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.

Snr Lt Ivan Edush began his combat career in 1943 flying Hurricanes with 27th IAP. He scored tw o aerial victories w ith the type prior to the regiment converting to the P-40. The latter type was eventually replaced by the P-39, and Edush was flying an Airacobra when he was shot down and killed on 12 October 1944. He had accounted for five enemy aircraft prior to his demise The air battle did not end there, however, as during the second approach to the target more Bf 109s attempted to break through the escorting fighters in an effort to reach the Il-2s, but they were frustrated. The defence of the Shturmoviks cost three Hurricanes and a Yak-1, and two pilots killed. One of the downed Hurricanes came from Amosov’s group, its pilot, Jr Lt T F Chistov, performing an emergency landing near the enemy airfield. He managed to return to his base two days later. -----------------------------R e o r g a n i s a t i o n ------------------------------ In October 1943 there was a reorganisation intended to improve training efficiency between the Hurricane-equipped 27th IAP and 255th IAP. As the most proficient in the former unit, Amosov’s squadron was transferred to 255th to convert to the P-39. A squadron from the latter regiment, which had started transitioning to the P-40, was in turn transferred to the 27th. As a result, Dmitriy Amosov, now holding the rank of captain, started to train for operations on another type of fighter in another regiment. He quickly earned the respect of his new colleagues and continued to fly the Airacobra, scoring his eighth, and final, victory on 7 April 1944. A month later, while returning from a sortie, and witnessed by his regimental colleagues, Amosov crashed into the water and was killed. His death followed a torpedo attack on a German convoy, the escorting fighter pilots strafing the decks of the enemy ships with their machine guns for two or three minutes in response to heavy anti-aircraft fire. On the return flight a trail of white smoke was visible behind the leader’s aircraft, and a few minutes later the pilots in the group heard the call ‘It’s me, Amosov. I can’t see’. As the white smoke turned to black his fellow pilots radioed directions to him, but for some unknown reason Amosov failed to gain height, thus preventing him from safely bailing out of his P-39 —perhaps he preferred a quick death to capture by the enemy. Putting his aircraft into a steep dive, Amosov shouted his final order over the radio —‘Bring the torpedo-bombers home’. His Airacobra, smoking heavily, crashed into the water at high speed and plunged beneath the waves. Compared with the heroic and dramatic exploits of Vasiliy Adonkin and Dmitriy Amosov, those of fellow Hurricane ace Capt Vasiliy Pronchenko seem less impressive. Yet he not only fought in, and survived, the bloody polar battles, but also recorded the destruction of five enemy aircraft. Pronchenko ‘made ace’ on 22 August 1943 —the same day that Vasiliy Adonkin recorded his fifth individual victory in the Hurricane. And like the latter, the military career of Vasiliy Pronchenko developed in a way that was far from straightforward. Joining the Northern Fleet as a lieutenant in April 1942 (the most difficult period of the air war in this theatre), Pronchenko had previously spent three years as a flying instructor at an aviation college prior to becoming a pilot in 2nd GKAP. He scored his first victory on 30 May 1942, over a Bf 109, his combat report stating that Pronchenko was flying one of six Hurricanes that had taken off to intercept enemy aircraft over the entrance to Kola Bay. Here, they engaged five Bf 109s and two Bf 110s, and in the ensuing battle the Northern Fleet pilots claimed to have destroyed two single-seat fighters, as well as a probable, but this 79 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com B A T T L E SOVER THE OCEAN