Apparently in the news yesterday, but only just popped up in my feed. "The rusting remains of eight British Hurricane fighter planes dating back to World War Two have been found buried in a forest in Ukraine. The aircraft were sent to the Soviet Union by Britain after Nazi Germany invaded the country in 1941. They were part of a package of allied military support for the USSR, paid for by the United States under the so-called Lend-Lease scheme. Similar legislation is being used by the US government today to send military aid to Ukraine as it seeks to expel Russian forces from its country. Aviation experts say this is the first time the remains of so many Hurricanes have been found in Ukraine. "It is very rare to find this aircraft in Ukraine," says Oleks Shtan, a former airline pilot who is leading the excavation. "It's very important for our aviation history because no Lend-Lease aircraft have been found here before... ...But some Hurricanes were deliberately broken up and buried after the war so the Soviets did not have to pay back the United States. Under the Lend-Lease legislation, the USSR was required to pay for any donated military equipment that remained intact after hostilities ended. This was the fate of the eight Hurricanes found buried in woodland south of Kyiv - now the capital of independent Ukraine, but until 1991 part of the USSR." www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65955365?fbclid=IwAR1JSqGjPv_ZCjfd8OdG6kCqeB161zqAol8sFnj9LlnDMp5EqH0O3mk8Ib0
