ww2 finland air aces

8/10/2019 WW2 Finland air aces

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FIN N ISH FIGHTER ACES

60 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2015

Of all the countries that engagedin aerial combat during World

War Two, Finland was, accordingto some measures, the most

successful. During both the WinterWar and the Continuation War,the Finnish Air Force more than

showed its mettle

Finlands

FIGHTERKNIGHTS

T

WORDS:GEN (RETD) HEIKKI NIKUNEN with ARI SAARINEN

he so-called Winter War wasthe baptism offire for theFinnish Air Force. Te SovietUnion and Nazi Germany

formed a pact in 1939, which resultedin the German invasion of Poland inSeptember of that year. Subsequent tothat assault, on 30 November, came theSoviet Unions attack on Finland.

From a materiel standpoint the FinnishAir Force, or Ilmavoimat, was ill-preparedfor the war, especially as regards thenumber offighters at its disposal, which

was alarmingly small. Against that, it hadimplemented a rigorous training syllabus,and therefore its level of combat-readiness

was fairly high. For example, it hadalready begun to train in the loose, broadsection and finger four formations as earlyas 1935.

Furthermore, aerial gunnery practicewas emphasised heavily, and Finnishfighter pilots had spent their summertraining periods engaged in deploymentsto that end. Tey were instructed not

just to fire indiscriminately at the targetaircraft, but to shoot at certain partsof their adversaries. Te principle ofattacking regardless of numbers moreover

conferred a certain advantage in terms oftaking the initiative.

As a result, the Ilmavoimats FokkerD.XXI (FR)s were able to achieve akill ratio of 16:1 against Soviet combat

aircraft. Since the Fokker was a slow andlightly-armedfixed-undercarriagefighter,this was quite spectacular.

Te Soviets enjoyed ten-fold numericalsuperiority against the Finnish DefenceForces. As a consequence, Finland wasforced to yield certain areas in Karelia, inthe south-east of its territory. However,its efforts proved able to stop the Sovietoffensive inflicting heavy losses. Tisbecame an embarrassment to the Soviets,and they considered suing for a temporarypeace agreement.

On the other hand, Germany beinghostile, Sweden officially remainingneutral and the plans of France and GreatBritain to offer support turning out tobe inadequate, Finland did not have theresources to continue the fight alone. Atemporary peace treaty with the Soviets

was thus signed on 13 March 1940.Finlands strategic position became

increasingly tough. Te Soviet Unioncontinued its diplomatic pressure, andForeign Minister Molotov demanded ona trip to Germany in November 1940that the problem of Finlandmust beresolved for good. As France and Britainhad their hands tied fighting on their own

fronts, Finland had difficulties in findingways to improve its defences.

It had begun the acquisition of morefighters during the Winter War now,these began to arrive in greater numbers.


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AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2015 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 61

ABOVE: Lt JormaKarhunenpores over a mapwith three colleagues on the thirdflight of Lentolaivue (Squadron) 24,or 3./LLv.24. This shotwas taken at Rantasalmi in July 1941, not long after re-equipmentwith theBrewsterB-239.

Karhunen became a 31-kill ace, 26.5 of those in the Brewster. SA-KUVA


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FI N N I S H FI GHTE R ACES

ABOVE:Some30Gladiator IIswere

supplied new to theIlmavoimat earlyin 1940, serving

with LLv.26 theyscored46 victoriesin total, and two

pilotsmadeace onthe type.

SA-KUVA

RIGHT: TwoFokkerD.XXIs above the

snow-coveredairfield at Suulajrviin December 1941.

SA-KUVA

Te Finns were well aware of the needfor aircraft and even donated funding tothe cause in the form of family heirloomssuch as wedding rings. Tere was greatvariation in the aircraft types concernedas they came from the United States,Britain, France, Italy and Germany, plussome domestic designs and even capturedSoviet aircraft.

Clearly, the bestfighter acquiredduring the temporary peace was the

American-built Brewster B-239, Finlandsde-navalised export version of the F2A-1Buffalo. Tis differed somewhat from theexamples used by American and Britishforces, in which the Buffalo was disliked

due to its poor performance. With localmodifications such as the use of fourFinnish-built LKk 42 0.5in machine guns(effectively Browning copies), increased

armour protection for the pilot, a bettergunsight and other enhancements, a farmore effective mount resulted.

Te Brewsters were purchased despitea US law prohibiting the sale of aircraftto combatant countries. Te loopholefor the acquisition was found in aclause permitting the sale of rejectedequipment. It was arranged for the USNavy to declare surplus 44 such aircraft,

which were then sold to Finland at anominal price.

Te strategic situation in the northernEuropean theatre changed graduallyduring 1940 and early 1941. Te Soviet-German pact became moot as Germany

began preparations for its easternoffensive. Principally as a consequenceof the surprising results of the Winter

War, Germanys hostile attitude towards

Finland changed to one of suddeninterest in co-operation. In an ironictwist, Finland found that the only nearbycountry with which it could trade andenjoy an economic relationship so as toimprove its defensive status was the SovietUnions former ally, Germany.

When Germany opened its assaultagainst the Soviet Union in June 1941,Finland had already given Germanypermission to stage units throughLapland. After Soviet bombers attackedvarious targets in Finland on 25

June 1941, the Finns officially beganmilitary co-operation with Germany.So commenced what Finland calls the

Continuation War.From a political point of view,

Finland did not want to be in an alliedrelationship with Nazi Germany. Fromthe military standpoint, co-operationseemed to be the only solution possible.But Finland drew the line at numerousrequests by Germany to advance its forcesfor the attack on Stalingrad beyond ademarcation line drawn at eastern Karelia.

At the outset of the Continuation War,Soviet forces in the theatre were onlydouble the size of Finlands. Tis allowed

the Finns to advance fairly quickly andestablish a defensive line, at which anetwork of trenches was ultimatelylocated. Te Ilmavoimat achievedair superiority during this part of the



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ABOVE: TheFiatG50served withLLv.26, laterLe.Lv.26, fromFebruary 1940to 1944. Theseexamplesare

pictured at Rautuin August 1942.SA-KUVA

ABOVE: Three Finnish aces: from left to right, Lt Hans HasseWind (75aerial victories), AirMaster SgtYrj Pappa Turkka(17) andLt Jorma JoppeKarhunen (31). K-SIM

LEFT: Curtiss Hawk75As of Le.Lv.12 onan18October 1943mission over theOlonets Isthmus. SA-KUVA

campaign the Brewsters (coded BW)notably excelled, achieving a remarkablekill ratio of 32:1.

From 1943 the B-239s started tobecome obsolete as technical advancesovertook them. Fortunately, the

Ilmavoimat was able to replace themwith new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2s andlater G-6s supplied by Germany. eMesserschmitts (officially coded MT, andnicknamed Mersu by the Finns) bore themain burden of the air war in Finlandsfiercefinal combats. eir kill ratio wasalso impressive at 25:1.

Although the Finnishfighter forceshad improved considerably compared tothe Winter War, materiel resources werestill scarce. is paucity of support causedthe Ilmavoimat to implement changes information numbers. It also was the reasonfor the very cautious and selective use offighters for ground attack missions.

When the tide of war changed andGerman forces began to retreat westward,Soviet pressure on Finland increased. Inthe spring of 1944 the Soviets made thedecision to take Finland before beginning

their advance towards Berlin. eyamassed a ten-fold advantage in termsof troops and aircraft on the KarelianIsthmus and started their strategicoffensive on 9 June. is achievedinitial success, forcing the withdrawal

of the Finnish forces along the isthmus.However, in July 1944 the Finns wereable to stabilise the front on the VuoksiRiver, and further attempts by the Sovietsto advance past this line were turnedback. e miracle of the Winter War hadbeen repeated.

A typical aerial engagement with theSoviets took place over the north-easternpart of the Gulf of Finland at 20.00hrson 19 June 1944. Eighteen FinnishMesserschmitts encountered dozens ofSoviet aircraft. During the ensuingfightthe Soviets lost six Pe-2s, three P-39

Airacobras, two DB-3Fs, two Il-2s andtwo La-5s, a total of 15 aircraft, for no

Finnish losses.Despite the Soviet superiority in

numbers, the Ilmavoimat was able toconcentrate its air forces in the rightplaces and keep on getting good results.

One indicator of its ability to achievelocal air superiority was demonstratedin the way Finnish bombers (BristolBlenheims, Junkers Ju 88s and DornierDo 17s) and the aircraft of the LuftwaffesDetachment Kuhlmey were able to

continue their effective air raids. esemade a vital contribution to the war effortbecause the strikes could concentrate onattacking massed troop formations justbefore their pre-planned attack times.

Warnings of impending troop movementswere captured continually by way ofradio intelligence. In this period it is

WHY THESWASTIKA?The Finnish Air Force was founded on 6 March 1918. Itsfirst aircraft was donated by a Swedish count, Eric vonRosen. On the wings of the aircraft (a Thulin D,

a Swedish licence-built Morane-Saulnier Type L)was painted his personal lucky insignia, a blue swastika.Thus, the swastika employed in the traditional Ilmavoimatmarkings has no link to that used by Nazi Germany.

BELOW: A Bf109G-2airborneout ofMalmi in February1944. Fromthatairfield, 1./Le.Lv.34 undertooktheair defence of Helsinki. SA-KUVA



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RIGHT: Illu inthe cockpit of hisBrewster B-239,ready to go.K-SIM

noteworthy that no bombers from thoseformations, which were escorted byBf 109Gs, were lost to enemyfighters.

Once it became obvious that theSoviets had not succeeded in their planto take Finland, they began to movetheir troops away from the Karelian

front for the final advance on Berlin.Teir failure on the Karelian front wasthe only Soviet strategic defeat duringtheir advance westward. Moscowsigned a temporary peace agreement

with Helsinki in September 1944, astipulation of it being that the Finns


he Mannerheim Cross,named after formermilitary commander andPresident Carl Gustaf Emil

Mannerheim, is the highest Finnishmilitary award. Introduced into the Order

of the Cross of Liberty following theWinter War, its bearers receive the titleKnight of the Mannerheim Cross. Onlyfour individuals were so decorated twice,and Ilmari Illu Juutilainen (21 February1914-21 February 1999) was one of them.

Te book Double Fighter Knight wasoriginally published in 1956 and was basedon Juutilainens diaries. His lively style of

writing put a new slant on the genre ofwar memoirs. In many ways his volumewas the Finnish counterpart of PierreClostermanns Te Big Show.

In the winter of 1939, Air MasterSgt Ilmari Juutilainen deployed withhis squadron, Lentolaivue (LLv) 24, to

Immola, a snow-covered forward basewhich had neither hangars nor anyother buildings. Te flight to whichIllu belonged was headed by Lt EinoLuukkanen, who himself scored 56

T

In Illu Juutilainen,

Finland produced one ofthe greatest fighter aces

of all time

should push German forces out ofLapland.Furthermore, the Finns wereforced to cede certain areas in Karelia andPetsamo to the Soviets and revert to the1940 borders.

Finland had nevertheless achievedsome major victories. From the opening

The

ACE OF ACES


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FAR LEFT: MS406serial MS-325from 2./Le.Lv.28 ispreparing to takeoff from nislinna,east Karelia, on 17March 1942.SA-KUVA


Aircraft Quantity

Gloster Gladiator I/ II 12 (Swedish volunteers)/30Fokker D.XXI 97Brewster B-239 44

Fiat G50 35Morane-Saulnier MS40 6/410 87Curtiss Hawk 75A 42Hawker Hurricane I/IIb 12/1Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2/G-6 162

Fi nla nd s wa rti me fi ghtersThe main fighter types used by the Finnish Air Force from 1939 to 1944

shots of the Winter War to the end ofthe Continuation War, the objective

was to save Finland and guaranteeits independence. is was achieved,allowing one particularly proud claimto be made: of all the countries in theEuropean theatre that participated in theSecond World War, only two were neveroccupied Finland and Great Britain.

Finns hold a number of records fromwartime. Finland boasts the highestcount of aces (94) as a proportion of itspopulation and its total number of pilots.Its Brewsters recorded the wars highest

kill ratio for a single type in service withone air arm, of 32:1. In January 1940,Lt Jorma Sarvantoflying a Fokker D.XXIshot down six Ilyushin DB-3 bombers

within four minutes. One individualFinnish aircraft, the Brewster serialledBW-393, had 41 aerial victories to itscredit. e list goes on.

Te contemporary Finnish AirForce carries on the fine tradition of its

wartime veterans. Tose experiences andthe limited resources of a small nationhave led to the formation of a cleardoctrine, one emphasising the need forair superiority a lesson first learned 75years ago.

victories. e pilots remained on readinessin the freezing-cold winter weather, withthe telephone via which they wouldreceive notification of a scramble hangingon a hay pole stuck in the snow. After onemishap involving a pair of Fokker D.XXIs,the ground crew replaced the enginefrom the wrecked machine with anotherovernight. Normally this was a two-day

job in a warm hangar they performedit outside, illuminated by torches. etemperature was -14C, and a member ofthe maintenance crew kept the tools warm

with a blow-torch.In those inauspicious surroundings,

Juutilainen started a combat career thatsaw him becoming the highest-scoringnon-German ace of World War Two. His

official tally of confirmed kills was 94 andone-sixth, but a number for which he wasnot credited were assigned to his squadroninstead. e finalfigure was well over 100.

But what made Illu Juutilainen sosuccessful? How did he survive all thoseaerial engagements 437 combat sorties

in allwithout ever sustaining anydamage from enemyfighters?

One perspective comes from retiredUS Navyfighter pilot Rear Admiral Paul

T. Gillcrist. He sums up the essentialattributes thus: Attack, attack, attack! the advantage always lies with theattacker; superb situational awareness;good look-out doctrine (and incrediblygood eyesight); a superb ability toestimate deflection (a natural shooter);

a solid knowledge of his own airplanesstrengths and weaknesses, as well as ofthose of his enemies, and the ability tocapitalise on them both; a gifted, natural

ABOVE: 2./LLv.24Brewsters on patrol.The nearest,BW-352, is flown byAir Master Sgt EeroKinnunen. K-SIM

Juutilainen became the highest-scoringnon-German ace of World War Two


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ABOVERIGHT:

Bf 109G-2MT-201 takingoff fromUtti on1 June1943, in

the hands ofMajEino Luukkanen,

commanderofLe.Lv.34. It was

in that year thatJuutilainen joined

theunit.K-SIM


No other pilot scored a hit againstJuutilainen or any of his aircraft in battle

ABOVE:Membersof 3./Le.Lv.24

witha Brewster atRmptti in October

1942.Amongthem areflight

commanderCaptJorma Karhunen

with his dogPeggyBrown,and,

third from right,Juutilainen. SA-KUVA

pilot; a willingness to fly his airplaneout to the ragged edge of its capabilities,and the natural ability to sustain thefight at the edge of the envelope; greatphysical endurance under extremely harshcircumstances; supreme confidence in hisown capabilities; and coolness under fire.

One could go into each of thesecharacteristics in greater detail and findoneself describing the ideal fighter pilot.ere has probably been no such person

in the history of aerial combat. However,this writers view is that Juutilainen comesas close to such perfection as anyone of

whom he has ever known or heard.Countless times during his memoirs

the reader notices that, in the heat ofan intense aerial engagement, Ilmari

Juutilainen would take one last lookaround just prior to starting hisfinal passfor a kill, especially directly behind. If anattacker were threatening his position,he would always break offand turn hisattention to that aggressor.

is one habit above all was the reasonwhy no other pilot scored a hit againstJuutilainen or any of his aircraft in battle.

Hisfiring distances, incidentally, variedfrom 20 to 100 yards.

at Illu was an eminently successfulfighter pilot goes without question. athe was deadly in an aerial engagement isdemonstrated by his having downed over

94 enemy aircraft without receiving anydamage from other fighters whatsoever.But he was neither vicious nor cruel;

he lacked neither gallantry nor evenmagnanimity. He had feelings of empathyfor his opponents and often wished them

well after having put their aircraft out ofaction. He was involved in a raw, brutal,

terrifying business, the pitting of men inflying machines against each other. Noquarter was asked, and none given. Yetmany of the participants relished it andcame back for more, day after day.

ese were the victorious Knights. AirMaster Sergeant Ilmari Illu Juutilainenwas surely one of the best such men.

I had the pleasure of meeting Illuin person at his home in 1997. I foundhim to be a modest and yet very livelyindividual. He took part actively inmeetings of veterans right up until hisdeath in 1999. Illu once stated he wouldpass away on his birthday, and that, aged85, is exactly what he did.

What follows is a series of extracts fromJuutilainens book covering three notableair-to-air engagements in which he tookpart, and giving some idea of his approachto aerial combat.

TEMPORARYPEACE

At this stage, Juutilainen was serving withLentolaivue (LLv, or Squadron) 24. Thisunit converted from the Fokker D.XXI tothe Brewster B-239 in April 1940.

We had collected our new mounts,the Brewsters, which were assembledin Trollhttan, Sweden by Norwegian

mechanics. ey were flown to Malmiairport in Helsinki and we established ourbase there. e Fokkers [D.XXIs] wereflown to the VL state aircraft factory inTampere.

On 14 June 1940 a tragic eventoccurred, when an Aero O/Y [thepredecessor of Finnair] Ju 52/3m airlinernamedKalevadisappeared on a routineflight from Tallinn to Helsinki. When

its normal time of arrival passed with noword, a Blackburn Ripon floatplane waslaunched from Santahamina air station tosearch for it. ere were no sightings. esquadron commander Maj Magnusson justglanced at me and grunted, Go look!

I took offrapidly and headed for theEstonian coastline at an altitude of 600ft.

When I passed the Helsinki lightship Isaw the silhouette of a submarine far awayon the horizon. I headed towards it, and

when I was about half a mile away I sawa seaman run to the stern of the vessel,quickly hoist down aflag and stuffitin his jacket. I knew that, according tointernational law, I couldnt go closer than

500 yards from the foreign warship on theopen sea and I couldntfly over it.

Nevertheless, Iflew within about 100yards of the vessel and circled it, noticingthat it had stopped in the centre of thedebrisfield from a crashed aircraft. Icircled the submarine once more at a rangeof about 50 yards to see if there were anysurvivors on deck.

I pulled up and away towards theEstonian coast and then swung aroundand back down, pointing the nose of myfighter at the submarine. e machineguns were loaded and the light was on mysight. I saw red and was ready to fight.

I did not know, at the time, that Soviet

bombers had shot down this unarmedpassenger aircraft. ey had taken offatthe same time as the airliner, joined oneither side of the doomed machine andshot it down in cold blood.


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LEFT: A group of2.and 3./Le.Lv.34Messerschmittpilots at readiness.K-SIM


Now I was going to pass over thesubmarine level with the top of the

conning tower at a speed of 220kt. WhenI started my run I saw a hatch on the deckopen up and three seamen jumping tothe deck gun, throwing the covers awayin such a hurry that one cover slippedinto the sea. e sub began to pick upspeed and started making evasive turns.I also saw a couple of small boats nearby,collecting material. I made several passesover the sub thinking that if they trainedthat cannon even just a bit, I would shootthose rascals away from the cannon; thenI would shoot the senior officers in theconning tower and begin to make holesin the waterline of the sub. No action

took place, so I rocked my wings andfl

ewhome.

11 SEPTEMBER1943Juutilainen moved in 1943 to what wasthen Lentolaivue (Le.Lv, or Squadron) 34,flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2.

On that day we scrambled in responseto air surveillance information that alarge formation of enemy aircraft wasapproaching about three miles north-

west of Sepeleva lighthouse. When wemade a visual sighting we found that theformation included Pe-2 dive-bombers,and La-5 and LaGG-3 fighters, totalling

several dozen aircraft.Ourflight consisted of four fighters.

Lt VinPokelas section had alreadyengaged the formation when Ture Mattilaand I rolled in to strike. It was at thatmoment that I noticed another formationof La-5fighters above and behind usand diving in to attack. Immediately Iturned in [towards] this new threat, andTure followed while he radioed a warningto Pokelas section about the additionalenemy aircraft. Although the engagementhad begun above the water, our sectionand our opponents had drifted over land.Pokelas engagement was still over water.

I had an opportunity to shoot at one

of the La-5s from behind and to the side,when it turned in front of me. Piecesbroke offthe aircraft and it began tostream thick smoke as it dived verticallythrough a hole in the clouds, passing Ture

who pulled up sharply. efight hadstarted at about 13,000ft but had risen to16,500ft. e superior number of enemyaircraft had caused us to climb continually.In addition to the La-5s, some LaGG-3shad joined the engagement, so there really

were enough targets for the two of us!Ture had allowed an enemyfighter

to get behind him and tried to dive intoa cloud to shake offhis attacker. At thetime I was behind an La-5 which wasperforming an impressive programmeof aerobatics, when I saw the danger tomy wingman. I broke away from myopponent and went to help Ture, callingto warn him of the threat. I fired at Turesattacker from long range, ahead of him,to get him to break off. My trick workedand the LaGG-3 broke away from Turestail, turning to attack me. I shot at it frombehind and to the side. en he seemedto become confused and reversed his turn,thus allowing me to close to better range. Inoticed that there were a couple of enemy

fighters above us but concluded that theywere not yet a threat. e LaGG-3 triedto shake me offits tail without success. I

was now close enough to fire, at a rangeof about 20 yards. I squeezed offsomeshort bursts, and suddenly the target wasin flames.

Now four La-5s attacked me, and Ipulled up into a tight climbing turn whichthe enemies could not follow with theirhigh speed. Two of the aircraft stayedabove me, and two were below and besideme. One of the upper section attacked.I turned down under its nose and thenpulled up at full power even before it had

passed me. Simultaneously, Ifi

red a shortburst at the aircraft still turning above me.My tracers didnt get very close to him andhe dived after his comrade.

Four other enemy aircraft tried toattack me from above and behind in asteep diving turn. I pulled up into a half-loop and went via it into a vertical divethrough a gap in the clouds and away fromthe scene. It began to be a little desolatefor me, trying to wrestle four enemyaircraft over enemy territory, and more

were expected to appear soon.e days tally turned out to be two to

my credit (as observed from a coastal post)and one for Pokela.

26 JUNE1944 BOMBER ESCORTBy this time, the unit on whichJuutilainen served had been re-designated Hvittjlentolaivue(HLe.Lv, or Fighter Squadron) 34, andwas using the Bf 109G-6.

at afternoon we took off[Juutilainenwas in Bf 109G-6 serial MT-422] withErik Lyly to reinforce Capt Olli Puhakkasflight, which was escorting our Blenheimbomber squadron. Its target was a Soviettank concentration in Ihantala (Karelia).

After we had been released from escort

duties we came back over the front lineswhere some enemyfighters had beenreported.

e first reception committee consistedof Airacobra and Mustangfighters.

[Later studies, however, indicate that thelatter type may have been Tomahawks or

Warhawks instead.] Both of these fighterswere of US Lend-Lease origin, provided totheir ally, the Soviet Union. In addition tothese were several La-5s which had hurriedto the scene.

I had not yet fought against the

Mustang [or Tomahawk] and was thereforevery curious to see how it performedin real aerial combat. One of themapproached me from my starboard side ina right turn with his belly facing towardsme. I yanked the throttle to idle to letit slide right past me. e enemy pilot,however, recovered his turn and then sawme beside him. He also throttled back. Isaw longflames of engine back-fire fromhis exhausts. He kicked in his rudder tokill offspeed faster.

I was also doing the same thing, and,because I had started sooner than he had,the adversary slid right out in front of me.I looked around very carefully behind me,

because now my speed was gone and Iwas especially vulnerable to other enemyaircraft. Seeing me behind, the enemypilot went to full power and tried to shakeme offhis tail with a climbing turn. In sodoing, he made his last mistake andflewdirectly in front of my sight. I squeezedthe trigger, and soon the Soviet fighter wasburning in the forest north of Tammisuo,close to the cemetery at Tammisto.

e days score: one Mustang [orTomahawk], one Airacobra, one Il-2.

On the morning of 4 September 1944we were just making our preparationsfor the planned sortie when squadron

commander Luukkanen reported:

ewar has ended. All sorties arecancelled!I saluted and sighed:OK, boss.

DOUBLE FIGHTER KNIGHTThe book can still be sourced via the publisher: Apali Oy,Sammonkatu 64, 33540 Tampere, Finland; www.apali.fi.Copies may be found from other sources abroad.

BELOW: A superb1942 image ofJuutilainen (right)discussingair

combat with acolleague. SA-KUVA

ww2 finland air aces

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