WW 2 Hurricanes found in Ukraine
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WW 2 Hurricanes found in Ukraine
I have just been reading the BBC online news. Supposed six Hurricanes.
Ukraine hails 'very rare' find of British WW2 Hurricanes destroyed and buried by USSR (msn.com)
Ukraine hails 'very rare' find of British WW2 Hurricanes destroyed and buried by USSR (msn.com)
Hollow shells, stripped out apparently.
It appears that at the end of the war the Russians stripped them out and bulldozed them into a hole to avoid having to pay for them under the lend-lease agreements. We "lent" them 3000 hurricanes - not to mention various marks of radars etc.
We even re-engineered them to read in metres / kilometres as opposed to yards / miles etc and labelled them in cyrillic.
We even re-engineered them to read in metres / kilometres as opposed to yards / miles etc and labelled them in cyrillic.
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I heard it was eight
and that they're going to try to put them all together to make one they can show in a museum
and that they're going to try to put them all together to make one they can show in a museum
I seem to remember about 30 years ago, at the start of the "Russian wreck recovery era", that there were rumours of a cache of uncrated Hurricanes secreted away in a Russian salt mine Maybe not too good for corrosion but perhaps the story did have some mileage if the Ukranian discovery is indicative of what the Russians did with their surplus Hurricanes.. Or maybe it was just "Burma Spitfires Mark 2"..
During WW2 Great Britain supplied to the Soviet Union 7,411 aircraft, including 3,129 aircraft sent from the USA. The aircraft from the USA were sent on USA Lend Lease to the Soviet Union as part of the British commitment to the U.S.S.R. in exchange for the supply of British aircraft to United States Forces in the European Theatre. The total value of military supplies despatched amounts to approximately £308 m (1946 values)
Included in the naval military supplies was the battleship Royal Sovereign which was then renamed Arkhangelsk. The Soviet Navy initially sought to avoid sending the ship back but eventually did so in 1949.
But in view of her poor condition, she was sold for scrap. The elevation mechanisms from her main battery gun turrets were later reused in the 250-foot radio telescope Jodrell Bank in Cheshire built in 1955–1957.
Included in the naval military supplies was the battleship Royal Sovereign which was then renamed Arkhangelsk. The Soviet Navy initially sought to avoid sending the ship back but eventually did so in 1949.
But in view of her poor condition, she was sold for scrap. The elevation mechanisms from her main battery gun turrets were later reused in the 250-foot radio telescope Jodrell Bank in Cheshire built in 1955–1957.
