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FINNISH FIGHTER ACES

F i n l a n d s

FIGHTER
K N I G H TS
Of all the countries that engaged
in aerial combat during World
War Two, Finland was, according
to some measures, the most
successful. During both the Winter
War and the Continuation War,
the Finnish Air Force more than
showed its mettle
WORDS: GEN (RET D) HEIKKI NIKUNEN with ARI SAARINEN

he so-called Winter War was


the baptism of fire for the
Finnish Air Force. The Soviet
Union and Nazi Germany
formed a pact in 1939, which resulted
in the German invasion of Poland in
September of that year. Subsequent to
that assault, on 30 November, came the
Soviet Unions attack on Finland.
From a materiel standpoint the Finnish
Air Force, or Ilmavoimat, was ill-prepared
for the war, especially as regards the
number of fighters at its disposal, which
was alarmingly small. Against that, it had
implemented a rigorous training syllabus,
and therefore its level of combat-readiness
was fairly high. For example, it had
already begun to train in the loose, broad
section and finger four formations as early
as 1935.
Furthermore, aerial gunnery practice
was emphasised heavily, and Finnish
fighter pilots had spent their summer
training periods engaged in deployments
to that end. They were instructed not
just to fire indiscriminately at the target
aircraft, but to shoot at certain parts
of their adversaries. The principle of
attacking regardless of numbers moreover
conferred a certain advantage in terms of
taking the initiative.
As a result, the Ilmavoimats Fokker
D.XXI (FR)s were able to achieve a
kill ratio of 16:1 against Soviet combat

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aircraft. Since the Fokker was a slow and


lightly-armed fixed-undercarriage fighter,
this was quite spectacular.
The Soviets enjoyed ten-fold numerical
superiority against the Finnish Defence
Forces. As a consequence, Finland was
forced to yield certain areas in Karelia, in
the south-east of its territory. However,
its efforts proved able to stop the Soviet
offensive inflicting heavy losses. This
became an embarrassment to the Soviets,
and they considered suing for a temporary
peace agreement.
On the other hand, Germany being
hostile, Sweden officially remaining
neutral and the plans of France and Great
Britain to offer support turning out to
be inadequate, Finland did not have the
resources to continue the fight alone. A
temporary peace treaty with the Soviets
was thus signed on 13 March 1940.
Finlands strategic position became
increasingly tough. The Soviet Union
continued its diplomatic pressure, and
Foreign Minister Molotov demanded on
a trip to Germany in November 1940
that the problem of Finland must be
resolved for good. As France and Britain
had their hands tied fighting on their own
fronts, Finland had difficulties in finding
ways to improve its defences.
It had begun the acquisition of more
fighters during the Winter War now,
these began to arrive in greater numbers.

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ABOVE: Lt Jorma Karhunen pores over a map with three colleagues on the third ight of Lentolaivue (Squadron) 24,
or 3./LLv.24. This shot was taken at Rantasalmi in July 1941, not long after re-equipment with the Brewster B-239.
Karhunen became a 31-kill ace, 26.5 of those in the Brewster. SA-KUVA

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FINNISH FIGHTER ACES

ABOVE: Some 30
Gladiator IIs were
supplied new to the
Ilmavoimat early
in 1940, serving
with LLv.26 they
scored 46 victories
in total, and two
pilots made ace on
the type.
SA-KUVA

The Finns were well aware of the need


for aircraft and even donated funding to
the cause in the form of family heirlooms
such as wedding rings. There was great
variation in the aircraft types concerned
as they came from the United States,
Britain, France, Italy and Germany, plus
some domestic designs and even captured
Soviet aircraft.
Clearly, the best fighter acquired
during the temporary peace was the
American-built Brewster B-239, Finlands
de-navalised export version of the F2A-1
Buffalo. This differed somewhat from the
examples used by American and British
forces, in which the Buffalo was disliked
due to its poor performance. With local
modifications such as the use of four
Finnish-built LKk 42 0.5in machine guns
(effectively Browning copies), increased

armour protection for the pilot, a better


gunsight and other enhancements, a far
more effective mount resulted.
The Brewsters were purchased despite
a US law prohibiting the sale of aircraft
to combatant countries. The loophole
for the acquisition was found in a
clause permitting the sale of rejected
equipment. It was arranged for the US
Navy to declare surplus 44 such aircraft,
which were then sold to Finland at a
nominal price.
The strategic situation in the northern
European theatre changed gradually
during 1940 and early 1941. The SovietGerman pact became moot as Germany
began preparations for its eastern
offensive. Principally as a consequence
of the surprising results of the Winter
War, Germanys hostile attitude towards

Finland changed to one of sudden


interest in co-operation. In an ironic
twist, Finland found that the only nearby
country with which it could trade and
enjoy an economic relationship so as to
improve its defensive status was the Soviet
Unions former ally, Germany.
When Germany opened its assault
against the Soviet Union in June 1941,
Finland had already given Germany
permission to stage units through
Lapland. After Soviet bombers attacked
various targets in Finland on 25
June 1941, the Finns officially began
military 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 allied
relationship with Nazi Germany. From
the military standpoint, co-operation
seemed to be the only solution possible.
But Finland drew the line at numerous
requests by Germany to advance its forces
for the attack on Stalingrad beyond a
demarcation line drawn at eastern Karelia.

RIGHT: Two Fokker


D.XXIs above the
snow-covered
aireld at Suulajrvi
in December 1941.

SA-KUVA

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At the outset of the Continuation War,


Soviet forces in the theatre were only
double the size of Finlands. This allowed
the Finns to advance fairly quickly and
establish a defensive line, at which a
network of trenches was ultimately
located. The Ilmavoimat achieved
air superiority during this part of the

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ABOVE: Three Finnish aces: from left to right, Lt Hans Hasse


Wind (75 aerial victories), Air Master Sgt Yrj Pappa Turkka
(17) and Lt Jorma Joppe Karhunen (31). K-SIM
LEFT: Curtiss Hawk 75As of Le.Lv.12 on an 18 October 1943
mission over the Olonets Isthmus. SA-KUVA

BELOW: A Bf 109G-2 airborne out of Malmi in February 1944. From that


aireld, 1./Le.Lv.34 undertook the air defence of Helsinki. SA-KUVA

campaign the Brewsters (coded BW)


notably excelled, achieving a remarkable
kill ratio of 32:1.
From 1943 the B-239s started to
become obsolete as technical advances
overtook them. Fortunately, the
Ilmavoimat was able to replace them
with new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2s and
later G-6s supplied by Germany. The
Messerschmitts (officially coded MT, and
nicknamed Mersu by the Finns) bore the
main burden of the air war in Finlands
fierce final combats. Their kill ratio was
also impressive at 25:1.
Although the Finnish fighter forces
had improved considerably compared to
the Winter War, materiel resources were
still scarce. This paucity of support caused
the Ilmavoimat to implement changes in
formation numbers. It also was the reason
for the very cautious and selective use of
fighters for ground attack missions.
When the tide of war changed and
German forces began to retreat westward,
Soviet pressure on Finland increased. In
the spring of 1944 the Soviets made the
decision to take Finland before beginning

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their advance towards Berlin. They


amassed a ten-fold advantage in terms
of troops and aircraft on the Karelian
Isthmus and started their strategic
offensive on 9 June. This achieved
initial success, forcing the withdrawal
of the Finnish forces along the isthmus.
However, in July 1944 the Finns were
able to stabilise the front on the Vuoksi
River, and further attempts by the Soviets
to advance past this line were turned
back. The miracle of the Winter War had
been repeated.
A typical aerial engagement with the
Soviets took place over the north-eastern
part of the Gulf of Finland at 20.00hrs
on 19 June 1944. Eighteen Finnish
Messerschmitts encountered dozens of
Soviet aircraft. During the ensuing fight
the Soviets lost six Pe-2s, three P-39
Airacobras, two DB-3Fs, two Il-2s and
two La-5s, a total of 15 aircraft, for no
Finnish losses.
Despite the Soviet superiority in
numbers, the Ilmavoimat was able to
concentrate its air forces in the right
places and keep on getting good results.

One indicator of its ability to achieve


local air superiority was demonstrated
in the way Finnish bombers (Bristol
Blenheims, Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier
Do 17s) and the aircraft of the Luftwaffes
Detachment Kuhlmey were able to
continue their effective air raids. These
made a vital contribution to the war effort
because the strikes could concentrate on
attacking massed troop formations just
before their pre-planned attack times.
Warnings of impending troop movements
were captured continually by way of
radio intelligence. In this period it is

ABOVE: The Fiat


G50 served with
LLv.26, later
Le.Lv.26, from
February 1940
to 1944. These
examples are
pictured at Rautu
in August 1942.
SA-KUVA

WHY THE SWASTIKA?


The Finnish Air Force was founded on 6 March 1918. Its
rst aircraft was donated by a Swedish count, Eric von
Rosen. 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 Ilmavoimat
markings has no link to that used by Nazi Germany.

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FINNISH FIGHTER ACES

noteworthy that no bombers from those


formations, which were escorted by
Bf 109Gs, were lost to enemy fighters.
Once it became obvious that the
Soviets had not succeeded in their plan
to take Finland, they began to move
their troops away from the Karelian

front for the final advance on Berlin.


Their failure on the Karelian front was
the only Soviet strategic defeat during
their advance westward. Moscow
signed a temporary peace agreement
with Helsinki in September 1944, a
stipulation of it being that the Finns

should push German forces out of


Lapland. Furthermore, the Finns were
forced to cede certain areas in Karelia and
Petsamo to the Soviets and revert to the
1940 borders.
Finland had nevertheless achieved
some major victories. From the opening

The

ACE OF ACES
In Illu Juutilainen,
Finland produced one of
the greatest ghter aces
of all time

RIGHT: Illu in
the cockpit of his
Brewster B-239,
ready to go. K-SIM

he Mannerheim Cross,
named after former
military commander and
President Carl Gustaf Emil
Mannerheim, is the highest Finnish
military award. Introduced into the Order
of the Cross of Liberty following the
Winter War, its bearers receive the title
Knight of the Mannerheim Cross. Only
four individuals were so decorated twice,
and Ilmari Illu Juutilainen (21 February
1914-21 February 1999) was one of them.
The book Double Fighter Knight was
originally published in 1956 and was based
on Juutilainens diaries. His lively style of
writing put a new slant on the genre of
war memoirs. In many ways his volume
was the Finnish counterpart of Pierre
Clostermanns The Big Show.
In the winter of 1939, Air Master
Sgt Ilmari Juutilainen deployed with
his squadron, Lentolaivue (LLv) 24, to
Immola, a snow-covered forward base
which had neither hangars nor any
other buildings. The flight to which
Illu belonged was headed by Lt Eino
Luukkanen, who himself scored 56

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Finland s wa rti me f i ghters


The main ghter types used by the Finnish Air Force from 1939 to 1944

shots of the Winter War to the end of


the Continuation War, the objective
was to save Finland and guarantee
its independence. This was achieved,
allowing one particularly proud claim
to be made: of all the countries in the
European theatre that participated in the
Second World War, only two were never
occupied Finland and Great Britain.
Finns hold a number of records from
wartime. Finland boasts the highest
count of aces (94) as a proportion of its
population and its total number of pilots.
Its Brewsters recorded the wars highest

victories. The pilots remained on readiness


in the freezing-cold winter weather, with
the telephone via which they would
receive notification of a scramble hanging
on a hay pole stuck in the snow. After one
mishap involving a pair of Fokker D.XXIs,
the ground crew replaced the engine
from the wrecked machine with another
overnight. Normally this was a two-day
job in a warm hangar they performed
it outside, illuminated by torches. The
temperature was -14C, and a member of
the maintenance crew kept the tools warm
with a blow-torch.
In those inauspicious surroundings,
Juutilainen started a combat career that
saw him becoming the highest-scoring
non-German ace of World War Two. His

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Aircraft

Quantity

Gloster Gladiator I/II


Fokker D.XXI
Brewster B-239
Fiat G50
Morane-Saulnier MS406/410
Curtiss Hawk 75A
Hawker Hurricane I/IIb
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2/G-6

12 (Swedish volunteers)/30
97
44
35
87
42
12/1
162

kill ratio for a single type in service with


one air arm, of 32:1. In January 1940,
Lt Jorma Sarvanto flying a Fokker D.XXI
shot down six Ilyushin DB-3 bombers
within four minutes. One individual
Finnish aircraft, the Brewster serialled
BW-393, had 41 aerial victories to its
credit. The list goes on.

The contemporary Finnish Air


Force carries on the fine tradition of its
wartime veterans. Those experiences and
the limited resources of a small nation
have led to the formation of a clear
doctrine, one emphasising the need for
air superiority a lesson first learned 75
years ago.

official tally of confirmed kills was 94 and


one-sixth, but a number for which he was
not credited were assigned to his squadron
instead. The final figure was well over 100.
But what made Illu Juutilainen so
successful? How did he survive all those
aerial engagements 437 combat sorties

T. Gillcrist. He sums up the essential


attributes thus: Attack, attack, attack!
the advantage always lies with the
attacker; superb situational awareness;
good look-out doctrine (and incredibly
good eyesight); a superb ability to
estimate deflection (a natural shooter);

FAR LEFT: MS406


serial MS-325
from 2./Le.Lv.28 is
preparing to take
off from nislinna,
east Karelia, on 17
March 1942.
SA-KUVA

ABOVE: 2./LLv.24
Brewsters on patrol.
The nearest,
BW-352, is own by
Air Master Sgt Eero
Kinnunen. K-SIM

Juutilainen became the highest-scoring


non-German ace of World War Two
in all without ever sustaining any
damage from enemy fighters?
One perspective comes from retired
US Navy fighter pilot Rear Admiral Paul

a solid knowledge of his own airplanes


strengths and weaknesses, as well as of
those of his enemies, and the ability to
capitalise on them both; a gifted, natural

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FINNISH FIGHTER ACES

ABOVE: Members
of 3./Le.Lv.24
with a Brewster at
Rmptti in October
1942. Among
them are ight
commander Capt
Jorma Karhunen
with his dog
Peggy Brown, and,
third from right,
Juutilainen. SA-KUVA
ABOVE RIGHT:
Bf 109G-2
MT-201 taking
off from Utti on
1 June 1943, in
the hands of Maj
Eino Luukkanen,
commander of
Le.Lv.34. It was
in that year that
Juutilainen joined
the unit.
K-SIM

pilot; a willingness to fly his airplane


out to the ragged edge of its capabilities,
and the natural ability to sustain the
fight at the edge of the envelope; great
physical endurance under extremely harsh
circumstances; supreme confidence in his
own capabilities; and coolness under fire.
One could go into each of these
characteristics in greater detail and find
oneself describing the ideal fighter pilot.
There has probably been no such person
in the history of aerial combat. However,
this writers view is that Juutilainen comes
as 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 of
an intense aerial engagement, Ilmari
Juutilainen would take one last look
around just prior to starting his final pass
for a kill, especially directly behind. If an
attacker were threatening his position,
he would always break off and turn his
attention to that aggressor.
This one habit above all was the reason
why no other pilot scored a hit against
Juutilainen or any of his aircraft in battle.
His firing distances, incidentally, varied
from 20 to 100 yards.
That Illu was an eminently successful
fighter pilot goes without question. That
he was deadly in an aerial engagement is
demonstrated by his having downed over

terrifying business, the pitting of men in


flying machines against each other. No
quarter was asked, and none given. Yet
many of the participants relished it and
came back for more, day after day.
These were the victorious Knights. Air
Master Sergeant Ilmari Illu Juutilainen
was surely one of the best such men.
I had the pleasure of meeting Illu
in person at his home in 1997. I found
him to be a modest and yet very lively
individual. He took part actively in
meetings of veterans right up until his
death in 1999. Illu once stated he would
pass away on his birthday, and that, aged
85, is exactly what he did.
What follows is a series of extracts from
Juutilainens book covering three notable
air-to-air engagements in which he took
part, and giving some idea of his approach
to aerial combat.
TEMPORARY PEACE
At this stage, Juutilainen was serving with
Lentolaivue (LLv, or Squadron) 24. This
unit converted from the Fokker D.XXI to
the Brewster B-239 in April 1940.

No other pilot scored a hit against


Juutilainen or any of his aircraft in battle
94 enemy aircraft without receiving any
damage from other fighters whatsoever.
But he was neither vicious nor cruel;
he lacked neither gallantry nor even
magnanimity. He had feelings of empathy
for his opponents and often wished them
well after having put their aircraft out of
action. He was involved in a raw, brutal,

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We had collected our new mounts,


the Brewsters, which were assembled
in Trollhttan, Sweden by Norwegian
mechanics. They were flown to Malmi
airport in Helsinki and we established our
base there. The Fokkers [D.XXIs] were
flown to the VL state aircraft factory in
Tampere.

On 14 June 1940 a tragic event


occurred, when an Aero O/Y [the
predecessor of Finnair] Ju 52/3m airliner
named Kaleva disappeared on a routine
flight from Tallinn to Helsinki. When
its normal time of arrival passed with no
word, a Blackburn Ripon floatplane was
launched from Santahamina air station to
search for it. There were no sightings. The
squadron commander Maj Magnusson just
glanced at me and grunted, Go look!
I took off rapidly and headed for the
Estonian coastline at an altitude of 600ft.
When I passed the Helsinki lightship I
saw the silhouette of a submarine far away
on the horizon. I headed towards it, and
when I was about half a mile away I saw
a seaman run to the stern of the vessel,
quickly hoist down a flag and stuff it
in his jacket. I knew that, according to
international law, I couldnt go closer than
500 yards from the foreign warship on the
open sea and I couldnt fly over it.
Nevertheless, I flew within about 100
yards of the vessel and circled it, noticing
that it had stopped in the centre of the
debris field from a crashed aircraft. I
circled the submarine once more at a range
of about 50 yards to see if there were any
survivors on deck.
I pulled up and away towards the
Estonian coast and then swung around
and back down, pointing the nose of my
fighter at the submarine. The machine
guns were loaded and the light was on my
sight. I saw red and was ready to fight.
I did not know, at the time, that Soviet
bombers had shot down this unarmed
passenger aircraft. They had taken off at
the same time as the airliner, joined on
either side of the doomed machine and
shot it down in cold blood.

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Now I was going to pass over the


submarine level with the top of the
conning tower at a speed of 220kt. When
I started my run I saw a hatch on the deck
open up and three seamen jumping to
the deck gun, throwing the covers away
in such a hurry that one cover slipped
into the sea. The sub began to pick up
speed and started making evasive turns.
I also saw a couple of small boats nearby,
collecting material. I made several passes
over the sub thinking that if they trained
that cannon even just a bit, I would shoot
those rascals away from the cannon; then
I would shoot the senior officers in the
conning tower and begin to make holes
in the waterline of the sub. No action
took place, so I rocked my wings and flew
home.

11 SEPTEMBER 1943

Juutilainen moved in 1943 to what was


then Lentolaivue (Le.Lv, or Squadron) 34,
ying the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2.
On that day we scrambled in response
to air surveillance information that a
large formation of enemy aircraft was
approaching about three miles northwest of Sepeleva lighthouse. When we
made a visual sighting we found that the
formation included Pe-2 dive-bombers,
and La-5 and LaGG-3 fighters, totalling
several dozen aircraft.
Our flight consisted of four fighters.
Lt Vin Pokelas section had already
engaged the formation when Ture Mattila
and I rolled in to strike. It was at that
moment that I noticed another formation
of La-5 fighters above and behind us
and diving in to attack. Immediately I
turned in [towards] this new threat, and
Ture followed while he radioed a warning
to Pokelas section about the additional
enemy aircraft. Although the engagement
had begun above the water, our section
and 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. Pieces
broke off the aircraft and it began to
stream thick smoke as it dived vertically
through a hole in the clouds, passing Ture

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who pulled up sharply. The fight had


started at about 13,000ft but had risen to
16,500ft. The superior number of enemy
aircraft had caused us to climb continually.
In addition to the La-5s, some LaGG-3s
had joined the engagement, so there really
were enough targets for the two of us!
Ture had allowed an enemy fighter
to get behind him and tried to dive into
a cloud to shake off his attacker. At the
time I was behind an La-5 which was
performing an impressive programme
of aerobatics, when I saw the danger to
my wingman. I broke away from my
opponent and went to help Ture, calling
to warn him of the threat. I fired at Tures
attacker from long range, ahead of him,
to get him to break off. My trick worked
and the LaGG-3 broke away from Tures
tail, turning to attack me. I shot at it from
behind and to the side. Then he seemed
to become confused and reversed his turn,
thus allowing me to close to better range. I
noticed that there were a couple of enemy
fighters above us but concluded that they
were not yet a threat. The LaGG-3 tried
to shake me off its tail without success. I
was now close enough to fire, at a range
of about 20 yards. I squeezed off some
short bursts, and suddenly the target was
in flames.
Now four La-5s attacked me, and I
pulled up into a tight climbing turn which
the enemies could not follow with their
high speed. Two of the aircraft stayed
above me, and two were below and beside
me. One of the upper section attacked.
I turned down under its nose and then
pulled up at full power even before it had
passed me. Simultaneously, I fired a short
burst at the aircraft still turning above me.
My tracers didnt get very close to him and
he dived after his comrade.
Four other enemy aircraft tried to
attack me from above and behind in a
steep diving turn. I pulled up into a halfloop and went via it into a vertical dive
through a gap in the clouds and away from
the scene. It began to be a little desolate
for me, trying to wrestle four enemy
aircraft over enemy territory, and more
were expected to appear soon.
The days tally turned out to be two to
my credit (as observed from a coastal post)
and one for Pokela.

[Later studies, however, indicate that the


latter type may have been Tomahawks or
Warhawks instead.] Both of these fighters
were of US Lend-Lease origin, provided to
their ally, the Soviet Union. In addition to
these were several La-5s which had hurried
to the scene.
I had not yet fought against the
Mustang [or Tomahawk] and was therefore
very curious to see how it performed
in real aerial combat. One of them
approached me from my starboard side in
a right turn with his belly facing towards
me. I yanked the throttle to idle to let
it slide right past me. The enemy pilot,
however, recovered his turn and then saw
me beside him. He also throttled back. I
saw long flames of engine back-fire from
his exhausts. He kicked in his rudder to
kill off speed 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 I
was especially vulnerable to other enemy
aircraft. Seeing me behind, the enemy
pilot went to full power and tried to shake
me off his tail with a climbing turn. In so
doing, he made his last mistake and flew
directly in front of my sight. I squeezed
the trigger, and soon the Soviet fighter was
burning in the forest north of Tammisuo,
close to the cemetery at Tammisto.
The days score: one Mustang [or
Tomahawk], one Airacobra, one Il-2.
On the morning of 4 September 1944
we were just making our preparations
for the planned sortie when squadron
commander Luukkanen reported: The
war has ended. All sorties are
cancelled! I saluted and sighed:
OK, boss.

LEFT: A group of 2.
and 3./Le.Lv.34
Messerschmitt
pilots at readiness.
K-SIM

BELOW: A superb
1942 image of
Juutilainen (right)
discussing air
combat with a
colleague. SA-KUVA

26 JUNE 1944
BOMBER ESCORT

By this time, the unit on which


Juutilainen served had been redesignated Hvittjlentolaivue
(HLe.Lv, or Fighter Squadron) 34, and
was using the Bf 109G-6.
That afternoon we took off [Juutilainen
was in Bf 109G-6 serial MT-422] with
Erik Lyly to reinforce Capt Olli Puhakkas
flight, which was escorting our Blenheim
bomber squadron. Its target was a Soviet
tank concentration in Ihantala (Karelia).
After we had been released from escort
duties we came back over the front lines
where some enemy fighters had been
reported.
The first reception committee consisted
of Airacobra and Mustang fighters.

DOUBLE FIGHTER KNIGHT

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

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