Rybin, Y. Luftwaffe ace Walter Schuck researched / Christer Bergstrom, Yuriy Rybin. - Sweden : [s. l.], 2019. - 190 p. : ill.

WALTER SCHUCK A Tupolev SB bomber taking off. speed. Schuck tried to follow him, but after a while he had to admit that the Soviet fighter was outrunning him. Somewhat surprised, Walter Schuck returned. Indeed, speed at level flight and in a dive was what after all made the Airacobra superior to the Hurricane, and at an alti­ tude of three thousand feet, the Airacobra was almost 50 mph faster than the Hurricane. The Soviet attempt to attack Petsamo’s airfield was a complete failure. Instead, scenes ofwild enthusiasm were displayed as the German fighter pilots made a trium­ phant return. Without any own losses, they had warded off the Soviet attack and shot down several bombers and fighters. Apart from the “Hurricane” claimed by Schuck, Werner Schumacher had claimed two more - making his day’s total six victories. At Murmashi aerodrome, 19 GIAP was in a dismal mood. Apart from the failed mission, two P-40s had been shot down. Starshiy Leytenant I. D. Fateyev and Leytenant I. K. Kuznetsov survived by bailing out. In addition, Mladshiy Leytenant Gabrinets’s Airacobra had been badly shot up and crashed. The Soviets claimed to have shot down three Me 109s, but that was a poor con­ solation. Two days later, Mayor Aleksandr Zaytsev was reported killed while test flying an Airacobra. The loss of such a great pilot constituted yet another blow against 19 GIAP. Zaytsev was just as popular among his pilots as he was viewed with suspicion by his superiors. Although he was credited with 14 individual and 21 shared vic­ tories, his blunt straightforwardness towards superiors brought him into repeated trouble. On the same day as Zaytsev was killed, the Soviet aviation in the Far North lost their undoubtedly best fighter pilot - the naval ace Podpolkovnik Boris Safonov. T