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 F IV E 74 o f their burning aircraft and were quickly rescued from the water by launches. Two more damaged Hurricanes made emergency landings at Pummanki, as did an Il-2, leaving the remaining attack aircraft (escorted by Yak-1s and P-39s) to fly back to Vaenga-1. Apart from Adonkin, fellow Hurricane pilots Lts Z V Bulat (his third victory), F M Kochanov (first victory) and V G Mitrofanov (second victory) from his squadron each claimed a Bf 109 destroyed. June 1943 also saw another 78th IAP pilot become a Hurricane ace when, on the 5th, flight commander Jr Lt Aleksey Pilipenko recorded his fifth victory while covering a convoy of ships in the Gulf of Motovsk. Such duties also fell to the Northern Fleet fighter pilots, in addition to mounting attacks on enemy shipping. Ensuring the safety of Soviet convoys was a critical mission since the troops defending the peninsulas o f Rybachiy and Sredniy depended on being re-supplied by sea. — F i g h t i n g o v e r t h e G u l f o f M o t o v s k — Fighters constantly patrolled the Gulf of Motovsk during this period too, on the alert for marauding Bf 109s and Fw 190s attempting to attack Soviet ships. And when enemy aircraft were encountered, the Northern Fleet pilots were often at a disadvantage because the German machines usually sortied in numerically superior formations. This meant that despite their best efforts, the Soviet fighters could not prevent Luftwaffe aircraft from attacking shipping. The proximity o f enemy airfields also gave JG 5 more time in the target area, with pilots from the unit operating over friendly territory for the first time in two years. No longer worried about being captured should they have to bail out, they pressed home their attacks over the Gulf of Motovsk with previously unseen ferocity during June 1943. This was demonstrated by the fact that 18 Hurricanes were shot down in battles over the supply convoys during the course of the month, resulting in the loss of eight pilots. On 5 June, during one of the bloodiest battles of the campaign, Jr Lt Aleksey Pilipenko became a Hurricane ace. Many of the details pertaining to the fighting on this date are, however, obscure, with the limited archival documentation available making it impossible to provide an exact account of the actions of each participant. What is known is that 50 fighters were ordered by Northern Fleet Air Force command to cover a single barge carrying ten new 122 mm field guns and 60 artillerymen. It was being towed by a tug and accompanied by four Maritime Defence launches. Hurricanes comprised the main element of the airborne escort, with 20 from 78th IAP and 16 from 27th IAP. Between 0445 hrs and 0705 hrs, two major aerial battles were fought. In the first, Hurricanes from 78th IAP attempted to fend off two formations of Bf 109s and Fw 190s. Soviet sources put the total number of German fighters involved at 20. 78th IAP quickly lost four Hurricanes, Jr Lts N T Starosvetskiy and V A Kukibniy bailing out of their burning aircraft, while the other two pilots, Jr Lts N I Kirillov and N A Kravchenko, were able to make emergency landings on the Rybachiy peninsula. Kravchenko’s aircraft was then strafed by a Messerschmitt and set on fire, seriously wounding the pilot. Thirty minutes later there was another battle when 12 Hurricanes from 27th and 78th IAPs, escorted by P-39s from 255th IAP, were © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com