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No 151 Wing Royal Air Force was a British unit which fought alongside the Soviet forces on the Kola Peninsula during the first months of Operation Barbarossa during World War II. The 1941 expedition to Murmansk achieved three objectives from the point of view of the British government: it provided vital aid to the Soviet Union at a critical moment; it introduced the Soviet forces to the use of modern technology, control systems, and fighter tactics; and it showed the Finns that offensive action against the Soviet Union would result in direct military confrontation with the Western Allies.〔RAF campaigns (Murmansk, 1941 )〕 ==Operational history== The delay in starting the Finnish-German offensive from northern Finland gave the British an opportunity to intervene. Within days of the German Invasion starting, Britain and the USSR entered into a formal military alliance. Finland's Army command was disturbed by the possibilities of intelligence activities by the numerically large British military and Consular representation in Finland. Finland suggested restrictions on the British Helsinki legation in late July.〔Wuorinen, 1948, pp. 130–133〕 The British were anxious to offer immediate support to their new ally and British submarines, mine layers and aircraft carriers quickly put in an appearance off the north coast of Finland. On 31 July 1941, carrier-borne aircraft from attacked the harbour at the Finnish town of Petsamo. The British lost three aircraft and inflicted only minor damage on a small freighter and harbour facilities. In a further attempt to hinder naval traffic in the area, the Royal Navy mined the approaches to Petsamo. The British undertook to provide air support in the Murmansk area and to train Soviet pilots for the Hawker Hurricane fighters which were to be sent to the Soviet Union. No. 151 Wing was formed for this purpose, composed of the reinforced No. 81 and No. 134 squadrons of the RAF and operating under the code name of "Force Benedict". The Wing was commanded by Wing Commander H.N.G. Ramsbottom-Isherwood of the Royal Air Force. The first elements of 151 Wing, consisting of 24 Hawker Hurricane IIB aircraft, arrived at Vaenga airfield (renamed Severomorsk in 1941; about north-east from Murmansk)〔(Location of Vaenga )〕 on 7 September 1941 after flying from the carrier . These were reinforced by aircraft, equipment and personnel transported by merchant ship to Arkhangelsk and assembled there. The remit of 151 Wing was to provide both training and operational support to the Red Army. The Hawker Hurricane was not the most modern aircraft by late 1941, having been designed in the 1930s with priority given to ease of maintenance and operation in arduous field conditions but it proved well suited to conditions around Murmansk. The British, Australian and New Zealand ground- and air- crew, were mostly experienced veterans of the Battle of France and Battle of Britain, equipped with a modern radio and radar air-control system. During the following month, the Royal Air Force provided air cover to Soviet troops trying to hold off enemy forces from Murmansk and the Murmansk railway. The British provided fighter escorts to Soviet bomber aircraft operating along the front. The RAF pilots carried out their final operational flight on 8 October 1941. At that point, they started handing their aircraft and equipment over to the Soviet Air Force, which was completed by 22 October. The personnel of 151 Wing returned by sea on British ships and the first contingent arrived in Britain on 7 December. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「No. 151 Wing RAF」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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