User:Dukon/Soviet Purchasing Commission

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The Soviet Purchasing Commission was a Soviet Union organization of the Second World War.

Also known at some time as the "Soviet Government Purchasing Commission", it was based in Washington, DC, where it arranged the production and purchase of armaments from North American manufacturers.

The Board was able to arrange purchases in spite of the Neutrality Acts, paying for the materiel with Soviet Gold Reserves although documentary evidence linking specific Soviet gold transports to the US for these purchases have not yet been identified. Very specific Soviet gold transports are known but they were paired with purchase agreements. This is an active topic of further research.

Whether the Board had been established before the war buying armaments from North American manufacturers is a topic of ongoing research.

BELOW IS THE BRITISH PAGE AS DRAFT FOR THIS SOVIET PAGE

Facing an Aeroplane shortage during the early stages of World War II, in January 1940, the British government established the British Direct Purchase Commission to purchase US planes that would help supplement domestic plane production.

The requests by the Board to US manufacturers stimulated production and design including the development of what would become the P-51 Mustang.

After the establishment of Lend-Lease, aircraft and other weapons could be supplied direct to the UK.

Aircraft bought by the Commission

 * P-39 Airacobra
 * P-51 Mustang
 * Brewster Buffalo
 * Curtiss P-40
 * Lockheed Hudson
 * Martin Maryland

Directors General

 * Arthur Blaikie Purvis - 1941
 * Sir Clive Baillieu - 1942

Other staff of note

 * Mary Norton
 * Wilfred Hill-Wood