Welcome to the thursday snapshot on the 29th of March. The setup is
Pain In The Neck, which takes us to the year 1944 in the Karelian Isthmus.
The Soviet offensive in June/July 1944 was an ordeal not only for the Finnish armed forces, but also for the air force. On June 9th the Finns had only twenty airworthy Bf109 G-2 and G-6 planes while the Soviets often operated with 100 or more planes at the same area. The summer nights were light enough for flying all the way to mid July. Therefore the Finnish fighter pilots often made days as long as 19 hours.
On July 2nd at 20:00 hours 35 Russian Pe-2:s of the 34 GBAB, led by LtCol Kolokoltsev, dive-bombed the Lappeenranta air base. Some 40 IL-2:s of LtCol Kuznetsovand’s 872 ShAP followed with a strafing attack.
The Russian bombers were escorted by dozens of Yak-9 fighters of the 14 GIAP led by LtCol N.I.Svitenko, and La5:s of the 159 IAP led by a Hero Of The Soviet Union, LtCol Pokryshev.
The Finnish radio intelligence had intercepted the target and the time of the attack, but the raid had then been delayed by 24 hours. All eleven refuelled Bf109 G-2 and G-6 fighters of the HLeLv 24 in Lappeenranta were scrambled just in time to meet the enemy in air.
Ltn Kyösti Karhila’s flight took off to intercept the enemy en route to east of Viipuri, because that was the Soviets’ usual route. However, this time the enemy came west of Viipuri and flew without resistance to Lappeenranta.
HLeLv 34, based at Taipalsaari, a dozen kilometers north-west from Lappeenranta, was asked for help, and eight Bf109 G-6:s led by Ltn. Paavo Myllylä took off at 8:10 P.M.
One of the Squadron 34’s pilots, W/O Urho Lehtovaara, chased the bombers with his MT-448 and managed to shoot down three Pe-2:s in succession. The attacker lost eleven IL-2:s, four Pe-2:s and one escorting Yak-9. Two Bf109:s were destroyed on the ground and one more was damaged at landing.
The event starts at 21.00 CET, 4 PM EST. All are welcome to this walk-on event, but please be in the Special Events Arena (SEA) at least 15 minutes early.
