777 Sqd American Volunteers Hurricane

comrade harps · February 25, 2011, 05:34:55 AM

Hawker Hurricane IIC, 777 Sqd American Volunteers, Vaenga, Socialist Union, March 1944
Personal mount of James "Python" Pynchon

777 Sqd was a bit of an embarrassment to the United States government. The activities of these American airmen and ground crew who volunteered to fight alongside the Reds was little publicised in the West, but received a great deal of attention within the Socialist Union. A rebellious lot, the men and women and 777 Squadron did little to endear themselves to their own government. They refused to fly American built planes. They adopting parody makings that combined the red star with U.S. national markings. They also chose to fly at Vaenga near Murmansk whenever convoys were expected so that they could interact with the incoming Western sailors.

Formed in late 1941, 777 Sqd initially flew Yak-1s and switched to the Hurricane II in 1942. The Yak-9 was used from April 1944, the unit converting to the Yak-3 in the winter of 1944-45.

After the Western Allies came to peace terms with Germany's post-Nazi regime in August, 1944, there were demands from the White House for the volunteers to honour America's truce and leave the Socialist Union, but few did (and most of those who did were State Department and Pentagon plants). When the European war finally ended in August, 1946, 777 Sqd was based in Poland. Rather than being disbanded, the unit became a permanent fixture for American Red volunteers and remains to this day, having seen action in Europe (1950-52), North Africa (several deployments between 1954 and 1981) and Korea (2002-2003).

The 777 designation was chosen, in part as a parody of USAAF squadron numbers, but also for the fact the unit was formed with 7 pilots and 7 ground crew on the 7th October, 1941.

pyro-manic · February 25, 2011, 05:42:36 AM

Nice! Love the colour scheme, and the Red Stars-n-Bars is very clever.

GTX · February 25, 2011, 03:38:07 PM

Top notch!

Regards,

Greg

sotoolslinger · February 25, 2011, 03:40:34 PM

Yep

Nifty

Maverick · February 25, 2011, 03:50:16 PM

Really nice stuff, the backstory is brilliant.

Regards,

Mav

NARSES2 · February 26, 2011, 02:35:31 AM

Nice build

Army of One · February 26, 2011, 08:15:17 AM

Great build......love the back story....especially the way the sqn got it's number......

comrade harps · February 28, 2011, 03:15:58 AM

I was always going to build a Chinese Nationalist Hurribomber, but then got the idea from the American volunteer stuff from the Triple 7 whatif sim site: http://777avg.com/unithistory/

I stumbled across it via a lot of confused babble on this forumhttp://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=850113.

Glad u like it.

The Rat · February 28, 2011, 05:39:39 AM

Quote from: comrade harps on February 28, 2011, 03:15:58 AMGlad u like it.

Didn't like it, LOVED IT!

The Wooksta! · February 28, 2011, 03:07:16 PM

Nice build but I'd take issue with part of the back story.

At the end of the war, Stalin had all of the returning Soviet prisoners of war sent to Siberia, partly to punish them but mainly because they'd been 'westernised' ie they'd seen outside the worker's paradise and could contradict the propaganda.

Ditto the 777 Sqn volunteers. Given Stalin's paranoia, they'd very likely end up being shot or shipped off to Siberia. Unlikely? Maybe but then again, there were about a few hundred or so RAF personel that vanished in the USSR at the end of the war. Few traces of them has ever been found.

comrade harps · March 02, 2011, 03:43:23 AM

QuoteNice build but I'd take issue with part of the back story.

At the end of the war, Stalin had all of the returning Soviet prisoners of war sent to Siberia, partly to punish them but mainly because they'd been 'westernised' ie they'd seen outside the worker's paradise and could contradict the propaganda.

Ditto the 777 Sqn volunteers. Given Stalin's paranoia, they'd very likely end up being shot or shipped off to Siberia. Unlikely? Maybe but then again, there were about a few hundred or so RAF personel that vanished in the USSR at the end of the war. Few traces of them has ever been found.

In which universe was that? In my history books, Stalin was ousted by the Trotskyists following the 1925-27 Second Russian Civil War.

Eddie M. · March 02, 2011, 08:07:21 AM

Quote from: comrade harps on March 02, 2011, 03:43:23 AM
QuoteNice build but I'd take issue with part of the back story.

At the end of the war, Stalin had all of the returning Soviet prisoners of war sent to Siberia, partly to punish them but mainly because they'd been 'westernised' ie they'd seen outside the worker's paradise and could contradict the propaganda.

Ditto the 777 Sqn volunteers. Given Stalin's paranoia, they'd very likely end up being shot or shipped off to Siberia. Unlikely? Maybe but then again, there were about a few hundred or so RAF personel that vanished in the USSR at the end of the war. Few traces of them has ever been found.

In which universe was that? In my history books, Stalin was ousted by the Trotskyists following the 1925-27 Second Russian Civil war

Great model and great story