Lauri Äijö ja Onni Rautava - the Blenheim and Junkers 88 pilots
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/en/hist/WW2History-RautavaAijoEnglish.htmlThe war pilots Onni Rautavaa and Lauri Äijöä were interviewed at Rovaniemi at the annual celebration of the Lapland Air Command. Both gentlemen served as wartime pilots, first on the Blenheim and then on the Junkers 88. Mr Äijö was awarded the Mannerheim Cross of his achievements.
Lauri Äijö and the crew of JK-256 back in Onttola in March 22, 1944. The 100th war flight of Lt Äijö is celebrated by taking a photo, but the modest Lieutenant protests. From left: Capt Itävuori, Äijö, Mäkinen and Mäkelä in front of the JK-252. The photo is from book Pommituslentolaivue 44 / Juha Perälä.
Quotes:
- Didn't you usually go into dive, if fighters came at you in daytime?
Rautava: It depended on the situation. If there were clouds near or above, we went in them. At least I was in one escape when a Chaika was by us, I don't think it was even 50 meters away because I could see the color of the pilot's eyes. It was flying in the same direction, right under clouds. Then the pilot turned his head and then his plane. I said, 'pull up and then to the right!'
Victory! The Chaika came like this, we rose and went cross-wise. We flew (in the cloud) for a while, then I said to the pilot, Valto Laurila, 'we can continue, it won't find us any more.'
Dive Into Airacobra Nest
Rautava: Once there was a Russian Pe-2 after us. It wasn't quite like in the pictures, but then there were four versions of the Pe-2. This one looked strange. I reported that there was a plane like Pe-2. "Is there anything else?" the Captain in the cockpit asked. "Well, there are four Airacobras too." And then we went like this (gestures a dive).
The earphones were blocked in the dive, there was only static. The pilot levels out near ground, and I ask, "what the hell was that about?!" "Don't you think there was a reason?" "Yes but, whoopeeit, you take orders from behind in situations like this! You don't know there in the front what's back there! You went right into their lap!"
You see, these Airacobras had been below us. Fortunately for us, the Red Army pilots didn't stray from their own mission. They kept escorting their own plane. We would have been easy prey for them, they were faster planes.
Four G's with Junkers 88
Äijö: And we bought 24 Junkers bombers. One fell in the Riga Bay on their way home, 23 arrived in Finland. It was one tough plane, a dive bomber. Starting from 4000 meters, it came in 60 degree angle down, and began leveling off at 1500 meters.
It had an automatic device that did the leveling. It was set to pull back at 4 G's. Your weight went up four times...
Rautava: A hundred kg man weighed 400 at that moment.
Blenheim and Junkers 88 Stores
- How big bomb loads the Blenheims and Junkers 88's carried?
Rautava: The Blenheim's load was pretty modest, about 500 kg and...
Äijö: The old load type was the best, eight 100's (8 x 100 kg).
Rautava: Yes, that's how it was. The bombs the Blenheim originally carried was this 250 lb bomb, about 113 kg. There were four of them, that's 450 kg. Then the small 12.5 kg ones in the wings. (perhaps inside the hull after all? -Ed.).
Äijö: On the other hand, the JK could carry two 1000 kg bombs, or four 500 kg's. And the hull could carry ten 100-kg (50-kg -Ed.) bombs. As long as you didn't go over the maximum take-off weight limit. If you had lots of fuel, you had to reduce the bomb load, and vice versa. You always had to count it. Usually we carried one 1000-kg and one 500-kg bomb. Some planes had two 1000-kg's. It was a heavy load. A tonner would make a crater of 30-40 meters. They had a cardboard whistle that blew when the bomb fell, the morale whistle. But those tended to get broken, they were made of flimsy 3-4 mm cardboard.
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The Crash of the JK-265 - Lapland Air Command Annual Memorial
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/en/hist/hist_jk-256/WW2History-JK256English.htmlAutumn 1944, Lapland War. A Bf 109 fighter of 9./JG 5, piloted by Rudolf Artner, shot the plane down. The Lapland Air Command anniversary memorial is held at the crash site. The occasion is unique in Finland, such an event is not arranged at any other memorial. The Lapland Air Command Guild takes part in the occasion.
"The walking staff the rescued Lieutenant had used in his wilderness journey was brought to see, the Guild had kept it in store. A silver plaque was stapled on it to explain its significance."
Incident:
Autumn 1944, Lapland War. A Bf 109 fighter of 9./JG 5, piloted by Rudolf Artner, shot the plane down. Pilot Captain Kalevi Heiskanen, machine gunner/signaller corporal Esko Kauppila and machine gunner corporal Leo Immonen were killed in action. Navigator, 2ndLt Aarne Keko was injured. Keko wandered three days in wilderness with his wounds before reaching safety.
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Older articles:
Fetching the Hurricanes
When Winter War started, with Soviet Union's attack against the tiny Finland, Finnish government started seeking for equipment and aircraft from any plane and country that would sell.
In this unique document four Finnish Hurricane pilots ponder the backgrounds for Finland's Hurricane purchase and especially the mission to train 12 young pilots to Hurricanes - and ferry them to Finland in early 1940. The HC pilots think back their training, the people and the transfer flight to Finland.
In another new article, "Torsten Sannamo and the POW", the Blenheim gunner Torsten Sannamo thinks back about a strange encounter during the war.
These articles and more can be read from:
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/Virtuaalilentäjät ry - Virtual Pilots Finland Association is an association, which purpose is to promote World War II multiplayer flight simulators and aviation hobby among people interested in aviation. More information about the association is available from
http://www.virtualpilots.fi . Our plan of action also includes active research and preservation of Finnish aviation history - more about that from
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/en/info/hist/ and
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/ .
Virtual Pilots is member of "The Association for Military History in Finland" and is dedicated to the Association's mission of studying and preserving the Finnish military history.
Jukka "Grendel" Kauppinen
PR and Press Officer,
History Team, Chairman
Finnish Virtual Pilots Association
Contact information:
jkauppin@jmp.fi / tel. +358 40 730 0036
