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.

These pilots from 78th IAP have gathered for a political meeting at Vaenga-2 airfield during early 1942. They are, from left to right, squadron adjutant Capt I I Belov (back row), Sgt G G Ivanov, unknown sailor, Snr Lt V V Kravchenko, Snr Sgt P D Romanov (front row), Lt S I Verkhovksiy, Lt L L Khrustal, Jr Lt I S Krivoruchko, battalion commissar L A Fedorov (standing) and Snr Lt D I Sinev This Hs 126 artillery spotting aircraft fell victim to a Soviet Hurricane over the frontline in the Murmansk area during the w inter of 1941-42 ‘I landed with great difficulty. My hydraulic system had been badly damaged, so when the undercarriage stuck half way down I had to lower the wheels manually. The flaps wouldn’t operate either. In the end I couldn’t stop the aircraft landing in the middle of the airfield on two wheels. My fighter, its tail raised and with no reduction in speed, was careering towards the edge of the airfield, where huge boulders were looming. The brakes weren’t working and I pressed the rudder pedal hard with my left foot. I was trying to avoid the boulders and hoping that the undercarriage would collapse and dump the aircraft on its belly to stop the landing roll, but it drifted like a weathercock in the wind. The tail didn’t go down and the aircraft rolled across almost the whole airfield before it stopped. I wanted to jump out of the cockpit but I couldn’t. I felt dizzy. Half-an-hour later I was lying on the operating table in our aviation hospital.’ This colourful account suggests that the author not only recalled the details of his encounter with the Messerschmitts but also all of the feelings associated with it. Yet, interesting as such veterans’ memoirs are, they are often in conflict with reality. The number of opponents in air combat is usually exaggerated by both sides, and in this case only three Bf 109s were involved. It is also clear that Kurzenkov and his colleagues were not keeping a proper lookout for hostile aircraft because the enemy fighters had been allowed to approach them unseen. As a result they were taken by surprise, and only Kurzenkov survived the encounter to return to base. The circumstances surrounding the death of Lt P A Krasavtsev remain unknown to this day, although it is possible that he was shot down in one of the Messerschmitts’ first surprise attacks. Despite his wounds, Sgt N G Bokiy managed to make an emergency landing in his damaged aircraft on the frontline airfield at Ura-Guba, after which he returned to base on foot. Nikolai Bokiy claimed to have shot down an enemy aircraft prior to his demise, but in reality the Germans had suffered no losses. The Northern Fleet pilots had encountered aircraft of 14./JG 77 flown by Leutnant Alfred Jakobi and Unteroffiziers Dietrich Weinitschke and Artur Mendi. According to Luftwaffe reports, Jakobi and Weinitschke both claimed to have shot down a Hurricane — it was the former’s 41 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com NORTHERN FLEET ACES