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Ginan wins prestigious King Island Trophy

Main photo: Ginan, overall winners of the 2024 Melbourne to King Island Ocean Yacht Race. Photo Steb Fisher

Turquoise blue skies and seas, local cheeses, freshly caught crayfish and sizzling rib-eye steak greeted the nearly 200 sun-drenched yachties when they finished the 2024 Melbourne to King Island Ocean Yacht Race over the weekend.

The fleet sailed the 114nm race, organised by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) in partnership with the King Island Boat Club, from Queenscliff to Grassy Harbour to not only savour a strategic and challenging ocean race but to share in the highly sought-after, world-class produce of Australia’s stunningly beautiful island gem, King Island.

There was a lot at stake in the 2024 Melbourne to King Island Race with the King Island Trophy for the winner of the race on AMS handicap up for grabs, as well as PHS and ORC trophies for Divisions One and Two.

ORCV Race Officer David Schuller sent the fleet on their way at 3am on Saturday morning in northerly breezes of 7 to 10 knots, amidst a forecast heatwave for the southeastern states of Victoria and Tasmania.

Photos from onboard the yachts during the race showed contented yachties in t-shirts and shorts, but while the winds may have been light, tactics and strategy were critical for the fleet as they navigated the challenging tides and currents around the island.

This year’s race certainly belonged to the J boats, the double-handers, and the newcomers to ocean racing.

The contest for line honours was tight from the start between the Cookson 50, eXtasea and the multihull, Peccadillo, skippered by Charles Meredith.

Extasea, skippered by Dustin Popp from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, crossed the finish line at 18:48:19 on Saturday evening, 30 minutes ahead of Peccadillo to take the win.

Extasea had a brilliant race winning on PHS and ORC handicaps in Division 1, and finished second on AMS overall, once again missing out on the coveted handicap win which determines the overall race winner.

The J111 boat Ginan, co-skippered by Cameron McKenzie and Nigel Jones from the Mornington Yacht Club, continued a strong 2023-24 sailing season performance, with the skippers accepting the prestigious 2024 King Island Trophy from King Island Mayor, Cr Marcus Blackie, and claiming the title of overall race winners.

The Ginan team had a great start to the race, leading the fleet through Port Phillip Heads, and adopted a strategy from there to push the boat as hard as they could in what were fabulous but frustrating sailing conditions.

“Our strategy was to get out in front early and to just keep pushing the boat forward.

“It was quite a challenging race in terms of sail trim and tactics…there were lots of park ups…and lots of transitions in the race.

“In those [light] conditions the challenges are to keep the sails optimally trimmed at all times, which can be difficult when there’s a swell running and a bit of slop, and also trying to keep the boat powered up constantly.

“Having the crew trimming non-stop can be tiring …we had a constant rotation, so people weren’t on the trim for too long… to keep them fresh,” said McKenzie.

Ginan was third over the line but, unlike eXtasea and Peccadillo, which finished the race on favourable tides, Ginan had to contend with adverse currents up the coast on the way to the finish line.

“We had it glassing out near the finish… at times the wind was doing 360s… we had a lot of sail changes trying to keep the momentum going… it was very tricky towards the end with very little breeze,” said McKenzie.

McKenzie paid homage to the meticulous preparation of Ginan’s navigator, Greg Patten, and to the delights that await sailors who embark on ORCV destination races like these.

“Tactically this was quite a difficult race…our navigator Greg Patten did a fabulous job reviewing the weather and the weather models leading up to and throughout the race and I think that was one of the areas that we excelled in, just getting the shifts right and being on the right side of them, and that wasn’t by luck, Greg puts in a mountain of work and is one of the best in the business.  

“We also had a first timer onboard the boat this year, Daniel Laverty, a young ILCA (Laser) sailor, this is his first ocean race, he’s quite in awe of getting down here [to King Island] and enjoying the hospitality and the camaraderie of the ORCV community.

“We love the destination races, and the places that we go to, that most people don’t get to see,” said McKenzie.

Joker X2 the J133 boat co-skippered by Grant Chipperfield and Peter Dowdney won the double-handed division from second placed Quest, skippered by Rod Gunther and Peter Tardrew, while Maverick, skippered by Tony Hammond and Rod Smallman, finished in third.

Joker X2 also finished in third place overall on PHS and ORC, with the skippers very upbeat after the race which suited the J133 boat.

“The actual conditions were superb, with light running conditions all day, but there was enough wind to get maximum boat speed which was nice.

“We sailed a relatively straight course down the rhumbline as much as possible until we got to the very end, and then it went pear-shaped in the last three hours.

“It glassed out completely as we approached Grassy and we got caught up in the current as you do down here and ended up taking us two and a half hours more than what I projected we would take to finish, which was a bit frustrating, but apart from that, it was a glorious race.

“It was like sailing in the tropics without the humidity…take it from me, Bass Strait doesn’t get any better than that. 

“Tactically, we sailed a pretty vanilla race, we just managed to soak down inside everyone and basically sailed a straighter course and sailed less distance and that’s where we just popped through.

“We were a little bit deep when we came out of the [Port Phillip] Heads, but we just chipped away during the dark hours and by daylight we were up on the front row of the grid and got better and better as the day went on.

“King Island is just an amazing part of the world, it’s becoming a foodie’s paradise down here, as a destination, it’s a safe harbour, it’s relatively easy to get in and out of, and the King Island Boat Club people…they just turn it on for us which is fantastic,” said Dowdney.

The Joker X2 skippers, like several of the other double-handed teams, were also using the race as a training opportunity for the 2025 Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race. 

In Division 2, the early race favourite Toecutter, skippered by Rob Hick and Brad Bult, won on AMS and PHS handicap, while Vertigo, skippered by Tim Olding took out Division 2 on ORC.

Race Director David Schuller was happy with the race overall but shared his frustrations with the challenges of sailing into and around King Island.

“The race started in better-than-expected conditions, we had a lot of wind to get the boats going, but as often happens, you get patches of dead spots, so those at the front of the fleet did really well, and got ahead, and we saw our line honours winners, and the rest of the fleet were left to the vagaries of the wind conditions.

“This was really challenging as King Island itself shadows the wind, so we had a lot of boats getting down to one knot overnight, then lifting up and dropping off.

“We had hoped that everyone would get through but what this did was break the fleet into about three different groups with the last group finishing just before 10 o’clock on Sunday morning,” said Schuller.

The race saw ten retirements due to the weather conditions with Schuller speculating that the lure of the steak sandwiches may have been too much when the teams were battling soft breezes.

The ORCV race team had a busy time during the race, but their race duties extended to more than simply welcoming boats home.

“We spent just about all of our time at the finishing line listening to the peeps and chirps of the penguins, and there were lots of wallabies coming up, curiously peering into the car when we had the door open just to see what we were doing,” said Schuller.

“We received a lot of help in our preparation from the ORCV sailing community.

“[In this race] we had some good fun and some great conditions, but we also found it challenging at times… it was very tempting to retire from the race, but we are proud that we stayed the course and finished,” said Hosking. 

Beyond the Bay is designed to provide sailors with the information and practical skills to plan and complete an overnight cruising passage or participate in a race, with races like this one a useful stepping-stone to future coastal and ocean races.

For full race results click here

Jane Austin ORCV media

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ORCV 50th King Island Race

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                         14 th March 2022

Rozinante II w ins slow dance to Grassy in 50 th King Island Race

Rozinante II has won a protracted King Island Race from Melbourne to Grassy at the southern end of the Island, while John Newbold’s Primitive Cool took line honours in the time of 1 day, 3hrs 13mins 11secs, well outside the record he set in 2014 of 9 hours 50mins 21secs.

Competitors will long remember the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s 50 th race. On the positive side were the crayfish and steak sandwiches at the end of a very slow race that took nearly double the time it normally would.

Rozinante II’s skipper, Andrew Middleton, joined the race last year as part of the rally, which the ORCV introduced to encourage more owners to step up to Category 2 racing.  Since then, he has gone on to regularly do Cat 3 races, but the King Island Race was his maiden Cat 2 race – and he won.

For the 50 th , Middleton joined forces with Leo Cantwell, who usually skippers Magic Bullet and who also took part in the rally in 2021.

“I’d just like to thank the ORCV for presenting this opportunity. I think the rally was a great thing for us to do,” Cantwell said, clutching the King Island cheese package that formed part of his prize.

After spending much longer at sea than they all expected, Cantwell caused much laughter when he commented, “Some people have said this was a short race, but for me it was bloody long. It was a hard night, but it was a great team effort and I’m very pleased to be standing up here today.”

And a word from the elder statesman of the fleet, Laurie Ford, skipper of Spirit of Downunder), who also produced laughter: “The start was horrendous. I thought, ‘oh god, the boat’s going to get damaged and I’m trying to sell it’. But the latter part of the race was very enjoyable.”

Ford, whose sons Tim and Stuart, along with Paul Beresford, joined him in the Four + Autohelm division, continued: “I think I did my first King Island in 1992 and it hasn’t changed much!”

The 114 nautical mile race started in a 12-14 south/south-westerly under sunny blue skies at 3pm on Friday – glorious conditions. Primitive Cool got through the Heads first. Around midnight the wind dropped out. It remained light to the end and so favoured the smaller and lighter boats.

Some sailed the rhumbline course, while others took an easterly or western route. The east paid dividends.

Normally the fleet would have been finished by around midnight Friday night, and that would have been the case had the forecast from a week earlier held. However, the reality was starkly different and it was a little more than a day later when the first boats trickled in.

From midnight Friday the yachts were floating around in a negligible breeze and by Saturday morning nothing had changed. The scenario was there for all to see on the Blue Water Tracks race tracker. Boats not moving, some going backwards, others going around in circles.

At 8am on Saturday morning, Damien King’s Frers 61, Margaret Rintoul V, was just leading Brian Pattinson’s Don Jones 42, Gusto (being raced double handed by Pattinson and Bruno Carreto), both sailing well east of the rhumbline. Rintoul eventually retired, along with three others.

Extasea (Paul Buchholz), race record holder Primitive Cool (John Newbold), Hartbreaker (Antony Walton) , Ryujin (Alex Toomey) and Carrera S (Gerry Cantwell), were next in the ‘chase’ if you could call it that, for line honours. Newbold was sailing close the rhumbline, while the other two were sailing west of the rhumbline.

On Saturday morning, Rod Smallman said from mid-fleet, “We are in no wind. It’s been like this most of the night. We’ve got 1.2 knots of wind speed. Margaret Rintoul has done well; she’s sailed a good line. I’ve just done a weather route and it has us getting in around 2am.  The crays and steak sandwiches are looking good…

“It’s fun to be out at sea though. It was a beautiful sunrise this morning.”

Meanwhile, the prizes were due to be handed out at 10am. The crayfish were cooked and the King Island Boat Club had the steak sandwiches ready to hit the barby – a paddock of water and no wind standing between the parties.

The 50 th King Island Race brought out many a past entrant, including Ian Lyall, who has competed in more than 20.

Top three results:

AMS Division 1

• Arcadia (Peter Davison)
• Soiree Bleu (Douglas Lithgow)
• Patriot (Jason Close)

AMS Division 2

• Rozinante II (Andrew Middleton)
• Weekend Option (Michael Culhane)
• Vertigo (Tim Olding)

ORC Division 1

• Bandit (Ashley Trebilcock)
• White Noise (Daniel Edwards)

ORC Division 2

• Rozinante II
• Merlion (Eddie Mackevicius)
• Alien (Justin Brenan)

PHS Division 1

• Soiree Bleu
• Hot Chipps (John Chipp)

PHS Division 2

• Foggy Dew (Robert D’Arcy)

Double-Handed

Maverick (Tony Hammond/Rod Smallman)

Gusto (Brian Pattinson/Bruno Carreto

Solera (Stuart Richardson/Jason Boyle)

Full results: https://www.orcv.org.au/results/2021-22/

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ORCV’s 48th King Island Race

Sailing Maverick double-handed, Rod Smallman and Tom Vaughan have cleaned up in the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s 48th Melbourne to King Island Yacht Race, taking out IRC, PHS and Double-Handed divisions and capping off with a second in AMS in the 114 nautical mile race to Grassy in Tasmania.

Double-handed racing is fast becoming à la mode in Australia, and Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600’s like Maverick are topping the podium at events in Australia and overseas.

Punching above her 11.7 frame is nothing new for Maverick. She and others like her have proved time and again they will not be bullied by their larger fully crewed counterparts, and Smallman’s years of experience, including placing top three in the ORCV’s 2018 Melbourne-Osaka Double-Handed Yacht Race, make the two a formidable package.

“Tom (Vaughan) and I have previously done Westcoaster (Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race) together and he did the last Sydney Hobart with me. He’s amazing – for such a young head (24 years-old) he’s very stable. I love sailing with Tom. For his 18th birthday present, his dad, Martin (Commodore of the ORCV) took Tom on his first Sydney Hobart race on Wild Side in 2014 and he hasn’t looked back,” Smallman commented.

“I did the race with my son Tyson last year, and we pretty much had the same result, except Tom and I finished one better in AMS with second place this time. Last year’s race was really light though, and this year it was very heavy.”

Smallman gives credit to his boat too. “The Jeanneaus are incredible for double-handed sailing. The Sun Fast goes through the Bass Strait waves very well and we were fast. But we did well tactically too. I didn’t think we would be that competitive, as we didn’t have the weight for the rail in the heavier air. I think the tactics got us there in the end.”

A race for all-comers, of the 22 entries two were sailed double-handed (Maverick and Lord Jiminy), one Four + Autohelm (Spirit of Downunder, largely a family crew skippered by 82 year-old Laurie Ford), with the remainder fully crewed.

New to the race was E’toile, skippered by John Gordon who completed the ORCV’s Beyond the Bay program last year and made this his third ocean race and the first minus an ORCV mentor on board.

The race started with a 20 knot south-westerly beat. The wind veered slightly during the morning, when all but one tacked, pointing directly towards King Island.

On sunset, the tide turned, making it a challenge to maintain boat speed. Those who stayed east of the rhumbline scored better results. The first three over the finish line – Hartbreaker, Carrera S and White Noise – were within 1.2nm of each other, with the top two less than a few hundred metres apart. And just six minutes separated the fleet after the handicaps were put in place, making for an exciting race.

Starting off Queenscliff and finishing in Grassy Harbour, King Island, a party awaits at the King Island Boat Club, making it a popular race. As Grant Dunoon pointed out, “It’s worth the trip – a great steak at the end, wonderful hospitality and a great destination.”

Rod Smallman agreed: “I love the race. It’s so good, a couple of the cruisers stayed on to make the best of some cruising. And the Club has this reputation for ripping out the best steak sandwiches – this time it was the best I’ve ever had. Everyone stays, because half the fun is the catch up at the end. And the people from the Club stay up all night for us.”

A band plays until the wee hours as the last of the fleet trickles in to the King Island Boat Club, which uses the race as their major fundraiser for the year: “Apparently, they make enough out of what we eat and drink to make it worthwhile,” Smallman said with a laugh.

The First Melbourne to King Island Race started in 1973, a few months after the ORCV’s Westcoaster; meaning both will celebrate their half century editions in two years’ time.

Top results:

White Noise (Daniel Edwards) 1st AMS, 2nd IRC Maverick (Rod Smallman/Tom Vaughan) 2nd AMS, 1st IRC, 1st PHS, 1st D-H Archie (Jeff Sloan) 3rd IRC, 2nd PHS Vertigo (Tim Olding) 3rd AMS Hartbreaker (Antony Walton) 3rd PHS

Full results available here .

by Di Pearson

YachtBoatNews

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One of the great experiences that visitors often recall about King Island is that they are able to enjoy community activities while on the island. These are events or activities that are not aimed at visitors but are a part of living on King Island. Each week our tourism association publishes a What’s on guide which includes the scheduled community and visitor activities for the week. The community welcomes visitors to experience our reality of living on King Island. So whether it is joining in at barefoot bowls, visiting the op shop or the library or even going to a yoga or gypsy dancing class, we encourage you to join in. 

Horse Racing Carnival

The King Island Racing Club Inc. are holding eight race meetings in the 2023/2024 season at the North Road Racecourse Complex in Currie. These are being held during November and January with a field of approximately 30 gallopers and 16 harness horses. The meetings are a unique day of racing, with both codes running on the same day. Race Days are relaxed community gatherings with refreshments and food readily available. The King Island Race Club boasts full TOTE and Sky Channel facilities, a bookmaker and race broadcaster. For all upcoming races please visit the website.

The Festival of King Island (FOKI)

FOKI is a celebration of folk, indie, country, blues & roots music held in the natural amphitheatre of Currie Harbour during the first weekend in February. With 2 days packed full of music, a 100m waterslide, raft race, pie-eating competition and other fun activities for the kids it is a family-friendly festival which brings together the islanders, ex-islanders, visitors and Australia's best musicians in what has become a giant musical reunion. When: Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd February 2024

The King Island Show

King Island Agricultural, Horticultural & Pastoral Society Show. Visit the pavilion for the arts and crafts display. Tasty food is for sale (the donuts are a must!). There is cattle judging, horse riding displays, pet competitions and so much more. When: 1st Tuesday in March Contact: Laura Harvey Telephone: 0472 752 010 Email: [email protected]

Imperial 20 Marathon

King Island is home to one of Australia's unique running events, the King Island Imperial 20, proudly sponsored by Hydro Tasmania. The feature event, the 32 km handicapped run, is supported by several other events which include: a 32 km walking race, a 4 x 8 km teams walking relay and a 4 x 8 km running relay. Each race begins on the Sunday morning at the picturesque seaside hamlet of Naracoopa on the east coast of King Island. The course winds its way across the Island to finish on the west coast at the main township of Currie. When: Sunday March 10th 2024

King Island Football Season

The King Island Football Association runs the only three team competition in Australia which means that you can win the wooden spoon and the premiership in the same season. Bitter rivals Currie, Grassy and North fight it out year after year for the honour of winning the premiership. Games take place in Currie or Grassy and are an integral part of island life. When: Saturday afternoons - May to September Contact: Trevor Stones (KIFA President) Email: [email protected]

Queenscliff to Grassy Yacht Race

The Queenscliff to Grassy Yacht Race was first sailed in the 1970's and since then has become a major fixture on the Australian Ocean Racing calendar. The race is organized by the Ocean Racing Yacht Club of Victoria in conjunction with the King Island Boat Club and sailed on the Victorian Labour Day long weekend in March. Visitors are welcome at the King Island Boat Club during the race weekend and can experience first hand the excitement of finishing yachts sailing into Grassy Harbour, meeting with crew members and locals alike while enjoying great food and refreshments at the boat club. When: March Long Weekend

Wings On King Island

Even though King Island has such an important location and role for birds, we know very little about the conservation status of the land birds of King Island or about how the birds that migrate across Bass Strait use the Island. Long- term, systematic monitoring of land-birds has never been done on King Island! Although there has been useful random monitoring of birds on the Island, its use for conservation management is limited. Winds on King aims to answer these questions by gathering data from identified monitoring sites across the island in differing land usage zones, landscape elements, communities and habitat qualities. It aims to find and tell the story of the birds of King Island. When: November

Pheasant Weekend

Pheasant Season is the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June. Licenses to shoot Pheasant can only be obtained through Service Tasmania (1300 135 513) outlets or the Internet. The King Island Game Bird Association issue Membership cards at a fee with the Shooter Authority Card – to be endorsed and signed by the landowner or manager to give the shooter permission to shoot on the named properties. These can be obtained on arrival on the Island, or by prior arrangement from the Association. The membership is used to fund the Game Bird Association Breed and Release project; to maintain pheasant numbers in the field. Contact: Nick Cooper – Game Bird Ass. Currie Telephone: 0428 611 254

King Island Golf Open

Situated in Currie, set amid coastal dunes meeting the Southern Ocean, King Island's links have been described as resembling St Andrew's of Scotland, with rolling fairways carved from the natural undulations. The King Island Open, a 36 hole event for men and lady golfers is held over the Northern Tasmanian Recreation Day / Melbourne Cup long weekend. This event is open to any golfer with an AGU handicap. The event commences on Friday with a 9 hole Chicken Run held in conjunction with a 18 hole 4BBB stableford (arrange partners). Championship rounds of 18 holes are held on both Saturday and Sunday concluding with a Presentation Dinner at the clubhouse on Sunday evening. When: November Long Weekend

POKI Markets

Held in Currie township on a Saturday 10am - 12.30 these monthly markets showcasing King Island produce and items made & grown on King Island. For more information on location and dates look for the easel in the Main Street of Currie. When: Every 2nd month Telephone: 03 6462 1128

Community Events

One of the great experiences that visitors often recall about King Island is that they are able to enjoy community activities while on the island. These are events or activities that are not aimed at visitors but are a part of living on King Island. Each week our tourism association publishes a What’s on guide which includes the scheduled community and visitor activities for the week.

The boat Lord Jiminy takes the lead as those who chose west enjoy favourable winds Photo Credit Steb Fisher

Tactical Race as King Island ‘Splits’ Melbourne to Hobart Race Fleet

As the sun set on the first day of racing, tacticians onboard Melbourne Hobart yachts began making defining race decision. The critical question for all tacticians was which way to sail past Bass Strait King Island, do we sail the traditional course east of King Island, or West to find favourable winds?

Sailing west of King Island has rarely been a race winning course tin he past 49 Melbourne to Hobart races. This year’s weather has made it an option with most of the fleet deciding on the westerly course. Blue Water Tacks has chosen the most westerly course, searching for increased wind further west in Bass Strait

Currently leading the fleet is Lord Jiminy with Alex-Team Macadie and Tevake ll close behind with Alien currently leading in all three handicap divisions and sailed the traditional course, east of King Island,

As always, the Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’ yacht race, is a race with many stages.  Sailing across Bass Strait past King Island is the first stage with West Coats of Tasmania second.

Track the fleet at https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2021-melbourne-to-hobart-westcoaster

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 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 3 172IAP For the Party of Bolsheviks with Nikolai Sheyenko May 1942 01

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3

National origin:- Soviet Union Role:- Fighter Interceptor Manufacturer:- Mikoyan-Gurevich Designer:- First flight:- 29th October 1940 Introduction:- 1941 Status:- Retired 1945 Produced:- 1940-1941 Number built:- 3,422 Primary users:- Soviet Air Forces (VVS); Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO); Soviet Naval Aviation Developed from:- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1 Variants:- Mikoyan-Gurevich I-211 Operational history MiG-3s were delivered to frontline fighter regiments beginning in the spring of 1941 and were a handful for pilots accustomed to the lower-performance and docile Polikarpov I-152 and I-153 biplanes and the Polikarpov I-16 monoplane. It remained tricky and demanding to fly even after the extensive improvements made over the MiG-1. Many fighter regiments had not kept pace in training pilots to handle the MiG and the rapid pace of deliveries resulted in many units having more MiGs than trained pilots during the German invasion. By 1 June 1941, 1,029 MIG-3s were on strength, but there were only 494 trained pilots. In contrast to the untrained pilots of the 31st Fighter Regiment, those of the 4th Fighter Regiment were able to claim three German high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft shot down before war broke out in June 1941. However high-altitude combat of this sort was to prove to be uncommon on the Eastern Front where most air-to-air engagements were at altitudes well below 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). At these altitudes the MiG-3 was outclassed by the Bf 109 in all respects, and even by other new Soviet fighters such as the Yakovlev Yak-1. Furthermore, the shortage of ground-attack aircraft in 1941 forced it into that role as well, for which it was totally unsuited. Pilot Alexander E. Shvarev recalled: "The Mig was perfect at altitudes of 4,000 m and above. But at lower altitudes it was, as they say, 'a cow'. That was the first weakness. The second was its armament: weapons failure dogged this aircraft. The third weakness was its gunsights, which were inaccurate: that's why we closed in as much as we could and fired point blank." On 22 June 1941, most MiG-3s and MiG-1s were in the border military districts of the Soviet Union. The Leningrad Military District had 164, 135 were in the Baltic Military District, 233 in the Western Special Military District, 190 in the Kiev Military District and 195 in the Odessa Military District for a total of 917 on hand, of which only 81 were non-operational. An additional 64 MiGs were assigned to Naval Aviation, 38 in the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet and 26 in the Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet. The 4th and 55th Fighter Regiments had most of the MiG-3s assigned to the Odessa Military District and their experiences on the first day of the war may be taken as typical. The 4th, an experienced unit, shot down a Romanian Bristol Blenheim reconnaissance bomber, confirmed by postwar research, and lost one aircraft which crashed into an obstacle on takeoff. The 55th was much less experienced with the MiG-3 and claimed three aircraft shot down, although recent research confirms only one German Henschel Hs 126 was 40% damaged, and suffered three pilots killed and nine aircraft lost. The most unusual case was the pair of MiG-3s dispatched from the 55th on a reconnaissance mission to PloieÅŸti that failed to properly calculate their fuel consumption and both were forced to land when they ran out of fuel. Most of the MiG-3s assigned to the interior military districts were transferred to the PVO where their lack of performance at low altitudes was not so important. On 10 July 299 were assigned to the PVO, the bulk of them belonging to the 6th PVO Corps at Moscow, while only 293 remained with the VVS, and 60 with the Naval Air Forces, a total of only 652 despite deliveries of several hundred aircraft. By 1 October, on the eve of the German offensive towards Moscow codenamed Operation Typhoon, only 257 were assigned to VVS units, 209 to the PVO, and 46 to the Navy, a total of only 512, a decrease of 140 fighters since 10 July, despite deliveries of over a thousand aircraft in the intervening period. By 5 December, the start of the Soviet counter-offensive that drove the Germans back from the gates of Moscow, the Navy had 33 MiGs on hand, the VVS 210, and the PVO 309. This was a total of 552, an increase of only 40 aircraft from 1 October. Over the winter of 1941-42 the Soviets transferred all of the remaining MiG-3s to the Navy and PVO so that on 1 May 1942 none were left on strength with the VVS. By 1 May 1942, Naval Aviation had 37 MiGs on strength, while the PVO had 323 on hand on 10 May. By 1 June 1944, the Navy had transferred all its aircraft to the PVO, which reported only 17 on its own strength, and all of those were gone by 1 January 1945. Undoubtedly more remained in training units and the like, but none were assigned to combat units by then.

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