On 12 July 1941, a Soviet commission met representatives of the Royal Navy and the RAF in London and it was decided to use the
Vaenga-1 airfield to defend Allied ships while unloading at the ports of Murmansk,
Arkhangelsk and
Polyarnoe. No. 151 Wing RAF (
Neville Ramsbottom-Isherwood) was established, comprising
81 Squadron and
134 Squadron, equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. The pilots had come from 81 Squadron,
504 Squadron or had just completed their training. The wing was to be transported to north Russia in Operation Dervish, the first Arctic convoy, to operate until the weather in October or November grounded the aircraft. During the winter lull, the fighters were to be handed over to the
Soviet Air Forces (VVS,
Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily). The majority of the airmen embarked on the steamship
SS Llanstephan Castle together with 15 Hurricanes packed in crates, at the
Scapa Flow anchorage in the
Orkney Islands. The remaining 24 aircraft went on board the aircraft carrier
Argus as part of Operation Strength, in which the carrier, a cruiser and three destroyers, carried the RAF party. The ships departed from Scapa Flow on 17 August 1941 and the Hurricanes from
Argus landed at Vaenga, about from Murmansk to find a large and fairly well equipped airfield occupied by a medium bomber squadron. attacks on Dervish led to the ships docking at Archangelsk to the east. No facilities existed for the assembly of the crated Hurricanes; improvisation and the co-operation of the local Russians overcame the lack of specialist equipment, such as airscrew spanners and the job took nine days. The aircraft were flown to Vaenga on 12 September, except for two Hurricanes, whose pilots succumbed to Russian hospitality at a refuelling stop and had to continue the morning after. Vaenga airfield had an adequate surface of compacted sand which became very bumpy in wet weather. Airfield facilities were linked by a tarmac road but beyond the perimeter there were only cart tracks. Accommodation was in brick buildings but wooden huts were found to be unkempt. Bedding was new, the food was ample, though some considered to be a little greasy and the sanitation was hideous, leading to the British naming the main latrine, directly over a cesspit, "The Kremlin". Co-operation from the Russians was excellent and Isherwood established rapport with the Soviet commanding general and gained the agreement of the Russians on bomber escort tactics. Within 24 hours of commencing operations, the wing shot down its first German aircraft. On 12 September, five Hurricanes of 81 Squadron intercepted a Henschel reconnaissance aircraft and five
Messerschmitt Bf 109 escorts from
Petsamo. The Hurricanes carried only six of their battery of eight machine-guns but shot down three Bf 109s and damaged the Henschel for a loss of one aircraft and pilot. In its five weeks of operations, the wing claimed 16 victories, four probables and seven aircraft damaged. The winter snows began on 22 September and the conversion of VVS pilots and ground crew to Hurricanes began in mid-October. In late November the RAF party returned, less various signals staff. During a
scramble, the pilot of a 134 Squadron Hurricane taxied with two airmen sitting on the tail to counter the bumpy surface. The pilot took off unaware that the airmen were still there and crashed soon after, the pilot being seriously injured and the airmen killed. ==Aftermath==