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.

two Hurricanes and one pilot. These combats were fought between formations that seldom numbered more than five or six aircraft. Gavrilov increased his score on 26 December. Taking off in one of two Hurricanes scrambled to intercept a Finnish reconnaissance aircraft, he subsequently returned to report having shot down the intruding ‘Blenheim’, although the victory remained unconfirmed. It did, however, make him the regiment’s top-scoring pilot. But Gavrilov was not the only one to score that month. Squadron adjutant Lt Vladimir Basov was already a master of attacks on ground targets, his skill in this mission having seen him become one of the first in the regiment to be awarded the Order of the Red Star for his exploits. He scored his first aerial victory on 4 December in a famous action that was officially described at the time as ‘a heroic chapter in the history of the Air Force on the Karelian Front’. Three Hurricanes, led by Snr Lt Nikolay Repnikov, took off on a reconnaissance mission over Medvezhegorsk. They initially came under fire from enemy ground forces and later encountered seven Finnish fighters. The Soviet pilots identified the enemy aircraft as ‘Me 109s’ and ‘Heinkels’. Such mistakes in aircraft recognition were not confined to the Soviet side, for the Finnish pilots involved in this engagement mistook their opponents for MiG-3s. However, to be fair to them, this was their first encounter with Soviet Hurricanes. In reality, the Finnish fighters that attacked the three machines from 152nd IAP were French-built Morane-Saulnier MS.406s from LeLv 28. In the ensuing battle, Repnikov, in Hurricane BD761, lost his life when he rammed one of the enemy fighters (MS-329) in a head-on attack —his Finnish opponent, Sgt Toivo Tomminen, an ace with 6.5 victories to his credit, also perished. This represented the first head-on ramming attack by a Hurricane recorded in the skies over Karelia and the Arctic region. Repnikov was posthumously awarded the title of HSU on 22 February 1943. Upon their return to base Snr Lts Vladimir Basov and Stepan Ivanov each reported destroying an enemy aircraft, their victims being listed as ‘Brewsters’ in the official record. These kills remain unconfirmed, however. O n 29 December Basov reported destroying his second Finnish aircraft, having intercepted a ‘Blenheim’ on an aerial reconnaissance mission at an altitude of 5000 m (16,250 ft) while on a solo sortie after being scrambled. Following the pursuit of the enemy aircraft the oil pressure in his fighter dropped sharply and he was forced to make an emergency belly landing some distance from the airfield. In this case the Hurricane was not seriously damaged, but the destruction of Basov’s victim was not confirmed. © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Finnish Air Force Brewster B-239 Buffaloes of 2/LeLv 24 patrol the skies over Tiiksjarvi in 1942. These machines w ere the main opponents facing 152nd IAP pilots on the southern flank of the Karelian Front during the winter of 1941-42 (Kari Stenman collection ) 17 ON THE K AR E LIA N FRONT