Soviet Hurricane

Britannia antoi aseapuna Neuvostoliitolle 2 952 Hurricanea pääosin vuosina 1941-1942. Nämä Neuvostoliittoon käytettyinä lähetetyt koneet olivat enimmäkseen mallia IIB ja IIC. 

Hurricanea käytettiin paljon Suomen vastaisella rintamalla. 
Brewster ja koneita vastaan se menestynyt kovinkaan hyvin.
Hieman paremmin Fiat G50 ja Morane-Saulnier koneita vastaan.
Suomella oli käytössä englannista 1939 ostettuja Hurricane Mk 1 koneita 10 kpl


Neuvostoliittolaisen hävittäjä-ässä Boris Safonovin ehdotuksesta kahdeksan 7,7 mm:n konekiväärin tilalle asenettiin kaksi 7,62 mm ShKAS-konekivääriä ja kaksi 20 mm:n ShVAK-konetykkiä. Ennen tätä kokeiltiin 2 x 12,7 mm kk:n aseistusta.
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The Hawker Hurricane was the first Allied Lend-Lease aircraft to be delivered to the USSR with a total of 2,952 Hurricanes eventually delivered, becoming the most numerous British aircraft in Soviet service. Soviet pilots were disappointed by the Hawker fighter, regarding it as inferior to both German and Russian aircraft.

Hurricane Mark IIB of No. 81 Squadron RAF at Murmansk-Vaenga airfield, Russia
Mk II Hurricanes played an important air defence role in 1941, when the Soviet Union found itself under threat from the German Army approaching on a broad front stretching from Leningrad, Moscow, and to the oil fields in the south. 

Britain's decision to aid the Soviets meant sending supplies by sea to the far northern ports, and as the convoys would need to sail within range of enemy air attack from the Luftwaffe based in neighbouring Finland, it was decided to deliver a number of Hurricane Mk IIBs, flying with Nos. 81 and 134 Squadrons of No. 151 Wing RAF, to provide protection. 

Twenty-four were transported on the carrier Argus, arriving just off Murmansk on 28 August 1941, and another 15 crated aircraft on board merchant vessels. In addition to their convoy protection duties, the aircraft also acted as escorts to Russian bombers.

Enemy attention to the area declined in October, at which point the RAF pilots trained their Soviet counterparts to operate the Hurricanes themselves. By the end of the year, the RAF's role had ended, but the aircraft remained behind and became the first of thousands of Allied aircraft that were accepted by the Soviet Union. 

Although Soviet pilots were not universally enthusiastic about the Hurricane, Hero of the Soviet Union (twice), Lt. Col Boris Safonov "... loved the Hurricane ..." and RAF Hurricane Mk IIB fighters operating from Soviet soil in defence of Murmansk, destroyed 15 Luftwaffe aircraft for only one loss in combat. In some Soviet war memoirs the Hurricane is described very unflatteringly.

The "Soviet" Hurricane had quite a few drawbacks. First of all, it was 40–50 km/h (25/31 mph) slower than its main opponent, the Bf 109E, at low and medium height, and had a slower rate of climb. The Messerschmitt could outdive the Hurricane because of the thicker wing profile of the British fighter. 
But the main source of complaints was the Hurricane's armament. 

Often the eight or 12 small-calibre machine guns did not damage the sturdy and heavily armoured German aircraft; consequently, Soviet ground crews started to remove the Brownings. Retaining only four or six of the 12 machine guns, two 12.7 mm Berezin UBs or two or even four 20 mm ShVAK cannons were substituted, but overall performance deteriorated.