Air Forces
This convoy was notable for being the first Russian Convoy to use an escort carrier, HMS Avenger carried 10 Hawker Hurricane fighter planes and three Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers.
A combined Royal Air Force-Royal Australian Air Force detachment, made up of 32 Hampden torpedo bombers from 144 Squadron and 455 Squadron, nine Catalina maritime patrol aircraft from 210 Squadron and three photo reconnaissance Spitfires, was sent to air bases in the Soviet Union, to fend an attack by the German battleship Tirpitz, if it should eventuate. Nine Hampdens were lost on route, including one which crash landed in German-occupied Norway; plans for the operation fell into the hands of the Germans as a result. The RAF-RAAF force regrouped at Vaenga air base, 40 km north of Murmansk.
The Luftwaffe fielded a force of 42 Heinkel He 111 torpedo bombers of KG 26 and 35 Junkers Ju 88 dive bombers of KG 30. Tactics consisted of simultaneous attack by torpedo bombers and dive bombers swamping the defenders, while III/KG 26 group was trained in an anti-convoy measure involving a massed torpedo attack, known as the "Golden Comb".
Read more about this topic: Convoy PQ 18
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