It is well known by most that the Soviet Union received quite a bit of war material from the Western Allies during WWII. Most of this was never paid for as the Soviets felt they were 'owed' this material to help fight the Nazis. Among the material sent by the British, were Hurricane fighters, the vast majority of which were the Hurricane IIB with 12 .303 machine guns in the wings. Many of these planes were later retrofitted by the removal of the Brownings and replacement with Soviet guns; specifically two 20mm and two 12.5mm weapons. This gave a harder hitting power and also allowed for an increase in bullets or shells per gun.

These aircraft were deployed to the northwestern theaters of operation; specifically the Karelian Front and with the Northern Fleet. To say these were 'backwater' areas would not be entirely true, though the amount of opposition the units flying these planes saw was not like the more southerly areas of operation. Still, the quality of the opposition was the same. While the Hurricane could pretty much hold its own in late 1941, by the time mid 1942 and later came around, they were severely outclassed by later 109s and the FW-190s they opposed. Still a very maneuverable and rugged aircraft, most Hurricanes were used for close escort of IL-2s and other bombers as well as ground attack. It is telling that by late 1942, the Hurricanes themselves had to be escorted by more modern Soviet fighters. Eventually, these planes were clearly obsolete for modern combat, but some soldiered on until mid 1944.

In this book by Yuriy Rybin, we take a look at how the Hurricane was used in Soviet service and the pilots who flew them. The research is very well done and typical of what we now have come to expect, there was a considerable amount of overclaiming in terms of kills. Frequently a raft of claims were made against Luftwaffe aircraft where there was no confirmation or where perhaps only one or two aircraft were actually shot down. Still, in wartime this is rather common and it was a morale boost.

Many of the pilots who were successful in the Hurricane are unknown to most readers, and many of them perished either flying the plane or later in the war. The survival rate, however, was more than you would expect, much thanks to the construction of the aircraft itself and ex-pilots looked back fondly on the Hurricane. Typical of the series, we not only get a lot of great pilot stories, but a good look at the on-going operations of the aircraft during its time of service.

It all makes for a great read and thanks to the superb selection of period photos (many of them 'hero pose') and the fine collection of full color profiles, we get a more complete picture of Soviet Hurricanes and their crew.

September 2012

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