The previous article about aviation Lend-Lease caused a heated debate among readers, speculation with numbers and baseless accusations on both sides began again. Today I wanted to return to this topic and, discarding all lyrics, to compare the facts. This time, for an objective assessment, we will try to take into account the Soviet production of equipment.
Interest
Let's count only the most perfect examples of Lend-Lease aircraft. On purpose, we will not take into account the Hauker Hurricane, so unloved by everyone (for some reason, this plane is remembered first when the word "Lend-Lease" is used, although only 2,200 of them were delivered).
Actually, let's pay attention to the following types of fighters:
Bell P-39 Aircobra, 4,950 delivered. In 1942, Aircobra was not inferior in maneuverability to the best products of the Yakovlev Design Bureau, surpassing them in firepower and protection. As noted earlier, only the Guards regiments were armed with Aircobra.
Bell P-63 Kingcobra, 2,400 delivered. An even more formidable modification of the Aircobra, in terms of its combat characteristics, surpassed any Soviet fighter. Let's face it, the USSR did not produce such aircraft. Kingcobra was appreciated by Soviet pilots and was in service with the Soviet Army Air Force until the early 50s.
Supermarine Spitfire Mark-IX, 1,180 delivered. The most massive modifications of the best, according to many, WWII fighter. In the summer of 1944, the only domestic aircraft equal to it in terms of combat qualities was only the La-7.
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, delivered 200 machines. It is no secret that the dream of Soviet aircraft designers during the Second World War was the creation of a 2000 hp engine. (the most advanced domestic engine ASh-82 produced 1,850 hp at the stand). Thunderbolt had a 2,400 hp power unit. with. Coupled with a high specific wing loading, this made the heavy Republican Thunderbolt one of the fastest aircraft of the Second World War (speed - up to 700 km / h). Due to the high thrust-to-weight ratio, Thunderbolt's weapons, armor and suspended armament had 1400 kg of mass - 3 times more than that of the Me-109E. In reality, this meant 8 large-caliber Browning and 1000 kg bomb load (or PTB, providing a flight range of 2000 km).
Total - 8730 fighters.
But what does this mean in comparison with the aircraft production of the Soviet Union?
Production rates of Yakovlev Design Bureau fighters:
Yak-1 and Yak-1bis - 8700 pcs.
Yak-3 - 5,000 pcs. (1000 of them - post-war issue)
Yak-7 - 6400 pcs.
Yak-9 - 16 800 (of which 1800 - post-war issue of 1946-1948)
Total release during the war years 34 100
The exterminators of Lavochkin
LaGG-3 - 6500 pcs.
La-5 - 9900 pcs.
La-7 - 5750 pcs.
Total release during the war years 22 150
Mikoyan fighters:
MiG-3 - 3200 units.
Also, by the beginning of the war, the Red Army Air Force had a large number of I-15, I-16 and I-153 "Chaika". The production of the I-16, like its peer I-15, began in the mid-1930s, many aircraft were lost in combat and for technical reasons. Some were exported. Let's take the number of combat-ready vehicles of these types on June 22 at 10,000 units.
Total: the number of domestic fighters in the Red Army Air Force was at least 70,000 cars (!)
The number of modern Lend-Lease fighters (Cobras, Spitfires, Thunderbolts) is against this background a very insignificant figure - only 12%. BUT! How can you compare the primitive Yak-1 with unsticking skin and the obsolete Ishachki with the most modern combat aircraft in the world, which retained their combat qualities until the end of the 50s ?! It is much more objective to compare them with domestic fighters, which have approximately equal performance characteristics. There are many of them, you ask. Many!
First of all La-5. After the tests of Lavochkin in Rechlin, the Germans wrote about this plane "it is very different from everything that the Russians have done before."
La-7, Yak-3, Yak-9T (2700 fighters of this series were produced, modifications of Yak-9U - all these machines were not much inferior to their foreign “colleagues.” The instrumentation, radio and navigation equipment of the cockpit was also poorer, but given the specifics of the Eastern Front, this did not matter much.
As a result, more than 25,000 Soviet fighters met the best world standards. The ratio of Lend-Lease to domestic production in this segment was 35%! Here it is, perhaps, the most interesting figure.
In the East, there is a wise parable about the last straw that broke the neck of an overloaded camel. Lend-Lease is, on the contrary, a saving straw, but on a grand scale - the THIRD of the most advanced fighters of the Red Army Air Force were supplied from abroad.
Trucks theme
Other cornerstones of Lend-Lease were motor vehicles and aviation fuel (51% of aviation fuel was supplied to the USSR from abroad, details in the previous article).
Truck deliveries are worthy of a separate article. I will mention only short facts: the total production of cars of all types in the USSR during the war - 162,000 units. Another 260,000 vehicles were mobilized for the army from the national economy. Captured German equipment - 70,000 vehicles at the end of the war.
Lend-Lease deliveries - 450,000 trucks and jeeps. (!)
Also, the quality factor is usually not taken into account: for example, the power of the ZiS-5 engine is only 78 hp. Dodges, Studebakers and Ford-GPVs were equipped with 90-111 hp engines.
The deliveries of armored vehicles (12,000 tanks - shipment in the ports of the USSR) did not make the weather any more, as did the deliveries of railway equipment. Much more important was the delivery of millions of tons of food products, uniforms and raw materials. And here's another little-known fact: of the 17 destroyers of the Northern Fleet in 1945, 9 were delivered under Lend-Lease. The battleship Arkhangelsk (formerly HMS Royal Sovereign) also entered the British assistance program.
The industrial power of the Soviet Union allowed it to survive the monstrous pogrom of 1941 and the tragic 1942. But in 1943, the Wehrmacht, relying on the increased power of German industry and advanced technology, launched a counteroffensive on all fronts. Could the USSR then be able to hold out without Western supplies, that is the question. What do you think?
