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.

CHA PTER FO UR 68 O n 11 November 1942 fellow Hurricane ace Aleksey Dizhevskiy claimed his last victory when he reported shooting down a Ju 88, and later that month he was given command of 78th IAP’s 2nd Squadron. In May 1943 he became CO of the Northern Fleet Air Force’s 27th IAP, where he remained until the end of combat operations in this theatre. Dizhevskiy transferred to the Pacific fleet in 1944, and in 1957 to the reserve with the rank of colonel. Vasiliy Doroshin was also CO of a 78th IAP squadron by November 1942, and he claimed his last victory (a Ju 88) on 21 February 1943. He failed to return from a sortie in Hurricane JS259 on 23 June that same year, one account of his death noting ‘there were no encounters with enemy aircraft during the sortie, and the area around the target was covered by anti-aircraft artillery fire. On the way back at low level his radiator and propeller hit the water. The pilot made a technical error when entering low-level flight, for he got caught in the slipstream of an Il-2. His propeller hit the water and the aircraft crashed and sank’. Doroshin had logged 437 sorties, 11 of them at night, by the time he was killed. O f his 600 flying hours, 348 were in the Hurricane. ------------------K u r z e n k o v ' s L a s t B a t t l e -------------------- Despite his past misdemeanours, Guards Capt Sergey Kurzenkov became deputy CO of 78th IAP in November 1942. He would not survive in this role for long, however. Northern Fleet pilots often took off individually to attack enemy airfields under the cover of darkness, aircraft being sent aloft with short intervals between each machine. These sorties, however, proved to be as ineffective as they were difficult and dangerous to fly. Bombs were often dropped wide of the target in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire. Flying in all-enveloping darkness, pilots were unable to observe the results of their attacks. And although flak and nightfighters posed a threat to the Soviet crews, their biggest enemy was the rapidly changing polar weather. In December 1942 alone, four aircraft (a Pe-2 bomber, a USB biplane, a Hurricane and a LaGG-3) were lost to bad weather conditions and six airmen died. Apart from that, it was not uncommon for aircraft to be targeted by ‘friendly’ anti-aircraft batteries while returning from a sortie as gun crews would fire furiously at any aircraft flying into their sector. Kurzenkov took off in his heavily laden Hurricane on the evening of 28 February 1943 for his seventh nocturnal sortie. His mission was to attack an enemy airfield —he was not only an ace but also a capable ground attack pilot. Indeed, Kurzenkov had already destroyed a Ju 88 in a revetment and an adjacent building that provided accommodation for up to 12 personnel. Now, flying alone at an altitude of around 1500 m (5000 ft), Kurzenkov reached the target and dropped two 50 kg (110 lb) Seven-victory Hurricane ace Lt Col Aleksey Dizhevskiy, CO of 27th IAP, is seen here at far left in the regimental command post during the summer of 1943 Six-victory Hurricane ace Vasiliy Doroshin was born in 1921 to a peasant family in the Leningrad region. In 1939 he entered Chuguev Military Aviation School and began his service with 72nd SAP in October 1940 as a junior pilot flying I-153 fighters. Doroshin converted to Hurricanes in the winter of 1941-42 as a member of 2nd GKAP © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com