The remains of eight British Hurricane fighter planes from the Second World War have been found buried in a Ukrainian forest.
The aircraft were sent to the Soviet Union by Britain after Nazi Germany invaded the country in 1941. They were part of a package of allied support for the USSR, paid for by the United States under the Lend-Lease scheme.
Similar legislation is being used by the US government today to send military aid to Ukraine as it seeks to expel Russian forces from its country.
Aviation experts say this is the first time the remains of so many Hurricanes have been found in Ukraine. “It is very rare to find this aircraft in Ukraine,” says Oleks Shtan, a former airline pilot who is leading the excavation.
The UK sent some 3,000 Hurricanes to the Soviet Union during the war. The Hawker Hurricane was the workhorse of the Battle of Britain. Although its role has often been overshadowed by the newer Spitfire, the Hurricane actually shot down 60% of all enemy aircraft during the battle.
“The Hurricane was a strong, easy to fly machine,” Mr Shtan added. “It was stable as a gun platform and suitable for inexperienced pilots.”
Some Hurricanes were deliberately broken up and buried after the war so the Soviets did not have to pay back the United States.
Under the Lend-Lease legislation, the USSR was required to pay for any donated military equipment that remained intact after hostilities ended.
This was the fate of the eight Hurricanes found buried in woodland south of Kyiv – now the capital of independent Ukraine, but until 1991 part of the USSR.
Ukraine is now painstakingly cleaning and repairing the planes, so they can be displayed.
They had been stripped of their instruments, radios, machine guns and any useful scrap metal. They were then dragged by tractors from a nearby airfield, broken up, dropped into a shallow ravine and then covered with earth.
They were discovered recently after an unexploded bomb dating from the war was found nearby.
It is thought there are just 14 restored Hurricanes able to fly in the world today.
Valerii Romanenko, head of research at the National Aviation Museum of Ukraine, said: “The Hurricanes are a symbol of British assistance during the years of the Second World War, just as we are very appreciative of British assistance nowadays,” he says. “The UK is one of the largest suppliers of military equipment to our country now.”
“In 1941 Britain was the first who supplied fighter aircraft to the Soviet Union in mass scale.
“Now the UK is the first country which gives Storm Shadow cruise missiles to our armed forces.”
After the German invasion, the USSR lost many warplanes and was in desperate need of fighter aircraft. Initially several RAF Hurricane squadrons were sent to the Arctic to help.
By the end of production in July 1944, 14,487 Hurricanes had been completed in Britain and Canada, with others built in Belgium and Yugoslavia.
