"151 Wing Royal Air Force" Topic

"When Nazi Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Russian leader, Stalin, was calling for assistance from his Western ally, Britain. His first request was for 30 British divisions to fight on the Eastern Front. As one might rightly expect, after being routed in France just over a year beforehand, the British were in no position to offer such assistance. What Churchill decided on eventually was to send supplies and equipment to the Soviets, a plan that eventually turned into the Lend Lease programme with the British sending tanks, food, ammunition, aircraft and parts to Russia through a series of Arctic Convoys. As it transpired, supplying the Soviets with such volumes as they required was to the consternation of the British chiefs of staff, whose forces desperately needed re-equipping after the debacle on the Continent. Soon the Russians were calling for Supermarine Spitfires to be supplied, again, much to the irritation of the Royal Air Force, who were starting to phase out all of the older Hawker Hurricanes and replace them with the newer, more capable Spitfire. Eventually at the Moscow conference supplies of aircraft were agreed, and in the end the Russians received as many as 1000 Spitfires, but, as it turned out, they didn't like them. One of the main British aircraft to be supplied to the Soviets was the Hurricane, of which 3000 were supplied throughout the war. As the first of the huge number of Hurricanes was despatched, the British decided it would be largely a waste of time if the Russians didn't properly know how to unpack, assemble, fly, handle and maintain the, comparably, complicated Hurricane. And so, in July of 1941, Force Benedict was formed.

Force Benedict, as it was named, was a party of RAF personnel who were to be sent to Russia to fly on operations for a time and to train and teach Russian pilots and ground crew. On 29th July 1941, 81 Squadron was formed from the remnants of the recently-disbanded 504 Squadron, formerly a convoy patrol duty squadron. The squadron was formed at RAF Leconfield, East Yorkshire, under the command of Squadron Leader Tony Rook. 134 Squadron was formed from part of 17 Squadron, and was put under the command of Squadron Leader Tony Miller. After both squadrons had been formed, 134 was moved to Leconfield as well, and both 134 and 81 were put together as 151 Wing RAF. Command of the wing was given to the very-Britishly-named Wing Commander H.N.G. Ramsbottom-Isherwood. While the wing was at Leconfield, several pilots volunteered for service with 81 and 134, after being promised to be "sent on a tour overseas", and as such the volunteer pilots were under the impression they would be sent somewhere hot and sunny, like the Mediterranean. The destination of the wing remained a secret, and to keep up the pretence that they were going somewhere tropical, the officers and men of 151 Wing were even issued with mosquito nets and tropical uniform. Eventually it became apparent they would not be sent somewhere tropical when a pair of Russian-speaking interpreters arrived at Leconfield. Wg Cdr Ramsbottom-Isherwood knew the destination of his wing, and he was told he was to "exercise full operational control", but he would ultimately be under the command of Major General A.A. Kuznetsov. The Wingco was also instructed that his unit's role would be to defend the port of Murmansk and to co-operate with Russian forces in the area…"
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Amicalement
Armand

" the, comparably, complicated Hurricane. "
"older Hawker Hurricanes "

Er…what? How is the Hurricane an older design when it was designed after the spitfire and went into production the same month?
And wasnt the main advantages of the Hurricane that it usd older technology which was more easily produced and maintained? How is it more complicated than a Spitfire?

what strange things to say.

Compared to Soviet designs is how I read it. Obviously the Spitfire was more complex and advanced than a Hurricane.

DELETED……….

Agree!

Amicalement
Armand