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 FIV E 72 recording his fifth victory (flying an I-16) while serving as a squadron commander with 27th IAP. When his regiment was re-equipped with Hurricanes at the end of March 1943, Adonkin was one of the first pilots to convert. He was subsequently appointed deputy commander of 27th IAP, and would probably have progressed further but for his addiction to alcohol, which resulted in his demotion and transfer to 78th IAP. Adonkin was sent to Pummanki airfield as a squadron CO, and by this time he had been credited with six victories over Bf 109s, plus a further seven shared kills. Given the job of escorting Il-2 ground attack aircraft, Adonkin soon provided further confirmation of his prowess as a fighter pilot by claiming two enemy aircraft shot down on 12 June. Flying a night mission, four Il-2s, led by Capt Mazurenko, had attacked enemy shipping near Lille Ekkerey Island. The Shturmoviks were escorted by eight Hurricanes, with Capt Adonkin in the lead fighter. According to pilots’ reports, the raid inflicted heavy losses on the enemy —a 1500-ton transport and two 120-ton launches were sunk and fires started on the quayside. The defending fighters managed to intercept the mixed group of attack aircraft as they were leaving the target area. The Hurricanes engaged two Bf 110s and six Bf 109s in combat, and according to the Soviet pilots, shot down four enemy fighters —two of each type. Adonkin claimed a Bf 109 and a Bf 110 for his seventh and eighth victories. Two young pilots recorded their first kills during this Vasiliy Adonkin was born the son of a clerk in 1918 in the Belgorod region. In 1937, after his first year in the Pedagogical Institute, he entered Eysk Naval Aviation School and, after graduation in 1940, was posted to the Northern Fleet Air Force. When the w ar began he was flying the I-153, and he subsequently converted to the I-16. Adonkin started flying Hurricanes in March 1943, by which tim e he had already claimed seven kills. On 12 June 1943 he shot down the first of five aerial victories he would achieve in the Hurricane. On 22 January 1944 Adonkin was awarded the title of HSU, and he also received the Order of the Red Banner three times. He failed to return from a combat mission on 17 March 1944 Capt Adonkin of 78th IAP poses with his Hurricane IIB on 20 June 1943. He would claim five victories with the British fighter to add to the seven he scored flying I-153s and I-16s in 1941-42 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com