while seaching ava.org.ru, I have tried using google and added in the Cyrillic for Spitfire "
Спитфайр" and Hurricane "
Харрикейн"
from
http://ava.org.ru/iap/57g.htmthis image is well know, and there has been debate over the lightning flash, being reported as yellow, as seen here
and then being cleaned off.
but also in the link is this, which is new too me
Spitfire 529, which is interesting as it shows another plane in the unit, from the other side, with position and style of the board number (very similar) and a not removed lightning flash.
Now, could vaguely make out the start of the serial, 'E' so I opened the image in a new tab and tried enlarging ...and then noticed the image name
http://ava.org.ru/iap/57g/spitfire_en311_529.jpg
the EN311 is the interesting bit, now from the Spitfire production site EN311 is a Mk.IX, but EP311 is a Mk.Vb, sent to USSR
http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p038.html EP311 Vb CBAF M46 33MU 20-6-42 82MU 6-7-42 Canada 3-12-42 USSR 1-3-43
I presume there is a note in unit records of the board number/serial tie up? I shall contact PG Monster and ask, but always a treat when a new photo surfaces.
see also
https://lend-lease.net/articles-en/spitfires-over-the-kuban/It was in this time frame that the regiment’s distinguishing symbol, a depiction of the Guards badge, began to appear on the horizontal stabilizers of the Russified Spitfires. The other distinguishing mark of the regiment was a yellow lightning bolt down the entire side of the fuselage, which began to appear when the regiment was still fighting in I-16s. The lightning bolt also appeared on the regiment’s aircraft later when it began to fight in the American P-39, and survived on several airframes of one version when later they were handed over to a PVO (protivo-vozdushnaya oborona—air defense) regiment.
the entire article is well worth a read.