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 AP TE R THREE 34 NORTHERN FLEET ACES I t was hardly surprising that the Northern Fleet Air Force should have had within its ranks more Hurricane aces than any other in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War with Germany, as its pilots were engaged in combat operations with the Hawker fighter for nearly two-and-a-half years. As a result 13 Northern Fleet Air Force Hurricane pilots shot down five or more enemy aircraft between September 1941 and January 1944. Among them was Petr Grigoryevich Sgibnev, who recorded 11 kills in 1942 alone to make him the ranking Soviet Air Force Hurricane ace. Up until his death on 3 May 1943, Sgibnev had achieved an overall score of 19 individual victories. He ranks as the second highest scoring ace in the Northern Fleet Air Force, behind only the legendary twice HSU recipient Lt Col Boris Feoktistovich Safonov, who was credited with 20 individual kills. The first Hurricanes operated by the Northern Fleet Air Force were those handed over by the RAF’s No 151 Wing, whose pilots flew alongside the Soviet airmen in Arctic skies for more than two months. On 25 October 1941 these aircraft were issued to newly formed 78th IAP, which was established at Vaenga-1 with three squadrons and commanded by Boris Safonov. The unit’s pilots were drawn from 72nd Combined Aviation Regiment (Smeshannaya Istrebitelniy Aviapolk, SAP), which had been active during the summer without any great success. Although 72nd SAP pilots had not downed any enemy aircraft whilst flying I-16s during this period, once assigned to 78th IAP they soon used their ex-RAF Hurricanes to claim a Bf 110 destroyed. Its destruction was not officially confirmed, however. Archival sources now available to historians reveal that the majority of Boris Safonov was the Northern Fleet Air Force's top-scoring ace. He was also the first of its pilots to destroy an enemy aircraft, performing that feat on 24 June 1941 when he downed Ju 88A Wk-Nr. 8173 while flying an I-16. On 16 September Safonov was awarded the title of HSU and the Order of Lenin. Later he received the Order of the Red Banner three times and the British Distinguished Flying Cross on 19 March 1942. Safonov was killed in aerial combat on 30 M ay 1942, having achieved a total score of 20 victories. Of his 219 combat missions, 44 were flown in Hurricanes, and his two aerial engagements w ith the type resulted in tw o kills - over a Bf 109 on 17 December and an He 111 on 31 December 1941 Standing second from left in this group photograph of 2nd GKAP pilots is Snr Lt D I Sinev, who, on 25 October 1941, according to official records, became the first Soviet Hurricane pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com