No. 151 Wing RAF | |
|---|---|
 No. 151 Wing Royal Air Force Operations in Russia, September–November 1941 (CR38) | |
| Active | 7 September 1941 – 22 October 1941 10 March 1944 – 1 June 1946 1 October 1959 – 9 September 1964 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Air Force |
| Size | Wing |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Wing Commander Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood (1941) |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Fighter | Hawker Hurricane IIB (1941) |
No 151 Wing Royal Air Force was a British unit which operated with the Soviet forces on the Kola Peninsula in the northern USSR during the first months of Operation Barbarossa, in the Second World War. Operation Benedict, the 1941 expedition to Murmansk, provided air defence for Allied ships as they were discharging at ports within range of Luftwaffe units in Norway and Finland.
The British party converted Soviet air and ground crews to British Hawker Hurricane IIB fighters and their Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, many of which were due to be delivered under British Lend-Lease arrangements.
In the five weeks of the operation, 151 Wing claimed 16 victories, four probables and seven aircraft damaged. Conversion of Soviet Air Forces (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily) pilots and ground crew to Hurricanes began in mid-October. At the end of November the RAF party returned to Britain, less some signals staff; the wing was then disbanded.
On 10 March 1944, 151 Wing was reformed in Iraq with transport aircraft, then disbanded again on 1 June 1946. From 1 October 1959 to 9 September 1964, 151 Wing was an air defence missile unit and was then disbanded for the last time.