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.

м ‘I attacked one Ju 87 when it was pulling out of its dive, opening fire from a range of 100 m. After the third burst of machine gun fire the Ju 87 crashed 5-8 km [3-5 miles] west of Murmansk’. For both Soviet pilots these victories represented their fourth in aerial combat. Most of 78th IAP’s Hurricanes, led by Snr Lt Sgibnev, engaged the escorting fighters, thus giving the Guards pilots their chance to attack the Stukas without interference. Sgibnev and his formation waded into the Bf 110s as they pulled out of their dives, the leading group firing three long bursts into the first twin-engined fighter in a head-on attack. According to Sgibnev’s report, the Bf 110 ‘dived steeply and crashed into the ground, leaving a trail of black smoke behind it’. Sgibnev then attacked a single Bf 109 from behind and slightly below from a range of 150-180 m. He again fired three long bursts, but could not prevent the enemy fighter from breaking off combat and diving away to the west. Sgibnev did not see the Messerschmitt crash so after the battle he claimed just the Bf 110 destroyed. It was his second victory as a Hurricane pilot. Although his own aircraft had been damaged by bullets and shrapnel, it was soon repaired. Two of Sgibnev’s squadronmates, Snr Lt Zhivotovskiy and Lt Babiy, both claimed to have downed a Bf 110. For their part the pilots of the escorting Bf 110s claimed to have destroyed two Hurricanes and a MiG-3. They had stayed above the clouds ready to pounce on lone Soviet aircraft, but they only succeeded in damaging a MiG-3, whose pilot was able to make an emergency High-scoring Hurricane ace Pavel Orlov was born in 1914 to a peasant family in the village of Solntsevo, near Moscow. In 1933 he entered Eysk Naval Aviation School and after graduation became an instructor there and, in January 1939, at the Nikolaev Naval Aviation School. He was posted to the Northern Fleet Air Force in 1941 and achieved his first victory on 12 January 1942 while flying a Hurricane. Orlov twice received the Order of the Red Banner (the medals worn above the left breast pocket of his tunic) and he was posthumously awarded the title of HSU after he was killed in aerial combat on 15 March 1943 This Bf 110 was assigned to 13.(Z)/JG 5 Eismeer. In the spring of 1942 Northern Fleet Air Force Hurricane pilots suffered heavy losses to this unit when they attempted to shoot down these heavily armed fighters in head-on attacks 47 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com NORTHERN FLEET ACES