Aviation of World War II

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Warplanes in Accordance to Lend-Lease Terms to the USSR

Boris Safonov (on the right) and Britain pilots from 151-th Wing Kennet Vood and Charlton Hou at autumn 1941.

On some data German air industry and industry of the occupied countries (from 1 of September, 1939 and up to the end of WWII) were made 113,515 planes of all types. Against Germany was at war: 582,000 planes were made in the Soviet Union, Great Britain and USA (total): the ratio approximately 1:5.

In Soviet Union during WW2 were supplied in accordance to Lend-Lease terms: fighters — 13,981, bombers — 3,652, flying boats — 206, observation aircrafts — 19, transport aircrafts — 719, training aircrafts—82. Total 18,659 aircrafts.

Articles

Were supplied in accordance to Lend-Lease terms in types of aircrafts: Pcs.
Fighters
Bell Р-39 Airacobra 4,952
Hawker Hurricane 2,952
Bell Р-63 Kingcobra 2,421
Curtiss Р-40 2,134
Supermarine Spitfire 1,338
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt 195
North American P-51 Mustang 10
Bombers
Douglas A-20 Boston 2,771
North American B-25 Mitchell 861
Handly-Page HP. 52 20
Flying boats
Consolidated PBN-1 138
Consolidated PBY-6A 48
Vout OS2U Kingfisher 20
Observation aircrafts
Curtiss O-52 Owl 19
Transport aircrafts
Douglas C-47 Dakota 707
Training aircrafts
North American AT-6 Teksan 82

These data are received from various sources, where often differ and are not final. However they give representation about the size of that help, received in the Soviet Union at World War II.

In 1947, the United States demanded that the USSR pay the Lend-Lease debt - $2.6 billion. This outraged the leaders of the Union and they refused to pay. America began to lower its demands: in 1948 they asked for 1.3 billion, in 1951 - 800 million, in 1972 - 722 million.

This game with numbers, Russian historians note, shows that there are no objective calculations behind them. The Allies - as in 1941 - left the USSR alone with a seemingly inevitable catastrophe. They were only interested in one thing - how to collect the far-fetched debts under Lend-Lease, for which the Soviet people had already paid with millions of lives...

Only in 1990, the presidents of the USSR and the USA agreed to pay $674 million of Lend-Lease debt by 2030. And already in 2006, Russia, as the legal successor of the USSR, paid off all its debts, including Lend-Lease.

Bibliography

  • "Encyclopedia of military engineering" /Aerospace Publising/
  • "Famous planes and helicopters" /Tony Holms, Jane`s/
  • "Aircraft of Luftwaffe; /Viktor Shunkov/
  • "Stalin's falcons; /Walter Shwabedissen/
  • "American Warplanes of World War II" /under cor. David Donald/