laststandonzombieisland

Some 80 years ago today.

Finnish Airforce officers, fresh graduates of fighter pilot course, 5th of June 1943, at Vesivehmaa, a village outside of Lahti, with a German shepherd mascot on the wing. Note their m/36 cavalry jodhpur-style officers’ breeches, complete with stripes.

Finnish offical caption: ‘Ohjaajakurssin päättäneitä upseereja, jotka odottavat siirtoa rintamalaivueisiin.” Sa-kuva image no. 129783. Photographer: Sot.virk. A.Viitasalo

Yes, that is a Brewster Buffalo. The Finns received 44 in 1940 and, by all accounts, they accounted for over 400 “kills” against the Reds. The humble aircraft had a lot of nicknames with the service, including Lentävä kaljapullo (“flying beer bottle”).

The Ilmavoimat, or Finnish Air Force, has its roots in the old Imperial Russian Army’s air corps and sprang to life roughly 105 years ago at the country’s independence from the failing old Empire, using both inherited Tsarist and donated Swedish crews and aircraft.

The small but hearty force has earned a solid reputation fighting first the Reds in 1918 and later the Soviets in the 1939-40 Winter War (using such quaintly obsolete aircraft as Brewster Buffalos, Bristol Bulldogs, Fokker D.XXIs, and Gloster Gladiators) and WWII, which, as they largely just fought the Soviets again, they termed “The Continuation War.”

The Finns, even with a tiny air corps and beat-up planes chalked up nearly 100 aces in WWII, including “Illu” Ilmari Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, the highest (non-German) ace of the war.

Of note, the excellent Päijät-Häme aviation museum now uses the old WWII airstrip at Vesivehmaa picture above. Sadly, while they have about a dozen former Ilmavoimat-operated aircraft, all date from post-1950, and they have no Brewsters as only eight survived the war in Finnish service and the final five in operating condition were scrapped in 1948.