09.48-10.48 MT (Moscow Time) Attacking force attacked the front line at Titovka, 40km west of Murmansk and the Luftwaffe airfields at Høybuktmoen (Kirkenes in Norway) and Loustari (Petsamo in Finland). As it was a dawn raid and the weather was poor, only Titovka could be attacked with limited success by a group consisting of sixteen Il-2’s of 46thShAP escorted by six Hurricanes, four Yak-9’s, six Yak-1’s, six P40’s. Two Il-2’s were damaged by flak. With improving weather, it was decided to attack Kirkenes and Petsamo when light. The sixteen Il-2’s of 46th ShAP were split into two attacking forces.
Group One – 13.03 – 14.20MT In the first group led by Evdokimov, eight Il-2’s had a 152km/40minute flight time to target and were to run across target from NE to SW before turning back over the target from W to E before heading home.
Group Two – 13.20 – 14.35MT In the second group led by Gulyaev, eight Il-2’s had a 100km/28minute flight time to target and were to run across target from E to W before undertaking a 180 degree turn, back over the target before heading home. This group included Il-2 1872452. The two groups attacking Petsamo were escorted by six P40’s of 27thIAP, fourteen Yak-1’s of 20thIAP and six Hurricanes of 78thIAP. At the same time twelve Pe-2’s dive bombers escorted by twelve P39 of 255thIAP and six Yak-9’s attacked Kirkenes airfield. It seems the group attacking Petsamo were met by 25+ Bf109G’s of III/JG5. (Third Gruppe (Wing) of JG5 consisting of Stab (staff flight) and 7th, 8th and 9th Staffels –squadrons). The Il-2’s managed to reach and are recorded as hitting their target with thirty two 100kg blast bombs, thirty-two 100kg fire bombs, four ROFS-132 and sixty RS-82 rockets as well as cannon fire. From this we know each Il-2 probably carried four 100kg bombs and four rockets. 46thShAP claimed the following during this attack. Ten Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed on the ground, six anti-aircraft positions destroyed, twenty-six individual fires started and five Bf109’s claimed shot down by Il-2’s. Additionally the escorts claimed eight more. The Luftwaffe’s recorded ‘losses’ consisted of one Fw190A-3 of 14./(Jabo)/JG5 slightly damaged though Soviet losses were more significant.
On this day, Iluyshin Il-2, 1872452 was being flown by a 22 year old pilot JLt. Valentin Skopintsev and an air gunner Vladimir Gumennoy and they had already flown on the morning mission. 1872452 was armed with two FAB-100 and two ZAP-100 bombs in the internal wing bomb bays and two RS-132’s and two RS-82 rockets. This was only the pilot’s third mission, having arrived in October, and only the second for the gunner. In fact this was the second mission of the 25 November having been involved in the morning sortie! On the first pass over the airfield Skopintsev’s Il-2 managed to fire on ground targets and dropped his bombs before then flying around and heading back over the target. On his second run he was hit by German 20mm Flak that knocked out the generator and also went through the port wing, port flap/actuator and 23mm ammunition box along with the starboard aileron was hit. Skopintsev was unable to fire his rockets or guns and so turned for home on the 100km/25minute return flight to Veanga-2 at which point they were then set upon by Bf109’s. During this engagement the Il-2 took further 7.62mm and 20mm cannon shells that hit the starboard wing root and also wounded Gumennoy. They survived the return flight and with a sluggish engine, he could see he was not going to make the airfield and fired a distress flare. In failing light and with no flaps or undercarriage he had one chance to undertake a belly landing on the partially frozen lake. The Il-2 undertook a fast 200km/h landing, sliding along before eventually coming to a stop. It was extremely dangerous due to the rockets under his wings. Skopintsev managed to get his injured gunner out and back to shore before the weight of the Il-2 caused the thin ice to break and she sank to the bottom. Now dark, Skopintsev carried his wounded gunner through the freezing arctic weather back to base, 3km away. The Il-2 was later written off from Soviet records. In all, III/JG5 claimed thirteen Il-2’s and twelve escorts, (nine P40’s and one P39, Yak-7 and Hurricane in the ensuing combat). Nearly all of the combat with escorts are recorded around 700m (2,300ft), whereas the Il-2 losses were recorded at flying between 10m - 50m (33ft – 165ft) above the tundra. The German flak units also claimed seven Il-2’s. Even though there was significant over claiming, it was still to turn out as a very bad day. Luftwaffe claimants include Lieutenant (Lt) H Ehrler of Stab III/JG5 (117th -120th victory) with two Il-2’s and two P40’s, Lt F Dorr of 7./JG5 (35th/36th victory) with one of each, Lt K-H Vogel of 7./JG5 (5th-7th victory) with one of each and a Hurricane (though no Hurricanes were lost), Feldwebel A Beth of 7./JG5 (15th/16thvictory) with two Il-2’s, Oberfeldwebel J Norz of 8./JG5 (45th/46th victory) with two Il-2’s and Hauptmann H Schmidt of 9./JG5 (2nd/3rd victory) with one of each. Ten other pilots made single claims. Actual losses were four Il-2’s from each group, a loss of 50% of the attacking force including Skopintsey’s Il-2. Also lost were seven escorts (four P40’s, one Yak-7 and two P39’s from the group attacking Kirkenes were also shot down, one by a Fw190 of 14.(Jabo)/JG5. Another Il-2 belly landed at Veanga-2 and a Yak-9 were also recorded as damaged. This was the worse single loss by 46thShAP during the whole of the GWP. Valentin Skopintsev went onto complete 51 sorties, moved to a training unit and left the Soviet Navy Air Force in 1946 due to injuries sustained during the GWP and passed away in 1996.
The current plan is for Aviarestoration’s facility in Novosibirsk, Siberia, to restore this Il-2 to flying condition in time for the 70th Anniversary of the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation in the autumn of 1944. (ed - bit later but still good
Thanks must go to Boris Osetinsky, ICARUS recovery Group, Andrey Kopytkov for the initial research, Sergei Kuznetsov, Rune Rautio and Erik Pilawski for all their help in compiling this article. © Mark Sheppard
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