Editing Hawker Hurricane (section)

===Air defence in the Soviet Union===
{{see also|Operation Benedict}}

[[File:No. 151 Wing Royal Air Force Operations in Russia, September-november 1941 CR38.jpg|thumb|Hurricane Mk.IIB of No. 81 Squadron RAF at Murmansk-[[Vaenga airfield]], Russia]]
The Hawker Hurricane was the first Allied [[Lend-Lease]] aircraft to be delivered to the [[Soviet Union]] with a total of 2,952 Hurricanes eventually delivered,<ref name="Morgan p. 55.">Morgan 1999, p. 55.</ref> becoming the most numerous British aircraft in [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] service.<ref>Yefim 2008, p. 480.</ref> Many Soviet pilots were disappointed by the Hawker fighter, regarding it as inferior to both German and Soviet aircraft.<ref name="Morgan p. 55." /><ref name="Drabkin p. 11.">Drabkin 2007, p. 11.</ref>
In July 2023, a crate of 8 Hurricanes was found buried in Ukraine.  These had been supplied by the US but under the terms of Lease Lend, the Russians did not have to pay for equipment which didn't survive the war.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ukraine finds British WW2 Hurricane planes outside Kyiv|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65955365|work=BBC News|author=James Landale|date=July 2023}}</ref>

During 1941, Mk.II Hurricanes played an important air defence role when the Soviet Union found itself under threat from the approaching German Army, who were advancing across a broad front stretching from [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] and [[Moscow]] to the oil fields in the south. Britain's decision to aid the Soviets meant sending supplies by sea to the far northern ports, and as the convoys needed to sail within range of enemy air attack from the Luftwaffe based in neighbouring Finland, it was decided to deliver a number of Hurricane Mk.IIBs, flying with [[No. 81 Squadron RAF|Nos. 81]] and [[No. 134 Squadron RAF|134 Squadrons]] of [[No. 151 Wing RAF]], to provide protection. Twenty-four were transported on the [[Aircraft carrier|carrier]] ''[[HMS Argus (I49)|Argus]]'', arriving just off [[Murmansk]] on 28 August 1941, and another 15 crated aircraft on board merchant vessels. In addition to their convoy protection duties, the aircraft also acted as escorts to Soviet bombers.
Enemy attention to the area declined in October, at which point the RAF pilots trained their Soviet counterparts to operate the Hurricanes themselves. By the end of the year, the RAF's direct role in the region had ended, but the aircraft themselves remained behind and became the first of thousands of Allied aircraft that were accepted by the Soviet Union.<ref>Bader 2004, pp. 135–137.</ref> Although Soviet pilots were not universally enthusiastic about the Hurricane, twice [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] Lt. Col. [[Boris Safonov]] "loved the Hurricane", and RAF Hurricane Mk.IIB fighters operating from Soviet soil in defence of Murmansk, destroyed 15 Luftwaffe aircraft for only one loss in combat.<ref name="Jacobs pp. 84–85">Jacobs 1998, pp. 84–85.</ref> However, in some Soviet war memoirs, the Hurricane has been described in very unflattering terms.<ref>Yefim 2008, p. 482.</ref>

The "Soviet" IIB Hurricane as a multi-role fighter-bomber had quite a few drawbacks. First of all, it was {{cvt|25|-|31|mph}} slower than its main opponent, the Bf 109E interceptor, at low and medium height, and had a slower rate of climb. The Messerschmitt could outdive the Hurricane because of the thicker wing profile of the British fighter. But the main source of complaints was the Hurricane's armament. On occasion, the eight or 12 rifle-calibre machine guns did not damage the sturdy and heavily armoured German aircraft; consequently, Soviet ground crews started to remove the Brownings. Retaining only four or six of the 12 machine guns, two {{cvt|12.7|mm}} [[Berezin UB]]s or two or even four {{cvt|20|mm|2}} [[ShVAK cannon]]s were substituted, but overall performance deteriorated as a result.<ref>Yefim 2008, pp. 483–484.</ref>{{refn|Soviet pilot Nikolai G. Golodnikov remembered: "The Hurricane's engine was powerful, but it couldn't stand long periods of work at maximum regimes and would quickly break down. The engine worked very clean, it had exhaust stacks and flame suppressors, mounted like mufflers.{{refn|Soviet Hurricanes were fuelled with 95 octane avgas, not the 100 Octane fuel that the Merlin XX was designed to use.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}|group=N}} This was very comfortable as the flames did not blind the pilot. Our planes were much worse in this respect. But at negative G-forces the engine choked. There was no compensating tank. This was very bad because we had to execute any manoeuvre with positive G-forces. It had a very thick wing profile and poor acceleration characteristics. It was not slow in responding to the control stick, but everything happened smoothly, slowly. It had good lifting strength and was very good in horizontal manoeuvrability. But the Hurricane was very poor in vertical manoeuvre, due to thick wing profile. We mostly tried to impose a battle in the horizontal plane and would not go into a vertical one. The Hurricane burned rapidly&nbsp;— and to cinders like a match&nbsp;— as it had [[Duralumin|dural]] covering only on the tail and wings, the rest was [[percale]]."<ref>Drabkin 2007, pp. 127–128:</ref>|group=N}}

The British archives file AIR 22/310 reports 218 Mk.IIA sent to the Soviet Union or handed over, 22 lost before arrival, 1,884 Mk.IIB sent or handed over, 278 lost before arrival, 1,182 Mk.IIC sent or handed over, 46 lost before arrival, 117 rejected, 60 IID sent or handed over, 14 rejected, 30 Mk.IV handed over, total 3,374 Hurricanes sent or handed over, 346 lost before delivery, 2,897 accepted by the Soviets, 131 rejected.