Soviet Hurricane Aces of World War 2

Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #107

by Yuriy Rybin, Andrey Yurgenson (Illustrations), Aleksander Rubinov (Illustrations)

Following the destruction wrought on the Red Army Air Forces during the first days of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the Soviet Union found itself desperately short of fighter aircraft. Premier Josef Stalin duly appealed directly to Prime Minister Winston Churchill for replacement aircraft, and in late 1941 the British delivered the first of 3360 Hurricanes that would be supplied to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease agreement. Specifically requested by the USSR, the Hurricanes were quickly thrown into action in early 1942 - the Soviet Air Forces' most difficult year in their opposition to the Luftwaffe. Virtually all the Hurricanes were issued to Soviet fighter regiments in the northern sector of the front, where pilots were initially trained to fly the aircraft by RAF personnel that had accompanied the early Hawker fighters to the USSR. The Hurricane proved to be an easy aircraft to master, even for the poorly trained young Soviet pilots, allowing the Red Army to form quickly a large number of new fighter regiments in the polar area. In spite of a relatively poor top speed, and only a modest rate-of-climb, the Hurricane was the mount of at least 17 Soviet aces.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Roy Szweda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lent this off the good mate who is an Osprey fan, he had my Tomcat book which is excellent and sets a high standard. This book is a similar, familiar format with plenty of graphics and information crammed into under a hundred pages.
Perhaps where its value lies in what I might call obscurity; although plane fans will know and love this magnificent Hawker machine not enough has reached print about its achievements up north. Not surprising since the Hurri was making an impact from day one to the very end and beyond in all theatres, all weathers and at the hands of all nationalities it seems.
Although it had its critics by the time of its Soviet debut they came around to appreciate its ruggedness, toughness and firepower. The only ones who likely hated it were those on the receiving end.
This book covers the lot. Who flew them, what they achieved, how many kills they scored in this and other planes as well as the diverse missions in all kinds of conditions. I learned a lot from this book and suggest that if you are a fan of WW2 aviation then have a gander.