Is this for Real?

[Tom D]

See: http://777avg.com/unithistory/

I have never hear of this before.

[Emil_G]

A plan was developed to confuse the American press as well as our enemies abroad and keep the Russian AVG secret.

That's why we haven't heard of it. Cool though! Russians created the same type of smoke screens to send pilots and trainers to help in the Spanish Civil War.

[Alina]

Very interesting, I'd never heard of that before either.

[Tom D]

Here's what a friend of mine said about it:

Looks like an April Fool joke or some sort of "Internet Pilot"

There was no 7th Air Force in 1941...

[Carl Schwamberg]

There were some US liasions and techinical reps. accompanying the Lend Lease supply. Possibly several hundred individuals. And, there were US military attaches or liasions in the USSR. Their story has not been widely published. This air unit appears out of nothing tho, so I'm skeptical. Any colaborating evidence, particularly from USAAF records?

[Carl Schwamberg]

Here's what a friend of mine said about it:

Looks like an April Fool joke or some sort of "Internet Pilot"

There was no 7th Air Force in 1941...

Its not clear. A quick web search produces all sorts of hits for a 7th AF in WWII. I did not dig into it to see exactly when it was activated. Generally such HQ were 'Authorized' anywhere from three to twelve months before it was actually 'Active'. In the lexicon of the US Army & Army Air Forces Authorized meant personnel were begain to be identified for the unit, equipment started through the system for delivery, and base for assemblying the unit identified, the various (tens of thoudands) documents generated, and of course component units identified and warned. So if the 7th AF was Activated in say June or perhaps September of 1942 then it could have been Authorized as early as June or September 1941 and its 'on paper existance used as a cover for something someone wanted to hide.

[grognard]

I never heard of it either and something about the article doesn't feel right--OK maybe I'm just thinking it can't be true--but my suspicision, for whatever it's worth--is that thi is an April Fool's joke.

[Carl Schwamberg]

http://www.777avg.com/killboard/

Take look at this page. It and remarks on other pages of the site indicate this is a site created by game players, of some sort of computer air combat game.

A web search of the names on the pilot roster suggests the individuals named are probablly realtively young game players & not WWII veterans.

If I had more than ten minutes to spare following the links posted on that web page would reveal a lot. So would a much more thurough examination of the other pages on it.

[Snefens]

Yes, this is just the homepage of a virtual squadron in the flight sim "IL-2 Forgotten battle".
It's NOT an attempt to claim such a squadron ever existed, but the the unit history is just a kind of "role-playing" to try to give the members an explaination why they are flying for the Soviet side even though they are American.

[Emil_G]

Yes, this is just the homepage of a virtual squadron in the flight sim "IL-2 Forgotten battle".
It's NOT an attempt to claim such a squadron ever existed, but the the unit history is just a kind of "role-playing" to try to give the members an explaination why they are flying for the Soviet side even though they are American.

Haha! Well, consider me 100% had. I mean some parts of it sounded a little fishy, but I thought it was just cold war bias, like talk about executions, etc.

[grognard]

Yes, this is just the homepage of a virtual squadron in the flight sim "IL-2 Forgotten battle".
It's NOT an attempt to claim such a squadron ever existed, but the the unit history is just a kind of "role-playing" to try to give the members an explaination why they are flying for the Soviet side even though they are American.

Thanks for clearing it up--as a what-if it isn't bad at all.

[Snefens]

Well, I'll grant you that it's not always clear what the purpose of such sites are.
I happen to be part of a virtual squadron myself, where we have take the "identity" of a historic Finnish squadron, Lentolaivue 34, http://www.virtualpilots.fi/LLv34/ . The unit history page on our site is about the REAL LLv34's history though.

[Charles Markuss]

Aid to the USSR

A plan was developed to confuse the American press as well as our enemies abroad and keep the Russian AVG secret.

That's why we haven't heard of it. Cool though! Russians created the same type of smoke screens to send pilots and trainers to help in the Spanish Civil War.

British Hurrican squadrons fought briefly in the USSR defending Murmansk, and of course there were many Frenchmen who were given the pick of any Soviet or lend-lease aircraft to fly into combat. they chose Yaks...

When Stalin was desperate, he even offered to let British or US ground units fight in the USSR under their own officers, according to Alan Clarke's Barbarossa.