least a few. We have the Unkillable Soldier.

Yes. And there's one about the Great War, with World War I. I reckon there was another one, but add to the list. Do they do a cold it's one or maybe a castle itter maybe? Yes, I reckon that rings a bell. Well, you can add night witches to the list. Wow.

And I thought I'd finish with the lyrics because they're pretty fun. I mean, you know, pretty badass. And I don't know if this is a good band or not. I've never really listened to them. But we could go see them live. Did you know that they're playing? Oh, we're going to a festival they're playing it. The festival in December?

Yeah, good time. The Times Festival, is it? Tism are playing it. Good Times, good things. No effects. Yeah, and Sabaton are up there. It's going to be sick. Hopefully they don't clash, because I will be seeing Tism. I've got to tell you that.

Over anyone. Yeah. So here are the lyrics. From the depths of hell in silence. Cast their spells explosive violence. Russian nighttime, flight perfected, flawless vision, undetected. I mean, it's poetry. It's great stuff.

pushing on and on their planes are going strong air forces number one somewhere down below they're looking for the foe bombers on a run you can't hide you can't move just abide their attacks been proved raiders in the dark silent through the night the witches join the fight never missed their mark canvas wings of death prepare to meet your fate night bomber regiment 588. Oh, that's good. Undetected, Wings of glory, tell their story, aviation, deviation, undetected, stealth perfected. Fos are losing ground, retreating to the sound, death is in the air,

suddenly appears, confirming all your fears, strike from witch's lair, target found, come around, barrel sound, from the battleground, Axis aiming high, Redina awaits, defeat them at the gates, live to fight and fly Beneath the starlight of the heavens Unlikely heroes in the skies Witches to attack Witches coming back

As they appear on the horizon The wind will whisper When the night witches come That was beautiful That was very nice Sabatom Sorry it feels Maybe that's not

Oh my goodness That feels more appropriate For how that was performed Man I gotta tell you I'm so I don't know why this wasn't a longer episode because I loved learning about him. Hopefully I didn't talk too quickly. But I just blew my mind from start to finish.

Everything about him. Every single one of the key players was a bigger badass than the one before. It's just ridiculous. Yeah, so many legends. And I just looked up a picture of them as well. Obviously, there's heaps of them, but I've just looked up. And not only are they incredible pilots, but they're all hot. You know what I mean?

Because how hot are women? Yeah, that's true. And they're all women. They're all women. That's something I didn't mention, but it came up a few times that they were sort of, so a lot of them cut their hair and stuff. And they felt like maybe they were trying to be made into men. So they sort of, and were also being derided as women. So they're like, yeah, we're women.

And they sort of like they use makeshift pencils that were meant for other things to use as lipstick. They paint flowers on their planes and like, yeah, we're women. We're not ashamed of this. Yeah, love that. We're women and badasses. Because you can be both. You can be both. Also, you can be a woman without lipstick, but, you know.

No, that one's not true. You are only a woman if you, if you let a man see you without lipstick. Oh, dearie me. Yeah, wild. I love that. They're like, you know, reclaiming it. They're like, well, I can be, I can wear that. lipstick and drop bombs whatever love that that's feminism baby yeah whatever you want to be

so i think uh yeah the voters nailed that that's great i was not expecting that a lot do you know what i was thinking i was thinking this was going to be some kind of what's the word i'm looking for like an occult thing or something oh yes that what i'm thinking of yeah like a a a big foot type thing yeah totally i was like oh okay cool this would be some sort of thing that people swear they've seen no that was so that's what i was expecting and i was all for it but But what it was instead was one of my favorite stories, badass women. Yeah, it was sick. Awesome.

So yeah, thanks for all that big chunk of people who suggested it. Fantastic suggestion. Well, that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show where we spend a little bit of time, 30 to 40 minutes, thanking our great supporters on patreon.com slash doing one pod. Head to that website if you want to get involved. There's a bunch of different levels, different rewards depending on the level. Pop, one of some examples.

You can get early access to tickets to the live shows that we do. You get three bonus episodes per month. You know, once a year we send out Christmas cards as well, which you could get, just kind of cool, and other stuff. That's right. So much stuff. Oh, and the Facebook group. Oh, it's a nice corner of the internet.

Beautiful area. And one of the other things, one of the other rewards, if you're on the Sydney-Schenberg level, we get to give us a fact, a quote, or a question. And this section has a little jingle Go something like this Fat quote or question Always remembers the ding

Always remembers the jingle And if you sign up on this level We can give us a fact quote or a question Or a brag or a suggestion You also get to vote in multiple topic polls And you get the bonus episodes All sorts of things But this section, the fact quote of question

I'll read four out each week I don't read them until I read them And this week The first one comes from Stephen Carter And each of them also gets to give himself a title. Stephen gives himself the title of King of All New Zealand Immigrants, sorry, King of all New Zealand migrants who moved to Australia, cause Yolo. Okay. All right. I haven't heard YOLO and Yonks. Yeah, it's been too long. Thank you so much for

bringing it from New Zealand, aka the past. And a little fun there. I love New Zealand. Honestly, one of my favorite countries I've ever visited. Beautiful place, love it. I want to be there now. I've been there twice once I've traveled around the North Island for a couple weeks, saw the Saints play the first game in Wellington. Got done, doesn't matter. Didn't let it get me down.

And then another trip down to the Southern Island. Beautiful. And I'm like the Northern Ireland. I'm like, I've never seen such beautiful country. And then the Southern Island said, hold me beer. Yeah. While I kick you in the dick with my beauty. Yeah.

I drove around there. I spent the whole chip going, oh! One time driving the South Island, we sort of like came over a hill and we could see a lake and it was just turquoise, like just the colour, and I screamed. I literally screamed. I remember there were multiple lakes with that colour. But you are afraid of the colour turquoise.

I am terrified of it, actually, yeah. So I had to close my eyes. I was driving. It was a shriek. Yeah. New Zealand, I think in a lot of ways of the future as well. I feel like they're ahead of us in so many ways. In terms of like time zone?

Time zone. Yeah. You know, a lot of sort of other things. Yeah, yeah. Prime Minister is embarrassing. They're their rugby union team. Oh, yeah. They're always definitely ahead of us.

Okay, so Stephen writes, I'm asking a question here. Hey, team, love your work. Thank you for making my drives home. more hazardous as I tried to concentrate through uncontrollable laughter. My question is a follow-up to my NRL mascot-based question from years ago. Which AFL mascot slash symbol do you think would win in a last mascot standing fight? And he's offered us an answer here. I mean, right off the back of this episode, do you think the bombers?

I was thinking bombers is hard to beat. But then some of them also seem to have a sort of mythical powers. You like the giants. You know, if the giants are so big that they're, you know, they're just like plucking the bombers out of the sky. Or like, suns. Oh, yeah. That's where all, like, all energy comes from the sun. That's right.

And they're not just one sun. The suns. But then there's also the Geelong cats. That's true. And we don't know how many cats. Cats can be pretty tricky. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

They've got nine lives. Yeah. And they haven't given us a limit. It's plural cats. Yeah. But I guess it's also plural giants. It was all, but it was all the giants that you. you know it versus all the cats that you know of.

Oh, good point. Andre's dead. Sorry, Andre. But what about dockers? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they'll... A couple of guys on the docks. You know?

They're pretty rough. They're rough. Yeah. They're strong. Big picket lines. Yeah. You don't want to be a scab. So...

Am I thinking of the right thing? Painters and Dockers Union? They're pretty tough back in the day, I believe. I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm going to say sons. Okay, sons, Dave. You can't, you couldn't blow up this. sun, could we?

With a bomb? No. So I'm going to say the sun could beat a bomber. Unless you could mix the giants and the bombers and make the giant bombers. But you can't do that. That wasn't in the rules. What about the saints? My boys and girls.

What about them? Well, I mean, they're... They're dead. They're undead, aren't they? So they're useless. Wait, saints. Yeah, they are dead people, aren't they? Like, what can a saint do to the sun?

But don't they, they've performed miracles to become saints. So I don't know. But what can they do to the sun? Blot it from the sky? Smote it? I'm not sure. I'm saying sun. All right.

I'm going to lock in cats. They're very tricky. And there's all different breeds of cats. You get lions and tigers. Yeah, cop that, Richmond. Yeah, you get them all. That's the clever place to say cats are not tigers or lions. Yep, got them all.

You even get ligars. Terrifying. Antigrons. That's how many full on. So, as we always encourage, Stephen has answered his own question. But you didn't answer? Well, I said the Saints, but yeah, Jess has made a good point. That only works if you believe in them. Your loyalty to the Saints has, you know, hasn't helped you in your entire life.

So Stephen writes, my money would be going on the demons with power. giants and bombers making up the top four, saints scraping in for fifth. Sorry, Matt. But what is power? Power, yeah, I guess that's the thing. It's all, I mean, that's pretty broad, isn't it? Yeah. What's their mascot? A lightning bolt. Okay. Now, but lightning can't take out the sun. Or kill all the cats. There's more cats than lightning bolts. More cats than lightning bolts. What if the power like trapped them in a big ditch? Okay. Okay. If there was a mascot for the ditch, like the Hobart Ditches...

Because they are the port power. They could trap all the cats in the Port Adelaide, in the port. Oh my God, are you drowning a bunch of cats? Well, that, I'm not. Matt. I'm not doing that. Matthew. I think he's right, demons.

It's hard to beat demons, right? What can demons do to the sun? I think the demons is being nighttime creatures as well. They'll be afraid of the sun, if anything. He's given us the full list in order of preference if you want to hear it. Either way, I'm reading it. So, oh no, he's just given us the list of team names. We worked our way through it.

Let's go through all the teams, just in case you can think of anyone. We might have missed crows, lions, already beserved by cats. Blues, if that's sadness. Oh, that could take out the song. Or if that's the music. It's very powerful genre. Yeah. Again, what can it do to the sun?

No, I can't do anything in the sun. It's more of a night-time thing as well. Magpies, similar to the crows, although they're beautiful if they're the Irish magpies. Oh my God. But these unfortunately are the Australian ones and they are ugly little stuff. Which are great. I got swoop on the other day. Did you? I've never been swooped and I'm scared.

Yeah. One time one drilled me in the back of the head as a kid on the way to school. They can use tools. Yeah. I've heard that about magpies. Very clever birds. Poseable thuns. Clever bird.

Then we've got bombers, dockers, cats, giants, hawks, sons, kangaroos, obviously pretty tough. Demons, tigers, tigers, saints, swans, eagles and bulldogs. Yeah, I think we pretty much covered it there. Sun, can take out all those. I think Sun's probably the one. And I don't think that, did that not even make his... Yeah, it's where he's stuffed up. Demons, power, giants and bombers.

Didn't even, yeah, didn't even think about Sun. I think you'd put the sons in to his five and that top six are levels of above everyone else, including Dave's cats, who are probably on the bottom. Yeah, 100%. What do you talk to? I mean, the birds will just fly away from them. Easy.

And they just wait them out. Oh, you know, birds, famously, cats never get them. Are you thinking of Tweety Bird? Yeah, famously never gotten by Sylvester. That's just the first one. Fuck you, fuck you, birds. The next one, thank you, Stephen, for that question.

The next one comes from Derek Brigham. Okay. Brigham. Amorous meteorologists and... Oh, hello. Derek has offered a fact, writing the temperature of 20.55 recurring degrees centigrade is very pleasant for a sunny spring day. There's your sun again.

Just not cold, not hot, just very enjoyable. Wonderful for a picnic with a significant other. Dining for two in the sunshar. What makes it even better is that 20.555.5 degrees recurring. Celsius. Conferred it to Fahrenheit is 69. That is nice. Nice. That's fantastic work, Derek. Temperatures at 20.5. 20.5. 20 is a nice temperature. That's a nice day. Beautiful day. I reckon Melbourne's in that area today. Today, it's like 22 today. Just pure sunshine, blue skies. We are missing out on that. I know. We're inside in a dark room. Thank you, Derek. That was fantastic work.

The next one comes from Drew Foresberg, aka the one with the reference to a previous episode, the show, not the concept. That's a deep cut reference. I called the episode about Friends in brackets, the TV show, not the concept. Drew's got a question writing, can Matt Murdoch see why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch? Does that mean anything? Is Matt Murdoch the Simpsons' daredevil character? Because I don't understand the question. Lance Murdoch.

Lance Murdoch. Does this mean anything to you? Can Matt Murdoch see why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch? Matt Murdoch is the alter ego of Daredevil. That's so weird that I said is that the Daredevil guy from the Simpsons? You're putting something together. And he's a blind lawyer because I watched, he was on She-Hulk recently. And so the question is, can Matt Murdoch see why kids love the taste of cinnamon

toast crunch. I'm guessing cinnamon toast crunch is like a breakfast cereal in another country. And that's a, does that mean anything to you, Dave? Cinnamon toast crunch. I mean, it sounds good. I'd eat it. It's a whole grain cereal you'll love. It's got his website cinnamon toastcrunch.com. I'll say slogan. Let's see. Wait, hang on. Here you go. There's a Reddit thing saying. Cinnamon toast crunch slogan implies that it's not obvious why anyone would like their cereal. Oh, but what is it?

What is the thing? The taste you can see. Okay. Okay, gotcha, got you, got you. So I'm sure that this is the snappy sort of response Drew was looking for. I know, sorry, Drew. We didn't understand any element. We didn't know who that character is.

We also don't have that cereal. I've never heard of it. Now, now that we know the key elements there, do we have an answer? Can I have the question again? Can Matt Murdoch, the daredevil? C, why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch. Lock in A. A is yes.

Jess, what about you? I'm also looking at A. Yes, can. Yeah. I'm going to say B. Can't. That's how. Great.

And the answer is? Uh, C. Oh. All of the above. There you go. Cinnamon toast crunch. Thank you very much, Drew. Sorry, Drew.

Finally this week, we've got one from Bracken Markens. Bracken. Okay, chief marketing officer. of the Give Your Kids Normal Name Society and Not For Profit. And Bracken is asking a question, which is, I like my name in most circumstances, but it makes ordering coffee and meeting new people awkward. Once a new co-worker called me Bacon for two full weeks.

He thought your name was Bacon. This is Bacon. Hi, Bacon. Makes me wonder, if you could have chosen your name, what would you have picked? Bracken himself, or Bracken themselves, would go with something like Spencer. Not common, but something you've heard before. Yeah, it's not going to get mispronounced.

Yeah. Spencer P. Jones. That's good. Or some other Spencer. What's the Spencer? He was like, oh, the monkey did a whoops in me beret. Who is that? Who?

The monkey did a whoopsie. See my beret? Now, quick question. Could Matt Morgan see the monkey doing the whoopsie? Hang on, where's the whoopsie? In the barret. Oh, yes. What are you talking?

No, don't go down to deep. Just answer the question. What would you name yourself? Don't go deep trying to find out who this beret wearing. Coolmo D Simpson. Coolmo? Coolmo D. Coolmo D.

That was what Bart suggested Maggie should be going. Cool Mo D. Cool Mo D, yeah. I think it was, Cool Mo D was maybe a musician at the time. Dave, what would you name yourself? I'm probably going to go with Basil. Oh my God, that suits you.

Hello everyone, I'm Baz. You call me Basil? Or the other way around. Probably the other way around. I'm Basil, but you can call me Baz. Yeah, that's fine. No, I'd be calling you Basil. You wouldn't call me Baz?

No, you're not a Baz. Because Baz, especially in Australia, is like a Barry. You're not a Barry. but you are a Basil Barry is so good You know, you can also be... Barry's so good. You could also be a Colin.

Yeah. I think you'd be a good Colin. Basil has a bit of razzle. Bazzle, is a bit Holland, you know what I mean? I don't, because that's not a word. Holland's not a word.

Frank Spencer is the girl. You could also be a Clark. Who's Frank Spencer? He's the one who wore a beret. A monkey did a whoopsie. Oh, Betty. The monkey did a whoopsie in my barret. I think it's from like

It's from the 70s or something Right Matt You would name yourself I love I think maybe my all time favorite name It's probably

Kareem Abduljabah Yeah I don't know if you could pull that I don't think I could pull it off I love names like Gary Barry Greg Flegg

Flegg Flegg Flegg There was a recent episode of who knew it with Matt Stewart where there was a movie called Joe Lemonade, which was quite a good name. Oh, that's a good name. You could set you watch to that name.

That is good stuff. Yeah, so it's tricky. What about Gregory Shinikady? Yeah. New York. 100%. That's great. And Jess?

I've always thought, um, Jess is a very common name. It's only ever been misheard a couple of times with people over the phone ordering stuff where they've been like Jeff and I'm like, I'm all right. But I've always thought I could, I could be a Kate, I reckon. Cates great name. That's another name of the era that's quite common.

Absolutely, yeah. And I do really like the name Kate. But also like if I got to choose, I'd go for a fun name like Ginger. Oh, Ginger. You know, something fun. I like Jarvis. Jarvis.

Jarvis' good name. Jarvis Cocker. I know that one already exists, but maybe it would be Jarvis Cocker Jr. Jarvis Cocker Jr. J.C.J.? That's nice. Yeah.

Jalas Cooker Jr. Or it'd be like a poppy or a lily or something a bit fun. I can mush them all together. Poppy Lily is something fun. That's nice. Yeah, that's good. And that's your middle name. Yeah.

Now what's your first? My last name is Shooting Star, that's for sure. Oh, yeah, fantastic. My first name is Lemonade. Great question there, Bracken. I'm a big fan of Bracken Marken's a name, by the way. Bracken's very cool. I'm sorry that somebody thought your name was Bacon.

I also think baked. I also think baked. I'm sorry how hard we laughed at that. Come on, bacon's a good name. I do like bacon as well. The name and kind of the meat, but, you know. So... Sorry.

So the next thing we like to do is think a few other great supporters. Normally Jess comes up with a bit of a game based on the topic at hand. I thought about what kind of vessel or vehicle they would drive into war. Great. Love that. Great. What do you think? Do we give them a badass regiment name?

Or if we can. If we can. no promises on that that'll be a bonus if possible so i've already got one ready to go first well great well i think you you might be thinking of one for from wilder kentucky in the u.s Shannon west yeah Shannon uh floated in on inflatable swans oh yeah and the regiment floaty mcotey that's good at moody's goty moody love that no notes I'd also love to thank from Ascot Vale in Victoria Australia

James Graham What about the Wiggles Big Red Car In the Jar Graas The Jar Graas is the regiment Jar Grair The Jar Graz Because of James Graham Yeah it turns a bit like Far Grair

I love that You love Far Gra? I don't love Far Graeme I would have thought that'd be far from your That would be foie From my repertoire And finally I'd love to thank From Bellevue in Western Australia

It's Greg Nelly. Big Wider, how many ends in Nelly? Two, I'm on a computer that I don't know how to make the words bigger. That is the biggest computer I've ever seen. Yeah, so in comparison, the words look so small. Looking at the same Google Doc, you could just zoom in. Go same, okay. Out of the top, underneath view and insert.

There's a... View, insert. That's a little number. Mine says 1 25% for example Oh yes I'm down on a miniature 100%. Yeah, no no no baby I'm on 125 as well just for comfort

I can read it at 100 but I like to... I've just jumped you I'm 150. How's that better? A little better. Okay great. And Greg Nelly. Greg Nelly, what is Greg Nelly rolling into war on...

The throne being carried by six oiled up men. Yes. And his reg. is called the oily doilies. The oily doilies. I love it. That is a bit of fun.

May I think some people? I would really wish you would. I would love to think. From Stockport in Manchester. Oh, hello, from Stockport. Why, do it. What's one of the Gallagher's? I don't know.

You do. Noll. Noll. Yeah, now do Noel, of course. Not the question you're asking. I don't know how they talk But they would talk with that accent You love Morrissey, how does he sound?

Oh, oh, roll. Like that? And that is also what Sam Lacey sounds like. Sam Lacey rolling in on a coffin on wheels. Oh, with a little steering wheel on it. A steering wheel, but also it doesn't even have an engine. It's just like people are bowling them in like a bowling ball, but like pushing, like it's like a loose type thing.

The war has to be at the bottom of a hill. Yeah, perfect. interesting you said that because people did dub or some people have since dubbed the night which is balserwood airplanes the plywood not balserwood um plywood airplanes as coffins with wings that's amazing yeah well this is a coffin with wheels sam lacey uh and obviously sam lacey is one member of the tree boy big boys because of the coffins i don't know i don't know my brain works. A tree boy big boys.

I think it's because there's a lot of green on my screen. Tree boy big boys. So thank you, Sam. But boy, it's obviously not a boy only thing. It's weird. They named it that. Yeah. It's an ironic title.

Anyone is welcome in the tree boy big boys. I would also love to thank from location unknown, so we assume deep within the fortress of the malls, Simon Telford. Simon Telford. Well, maybe it's got to be an underground thing, mole-related. What about a land submarine? Oh, I love it.

We talked about the idea of these before, so they can somehow just move through the dirt. Like a worm. Because apparently some comic book superheroes can fly underground. I just read that just research in something at some point. That is one of the more ridiculous things I've ever heard. Yeah, but I guess it's as ridiculous as anything in those things. So it's like, yeah, they can just sort of, I guess, move through the ground.

And just like ruin the structural integrity of cities. Yeah, or are they just, yeah. I mean, and you're always of a superhero. You're more like a super zero to me. That's right. But anyway, that's what Tommy's. So that's not Simon's up to. I don't know where I got the name, Tommy from.

Simon, yeah. But his submarine sort of just passes through no effect on the structure. So it's like a train. No, no, not like a train. It just moves through like a ghost almost. Wow. That's spooky. It doesn't affect things.

And what's the reginal called? Call them a ground submarine ghosts, and they're called the ground ghosts. Ground ghosts. Dirty ghosts. The dirty ghosts. We're the dirty ghosts. That's good. That's not bad, yeah.

I like that a lot. Don't fuck with the dirty ghosts. Thank you, Simon. We're coming up, Thatcha, from underneath. I'd also love to thank from Finnspang in, is that Sweden? Yeah, wow. I would love to thank Tommy Svenson. Tommy Svensson is coming in on one of those

You know when sometimes you see like lakes And there's those things that you can pedal those boats on top of them One of those things, but it's shaped like a swan Oh, that's nice So I assume that swans are going to be used in the name, Bob, is that right? No No It's the paddle boys

Tommy you've got to let us know What Sweden thinks of Sabaton What are we What are we dealing with here? You're proud of Sabatom? Yeah. Are they big there or is it like you're not into them? Yeah, yeah.

Let us know. Dave, do you want to thank some people? Hey, I would love to thank from Gilliston Heights in New South Wales, James Horn. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's good. James Horn, traveling on a unicorn. Oh, that's good. And there, obviously the regiment is called the flippity flops.

flippity flops Here comes horn On his unicorn Flipity flop flop flop flop Hob Hornie boys Don't know why they say that they end But they just do

Horney boys They just do It just works They just ant themselves up You know They're going into battle Another person From possibly the fortress

Of the moles I wonder if they're no Simon Telford This is Michael Pruitt Michael Pruitt Who knew it with Michael Pruitt Michael Pruitt.

Jess, what did he come in on again? Drones. Drones. Drones. But drones are obviously fairly small, so he's actually, he's on all fours. And he's got a drone. And he's turned on his feet. The ominous sound they hear before they get a Pruitt attack is,

Oh, oh, oh, that's funny. And they're called Pruitt patrol. Proet Patrol. That's nice. I'm on Pruittet Patrol. Oh. That's good. Because there's four pilots.

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. The drones are being flown independently. They have to communicate really well. Left. No, not that far left. Yeah. Thanks, Michael.

And finally, I'd like to thank from North Bay in Canada. This is Catherine McCaskill. Oh, great name. Catherine McCaskill. Thanks, Catherine McCaskill. Fantastic. A big ball of cats. Oh, wow.

And is Catherine inside or on top? Or like sort of like pedaling, like walking on it. That's awesome. That's a powerful way to enter a battle. And then at any moment, Catherine can release the cats. And as you know, Dave, very powerful. Oh, my good, cats. Nothing can stop them.

Certainly not the sun. They got that ominous sound. Ow, wow. Wow. Thank you so much to Catherine, Michael, James, Tommy, Simon, Sam, Greg, James and Shannon. The last thing we like to do is welcome a few people into a triptych club, a very exclusive club, a club that you can only enter and you cannot leave.

And the way you get in is by being on the shoutout level or above at patreon.com slash dugong pod for three straight years. It's a bit of theory of the mind. What's going on here? What's going on? What's happening? What's happening on? Someone out there is listening for the first time and they're going, I don't know what this fever dream is.

Well, it's an exclusive club where it's a members-only club. You can come in, you can have a drink. There's food. There's a bar. There's a dance floor. There's showers. There's so many different seating options. And you're normally behind the bar and you normally create a cocktail based on the names.

What's the Night Witch cocktail? Nightwich is black. So what, Sanbuka or something? Oh yeah. I'm liking it early. It's a pint of Sanbuka. Wow. A pint. I'm not done. It's also got purple glitter inside it.

Okay. And it's garnished with a little witch on a broomstick figurine. Are these edible? No. So you're just sipping on a pint of Sambuca? Yeah. Black Sambuca. Wow. I don't hate it. Can we light it up?

No. And Dave, you normally book a ban for the after party? Yeah, well, it's not just a ban tonight. It's an experience. We've got the entire cast of Witches in Britches. The Melbourne Theatre Restaurant dropping by to entertain us. Are they still active? I thought I heard that they might have gone out of business. Well, they're coming back for one night only.

Yeah, I've given them a job. I think it does say first sale when he drove past. Yeah, it was their most recent show was, because they do these parody shows of big movies and stuff. And the last one I remember saying a few years ago was called Crazy Rich Witches. A parody of Crazy Rich Asians. But the word that rhymed with witches. Yeah, but they couldn't do crazy witch agents, could they?

But they have a word that rhymes with it. They probably have to recast. Yeah. So I don't think it would. So really, I think that was a good call of them not to do that. At least I had some self-awareness to go, maybe that's inappropriate. Yeah, but why pick that movie? Because that's like a big part of the movie.

And that movie has nothing to do with witches. Absolutely nothing. Not at all. It's a rom-com. Well, that wasn't my problem with it, but... I think... Oh, okay, I've misread what you're talking about. And, yeah, so I'm standing at the door.

I've got the names of five inductees this week, Episode 3, 69. Nice. And so I'm going to read out the names. Dave's up on the stage. He's emceeing. You know, obviously he'll later on hand over to the cast of Witches and Britches. Please give it up for Witches in Britches.

And he's going to hype you. up one by one, get the crowd really going. Jess is looking after Dave, Jess is Dave's hype man. So she'll sort of keep him on the straight and arrow. But anyway, let's get into it. Here are this week's inductees into the Triptich Club. Come on, Dave, here we go.

If this is your first time, this is high octane entertainment. Yeah, this is the good shit. There are flame cannons going off. You've put up with an hour and a half of a lovela, wobble, wafel, wafel. This is the good stuff. This is the show. Here we go. The pre-game entertainment is over.

Get ready to Rumble. Here we go. From Address Unknown. Can only assume from deep within the fortress of the moles, it's Tim Little. Nothing little about this guy. Yes, he's a big man. From Yuma, Arizona in the United States, it's Smokey's videos. Smokey-n-n-noki, am I right?

He's right! From Hotshton in Georgia in the United States, it's Colin Hitzgers. Oh, the Hitskas just keep on coming. There's probably There's silent letters in there. From Maurer in Queensland, Australia's Lisa Yao. Yeah, more like Lisa Yao. And from Missaga.

Mississauga, from Mississauga in Ontario, Canada is Laura Sinclair. Mississauga! Welcome in. Let's hear it for Laura. Lisa, Colin Smokies and Tim. Make selves at home. Grab yourself an ottoman or other chair. Have a sit.

Have a sit. Get ready for the entertainment. Have a sip as well on that big pint of... Sam Booker. Yeah, I would just sip out of that way. Oh, it's a sipper. I don't think I'm very good at this. At least she didn't book the cast of witches and britches.

I'm really thinking about moving Dave on. Someone's got to give him a word. No, I think it's great. I think it's fantastic. I never went there, but as a kid, I always loved driving past there. What was the other one? The one that was near Sin. Dracula.

I've been to Dracula's once before because a girl I worked with at the time, had a bit of a crush on one of the guys. One of the Dracula's. So we went. And you know what? It wasn't bad. What did you see? Crazy Rich Dracula's.

It's so funny that Melbourne used to be a hot spot for theater restaurants. Now I don't think we have any left. No, apparently there were 32. When Tony Martin moved to Melbourne. 32. Yeah. Which would have been in the 80s. So it was like boom time for...

That's awful. I heard that on a recent episode of The Little Dum Dum Club. Right, okay. Tony Martin and Sean McAuliffe's guests. Holy shit. Dave, why don't you ever get us guests like that? Yeah, come on, Dave, you piece of shit. What's wrong with witches and bridges?

You can book anyone. Their little Dum, Dom Club actually get the people. You can just make it up. Oh, okay, fine. We'll get my car off next week. No, it's too late. No, we've had to ask for it. It's not the same. Well, that brings us to the end of the episode.

Anything we need to tell people just before we go? That they can suggest a topic over on do-go-onpod.com. You can also find merch, links to live shows, and find out about all of our other podcasts that we do. And you can find us on social media at do-go-on-pod as well. Dave, Bird at Home. Hey, we'll be back next week with the second most voted for topic for Blockbuster, October 2020. We'll be back then.

But until then, I'll say thank you so much for listening and goodbye. Later. Bye. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are and we can come and tell you when we're coming there. Wherever we go, we always hear six months later, oh, you should come to Manchester. We were just in Manchester. But this way you'll never miss out. And don't forget to sign up, go to our Instagram, click our.

a link tree. Very, very easy. It means we know to come to you and you also know that we're coming to you. Yeah, we'll come to you. You come to us. Very good. And we give you a spam-free guarantee.