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Les,
Nobody really knows for sure, but one assessment I saw someplace was that the Soviets were the ones to experiment with women pilots in Po-2s. They were lighter and as a course that meant the plane could carry a (relatively) larger bomb load. (Still, that is little more than mortar bombs or grenades, but more of them makes more of a mess on the other end.)
As for the pilots bailing out, some of the Chinese and Koreans were scared to death of combat, and once their commander was killed or shot down, some of them reportedly had no idea of what do to on their own; result, they would bail out! Record was something like 7 out of 8 doing that in one Chinese squadron when the commander was shot down.
The Soviets would bail out over DPRK territory as they did not want to be captured due to the problems it would cause.
Cookie Sewell
AMPS
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