Hawker Hurricane Mk II – 134 Sqn RAF, Vaenga, USSR 1941

Corgi Aviation Archive AA32013; 1/72 scale Hawker Hurricane Mk II Z5226 of 134 Sqn RAF, based at Vaenga, USSR, September 1941. Limited Edition of 1860 Pieces

Length 5.25 inches Wingspan 6.75 inches

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. Z5226 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 it retained in its new arctic environment. It was assembled at Keg-Ostrov, a mile from Archangel, and flown to Vaenga with others of the same batch in September, where it was kept as a reserve aircraft.

Based on the Fury biplane and designed by Sydney Camm as a monoplane fighter, the Hurricane was first flown on November 6th, 1935. With its wide-set landing gear, easy handling, reliability, and stable gun platform, the Hurricane was suitable for a variety of different roles such as intruder, ground strafing and night fighter. Steel-tube construction meant cannon shells could pass right through the wood and fabric covering without exploding. The Hurricane underwent many modifications during its lifetime, including an upgraded Merlin engine and interchangeable multi-purpose wings, staging twelve 7.7mm guns and two 40mm anti-tank guns and carrying two 500lb bombs.