Z5526, GQ-37, No.134 Squadron, 151 Wing, Vaenga, Russia, Sept. 1941 - The war fought between Germany and the Soviet Union became the most dramatic and costly battlefront of World War II. Unlike in other war theaters where air power was used for its own military campaigns apart from ground troops, air power on the Eastern Front was used mainly to support ground operations, making it echo the movements and fortunes of the armies. With Soviet Russia an ally of Great Britain following the German invasion in June 1941, war material was sent to her aid. Probably the best-known British contribution in the early stages was the dispatch of an entire Hurricane wing, with 24 aircraft assembled and ready to fly and the remaining 15 in crates. Their operational task was to give air cover to the northern Russian ports that received the convoys before training the Russians in their use and the repatriation of the RAF personnel. Z5526 had been built by Glosters as a Hurricane Mk IIb, this mark carrying 12 Browning machine guns, and was one of those that arrived crated. It had been built with a "tropical" filter, which is retained in its new arctic environment. it was assembled at Keg-Ostrov, a mile form Archangel, and flown to Vaenga with others of the same batch in September, where it was kept as a reserve aircraft.

Info: Hawker Hurricane Mk II Diecast Model‰Û¬ RAF No.134 Sqn, Z5226, Vaenga, USSR, September 1941