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 FO UR together with the positive results of the first attack, instilled yet more confidence in the pilots that the bombers could be routed.’ But further analysis of the actions of Northern Fleet pilots during this engagement highlights not only an inefficient use of their fighters, but also the weakness of tactical training at that time, even among more experienced squadron commanders. The accounts also reveal that the defending fighter pilots only became aware of the approach of enemy bombers when they saw bursting anti-aircraft shells surrounding the formation. This proves that in the summer of 1942 the Northern Fleet air defence system was still not making full use of the radios fitted in the Hurricanes to vector them towards hostile aircraft once they had been seen by Red Army spotters in the field. The Soviet pilots’ head-on attacks, which were used to break up the Ju 87 formation, represented the classic opening gambit of air combat on the eastern front throughout 1942. This was followed by numerous independent actions, implying that individual pilots were then set free to pursue enemy bombers. Such a tactic usually led to heavy losses of Soviet fighters and pilots when the dive-bombers’ fighter escorts reacted to the Hurricanes’ attack. On this particular occasion, however, Sgibnev’s pilots were lucky. They were soon joined by other Hurricanes from 122nd IAD that were able to keep the escorting fighters occupied, although the Northern Fleet pilots had failed to spot six Bf 109s that were following the Ju 87s at a different altitude. It should be said at this point that in 1942 Northern Fleet fighter pilots were still employing the tactics developed by Boris Safonov during his early battles with German bombers in the summer of 1941 —a A victim of Vaenga-2 based Hurricanes, this Ju 87R of I./StG 5 crashed near Murmansk in the early summer of 1942 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com