Hugged a Blenheim - photo report of trip in museum with WW2 veterans
Virtuaalilentäjät - Virtual Pilots ry registed society of World War II online simulator hobbyists arranged 19.10.2001 the autumm trip a visit to a very special place, to see something very special.
Place: Finnish Air Force Museum.
Mission: hug Blenheim.
Blenheim bombers are one the most rare warbirds in existence. There seems to be only three in the whole world. One in in Britain, second in Australia - and third in a hangar in central Finland, locked away from the general public. The ladybird in question is "BL-200", a Blenheim Mk. IV, "Vl/3", the last Blenheim built in Finland.
The society members thought that "hugging Blenheim" would be a wonderful opportunity, and very special society happening. Very few people have seen the plane, so seeing it with Eyeballs Mk.I would be definitely something to talk about. The manager of Finnish Air Force Museum mr. Hannu Valtonen agreed to the idea, so we proceeded into planning the trip. To make the visit especially historical we also proceeded to invite World War II Blenheim veterans. The invitation was offered to Blenheim veterans in Tampere region, as the trip would have been somewhat long and tiring to gents arriving from Helsinki or elsewhere without direct transportation.
In the end two veterans from Tampere arrived: Kauko Aho, pilot and Tapani Lampimäki, radio operator 1st class / machine gunner. Society members from Oulu took with them Eino Estama, who piloted Blenheims and Ju-88s. We were joined also by Lauri Väisänen, headman of the Tampereen Ilmasilta aviation guild. A number of society members came by train from Helsinki and southern Finland, and jumped into the bus waiting at Tampere railway station. We proceeded to pick up mr. Aho and then headed towards the museum. People from Oulu travelled directly to museum with their own car.
Full report, photos and text:
http://www.byterapers.com/~grendel/photos/virtuaalilentajat/blenheim2001/ 
"I haven't seen a Blenheim since 1945. Well, this is a long nose Blenheim and I didn't have one, I always flew with short nose Blenheim - but it is Blenheim neverthless." Kauko Aho. Blenheim pilot, Bomber Squadron 42. (right)
And we saw so much more...
http://www.byterapers.com/~grendel/photos/virtuaalilentajat/blenheim2001/ http://www.byterapers.com/~grendel/photos/virtuaalilentajat/blenheim2001/[ 11-08-2001: Message edited by: Grendel ]
