Operation Benedict was a mission where the RAF established 151 Wing at Vaenga airfield, near Murmansk. Equipped with two Hurricane fighter squadrons, the wing's role was to fight German and Finnish forces while training Soviet pilots and ground crews to operate the aircraft. Thirty-nine Hurricane Mk IIB fighters reached the USSR: 24 flown from the aircraft carrier HMS Argus and 15 transported in crates via the first Arctic convoy. 

In five weeks of combat, 151 Wing claimed 16 victories, four probables, and seven aircraft damaged before converting Soviet Naval Aviation personnel to the fighters in October.

The mission resulted in three British casualties: Sergeant Pilot N. H. "Nudger" Smith was shot down and killed by German Bf 109s on 12 September; and two aircrewmen, Aircraftmen Ridley and Thomas, died in an airfield accident. They were sitting on a Hurricane's tail to weigh it down on a rough runway when Flight Lieutenant Vic Berg accidentally took off, crashed, and was severely injured, killing both ground crewmen. Berg was severely injured. Four RAF members received the Order of Lenin.

The RAF party departed in late November, arriving home on 7 December when 151 Wing disbanded.

British IIB Hurricanes, near Murmansk, USSR, Sept 1941.