Рыбин, Ю. В. Советские асы на Харрикейнах в годы Второй Мировой Войны / Юрий Рыбин . – [Б. м. ] : Osprey Publishing, 2012. – 97 с. : ил., портр. – Англ. яз.

CH A P TE R TWO 14 ON THE KARELIAN FRONT A total of nine regiments operated Hurricanes on the Karelian Front during the fierce clashes between Soviet fighter pilots and their Luftwaffe and Finnish counterparts in 1941-42. Yet only one of those regiments, 152nd IAP, was able to boast a solitary ace within its ranks. And Pavel Ivanovich Gavrilov can also be described as ‘the forgotten ace’. Even today there is not one word in any known publication describing his exploits during a particularly difficult period of the Great Patriotic War. Gavrilov, who had been born in Leningrad on 20 June 1918, graduated from the Tashkent Railway College after six years of study in 1938. Later that year he was accepted into the ranks of the Red Army Air Force and began his military service in the Guards’ battalion of the 1st Chkalovskoe Military Aviation College. Graduating in January 1940, Gavrilov was initially posted as a junior lieutenant to 163rd Reconnaissance Air Regiment, before joining 152nd IAP. The latter had been established in late 1939 within the 9th Army Air Force, being based initially at Voynitsa airfield near the town of Ukhta. 152nd IAP, comprised of five squadrons (two flying the I-15bis and three the I-153), played an active role in the ‘Winter War’ with Finland between 9 January and 13 March 1940. Following the cessation of hostilities, the regiment’s fighters operated from airfields in the Petrozavodsk, Leningrad and Arkhangelsk areas. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, 152nd IAP —with its five squadrons equipped with 64 I-153s —became part of 134th Fighter Air Division (Istrebitelnaya Aviadiviziya, IAD), within the city of Arkhangelsk’s air defence system. Based at Kegostrov airfield, it was engaged in the air defence of this vital sea port. In the absence of appropriate air observation, early warning and communication posts, there were no encounters with the enemy and, in any case, at that time the only Luftwaffe flights made in this area were by lone reconnaissance aircraft. In August 1941 152nd IAP was reduced in size to just two squadrons operating 20 I-153s, its remaining three units being relinquished to allow them to serve as foundation squadron for newly formed regiments. On 17 September 152nd IAP was transferred to Sosnovets airfield on Pavel Gavrilov claimed five victories in the Hurricane, making him the only ace on the type to serve with the Karelian Front Air Force During the winter of 1941-42 most Soviet pilots serving on the northern front converted to the Hurricane from the I-153 biplane fighter, which had previously been in widespread service with both Red Army and Northern Fleet Air Forces © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com