Been rereading Brit author Alexander Fullerton’s World War II convoy novels in which German submarines sank more than actually got through. And if the subs didn’t get them, the Stuka dive bombers did.
The most reliable aerial weapon the Brits had to protect the convoys was the Supermarine version of the Spitfire, with its four-blade prop. Always have liked the look of those wide wings. They mounted eight machine guns. They needed so many against malfunctions, such as the freezing of the outer ones at high altitude.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
The story of convoys is full of heroes, lots of whom died. Soviets were never large enough to acknowledge that in full.
Fullerton’s World War II novels introduced me to a side of the war I never really knew existed. Beyond the Battle of Britain, American histories likewise tend to ignore the other allied combatants. But it works both ways. I think I told you about my friend who grew up in London who said it wasn’t until she moved to the U.S. that she learned Americans were even in World War II. Amazing.