Memoirs of a VVS pilot: Continuation War, 1943

[Kweassa]

This interview was taken on December 16th, 2002, one month before Major Kennadus Kwesarovski, a former VVS pilot passed away at the age of 86.

============

Me: Hello Major.

Kwesarovski: Hello.

Me: You wouldn't mind if I called you major, would you?

Kwesarovski: No. But it's been so long since the war. Just call me  Kwe, all my friends do (smiles).

Me: Ok, Kwe (smiles.. )

Me: I understand you participated in the "Continuation Wars" in Finland. Tell me, how did you begin your career? What aircraft did you first fly?

Kwe: Well, some people volunteered, some were drafted. I volunteered for the "Great Patriotic War" in 1942, and was Originally stationed near Stalingrad. I originally started out as a Mig-3 pilot, fighting against the Germans, but I was "rotated" to near the Finnish borders in early 1943.. probably around March I think.

Me: I wasn't aware there were "rotations" in the VVS!

Kwe: (laughs) Neither was I! However, this wasn't a "rotation" as you would imagine with the American pilots. Mine was due to a lot of personal stuff.. ugly stories..

Me: Would you mind telling to the readers how it came to pass?

Kwe: Well, it's really personal. I'd like to leave the details out. Basically, our squadron leader was a real putz. One day, with a few shots of vodka, I stated the fact out loud in the open.. I was almost tried for insubordination, but I knew some friends in the High-Command. They just sent me out to Finland. Oh yes, I had some friends (laughs )

Me: Wow. So what did you do in Finland?

Kwe: I was stationed near Leningrad, fighting near Estonia, at borders of Finland. I was assigned to a English made Hurricane.

Me: That would be the Hurricane Mk.IIc?

Kwe: Correct.

Me: How did it comapre to the Mig-3 you were used to?

Kwe: It was slow. It maneuvered wonderfully, and I never before tried a plane that had four cannons. The firepower was amazing. I was injured when I was fighting at Stalingrad, and my teeth were in a pretty bad shape then(shows cheek scars). Well, when I first pulled the trigger on the Hurricane, my teeth rattled! (laughs). But oh, it was real slow compared to the Mig-3 I was used to. I didn't like it much.

Me: Any special battle experiences in the Hurricane?

Kwe: This one time, I met a short, stocky finnish fighter called the "Bruzny".

Me: The Brewster?

Kwe: Yes, but all my friends just called it "Bruzny". I thought I heard some of our intelligence officers told us that the Bruzny was a slow, inferior plane. Well, this Bruzny I met was clearly faster than my Hurricane, and I was a bit dazzled to see it out-running my Hurricane. I don't know what they did with those Bruznys, but it must have been some sort of field modification. But I digress... I saw one running away from me, so I decided to give it a long burst on the Hurricane's cannons.

Me: Despite the rattling teeth? (laughs)

Kwe: (laughs) Yes! Despite the rattling teeth. With a terrific * Bang! *, it blew up. I never saw anything blow up like that before.

(continued)

[Kweassa]

Me: So, you stayed with the Hurricanes?

Kwe: No. After sometime, we received the Lavochka 5.

Me: La-5?

Kwe: La-5FN. It had a "boosted" engine compared to the normal La-5. Clearly a better aircraft.

Me: How did you like it?

Kwe: Some of my friends didn't really adapt to the Lavochka, but I personally loved it. It was fast and maneuverable.

Me: So you started missions in La-5FNs then?

Kwe: Yes. The Finnish front was a hot, little, nasty place, but I was pretty confident in the Lavochka. It was a great plane.

Me: Yes, I recall Kozhedub liked it, too.

Kwe: Ivan Kozhedub?

Me: Yes, the highest scoring Allied ace.

Kwe: (laughs) Met the fellow once or twice.

Me: How was he in person?

Kwe: (laughs) Well, he's certainly not the "modest" type. A "cocky" fellow, if I ever saw one, but he was good.

Me: (laughs) He was cocky?

Kwe: Oh yes. But I guess he was that confident, and most of us thought he had every right to be. But I personally liked the Glinka brothers better.

Me: So.. back to topic.. what were your missions in the La-5FN?

Kwe: It was mostly patrolling. But a lot of times these patrols would turn into nasty fights with multiple planes that came as reinforcements swarming all over the place.

Me: What was it like?

Kwe: What was it like? It was hectic. Sometimes I thought to myself "even fighting the Germans were better than this!"

Me: How so?

Kwe: Well, the Germans had, how do you say... um.. "class". They were well organized, strict. Many of the times it almost felt like fighting against emotionless, precise machines in the Southern fronts. But these Finns, they were hot-headed, brash, and would fight like a real swashbuckler. The size of the battles were not as large as the German front, but it was intense.

Me: Does that imply the Finns were much more aggressive?

Kwe: Yes. They were also good pilots, and organized, too. But a lot of times they felt a lot more aggressive than Germans.

(continued)

[Kweassa]

Me: What kind of enemy fighters did you usually meet?

Kwe: All sorts!

Me: All sorts?

Kwe: Yes, all sorts. The Finns had an assortment of planes from the Bruzny to the German Bf109s. They even had Hurricanes like us.

Me: Any particular experience you remember when fighting them?

Kwe: Well, there was this one instance which gave me a real scare. We were assigned to patrol a certain area, but strangely, that day the assigned altitude was almost 3000 feet lower than usual. I almost mistook it for a ground attack mission. I followed my squadron of Lavochkas, and we were flying really low above the marshy terrain. (pauses)

Me: Please, do continue.

Kwe: (coughs) Sorry about that. Anyway, we were pretty low. I wasn't really sure what we were doing that low, and only our flight leader knew what our real objective was. It was always dangerous flying at low altitudes, especially doing that inside an enemy territory. Though the speed of the La-5FN gave me some confidence, I was a bit worried. Then suddenly, I hear Stephanik screaming on the radio that he was hit.

Me: Who's Stephanik?

Kwe: Anton Stephanik, my wingman. I lost him that day.

Me: I'm sorry.

Kwe: That's ok. Anyway, I turned back and looked at Stephanik, and I saw something wizz by at fast speed. At first I thought it was a Bf109. We heard rumers that the Finns were using new type of 109s. We also heard that they had 30mm cannons. With such rumors, everybody was scared a bit by just imagining "new 109s with 30mm cannons". We were all jumpy. But I soon realized that it was one of the Bruzny, Brewsters that shot Stephanik down. I looked overhead and saw just two. One that stayed overhead, and the other that just shot down Stephanik.

Kwe: Out flight leader decided it wasn't wise to engage, and he ordered us to turn to home and run at full speed. I guess he was sure that he could out-run the Finnish planes easily. However, as I said before, I already had an experience of those "old and inferior" planes flying faster than anyone expected them to, and the orders to run home got me even more worried. I personally thought we should engage.

Me: What happened?

Kwe: Well, I started running. The enemies came down on us. But it was as I worried. The Bruznys were faster than we expected. Sometimes I still wonder what kind of modifications they made to that plane. Anyway, one of them stuck behind me. The distance was pretty far, more than 500 meters. First I thought I was safe, because I heard those rumors of Finnish pilots shooting only at close ranges. However, this guy behind me started shooting, and it wasn't until about 1200 meters that he stopped. He literally "sprayed" everything he had to me.

Me: Were you hurt or damaged?

Kwe: Fortunately, no. But when I got to base, I examined my plane and saw that the rudders and elevators were on the brink of being completely torn out. I was lucky that day.

(continued)

[Kweassa]

Me: It seems it was pretty tough for the VVS.

Kwe: Yes. At first, we couldn't understand why those "barbarians" - sorry for this term, but we all called the Finnish like that at those times.. - up in icy lands were giving a great country like Russia a hard time.

Me: Do you know now?

Kwe: Perhaps. It's a long time after the war. I read books, listened to what we did not know then. I also met some of the Finn pilots, too. I guess the Finns were brave and determined. We were also a determined bunch, but that was against the Germans. 1942 was a bad time for us, and our anger towards the Germans made our pilots very brave. But not so in the case of Finland. Nobody really understood why we were attacking Finland. Neither did I. Compared to that, I think to the Finnish we were like what Germans were like to us.

Me: Yes, the Continuation War mentions a lot about morales of the troops.

Kwe: Of course, I suspect it wasn't exactly a picnic to them either. They were determined and brave, but we had the advantage of numbers. Also, our Lavochkax were the best of the breed that time. In most of the battles, if we weren't caught completely off guard, or did not panic, usually we had at least 2 to 1 advantage over them.

(continued)

[Kweassa]

Me: Any particular battle you remember?

Kwe: Yes. Once I met a Bf109 1 vs 1.

Me: That should be interesting! What happened?

Kwe: Where we were stationed, we met a lot of enemies on a regualr basis. It wasn't too hard to find out that we were fighting the same bunch of guys over and over. I bet they realized that, too. We could recognize who was piloting enemy planes, though we did not know their names. There was one Bf109 pilot we used to call "slime". (laughs) We gave them nick names and made fun of our enemies like that.. there were recognizable enemies like "slime", "kanttori" and etc.

Me: (laughs) "Slime"?

Kwe: (laughs) Yes, "slime". ( )

Kwe: Anyway, we all recognized "slime" when he saw him. He was a terrific 109 pilot. One day, I got lost from my squadron, and headed to home alone, using only the compass. Then, I saw an enemy plane flying overhead near the clouds. It was lucky I saw him first, or otherwise I might have been shot down. I saw him coming down on me, and suddenly, I got this real bad feeling in my mind. The enemy plane slowly maneuvered behind me, and it was clear he saw me, too. I was very scared, but searched overhead to see if there were more enemies. Luckily, it was only him.

Me: Lucky indeed!

Kwe: Yes, very lucky. I saw him diving to me, and started easy turns to keep observing him. Then I realized it was a Bf109. And as the 109 came very close to me, I pushed the throttle forward and went into a fast barrel roll.

Me: (smiles) Teeth ok?

Kwe: (laughs) Rattling!

Me: (laughs) Oh yes. I guess it would. So what happened?

Kwe: As the 109 passed by, for a split second I saw a distinct marking I'd never forget. "Slime" used to paint the nose of his 109 in black, like .. um.. yes, Hartmann, like Erich Hartmann did.

Me: "Slime" had "tulip" marking?

Kwe: Yes, very simular I think. I immediate recognized that it was "slime". The dive-evade game went on for a few times, until he decided he slowed me down enough to start maneuvering. I tried to evade as hard as I could, and went into a series of barrel rolls. He followed me in the same manner.

Me: Rolling scissors?

Kwe: Yes, something like that. I was trying desperately for an overshoot, and he knew that too. I closed the throttled almost completely during the barrel rolls, and the whole world was spinning around me. I don't know how I managed it, but I continued the barrel rolls at slow speed without stalling out. I was becoming dizzy and scared. My insides felt woozy, like I was about to throw up, but even when the world was spinning around, I swiveled my head around madly. I could see "slime" trying to follow me.

Kwe: Then, we both lost altitude dangerously, but there was no choice but to keep maneuvering. At the final moment, "slime" finally caught me. I heard my plane thumping and I was so sure I was going to die. But I realized the hits to my plane was minor damage. As I looked again to see where "slime" was, I saw his 109 slide pass my left side and crash to the ground. I guess he might have pulled a little to hard to get a shot into me. Lucky for him, the Bf109 didn't blow up on impact, it crash landed after a few spectacualr flips, but no fire started. With a great feeling of relief, I headed home.

(continued)

[Kweassa]

Me: I understand you were shot down and captured in December 3rd, 1943. How did this happen?

Kwe: Ironically, it was "slime" again (smiles)

Me: "slime" again? (smiles)

Kwe: Yes. Our squadron was escorting some Illyushins to their target.

Me: The IL-2?

Kwe: Yes, the IL-2. Above the target, the Finns met us and we fought a hard battle. I recognized a familiar 109, and it seems "slime" survived the last crash. He was behind me, and very careful about it this time. I went to a series of evasive moves, and I was able to evade all shots fired at me. But then, my Lavochka caught a round from ground fire, in the middle of a loop! The world was upside down, and I looked what was happening to me and then realized I couldn't see my stabilizers anymore. They were torn out. I somehow managed to detach the canopy frame, and barely climbed out of the Lavochka. I was dangerously low. I jumped out and bailed, luckily I wasn't injured.

Me: What happened?

Kwe: I survived the bail, and was caught a prisoner near a small village. I was released in 1944, when the war between the Finns and Russia ended.

Me: Whew.

Kwe: (smiles)

Me: I guess this is enough for now. Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

Kwe: And thank you, not everyone wants to listen to old stories(smiles )

 
.........

- fin -

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note: this interview is 100% fictional. It is in tribute to the hard work of kanttori for making this wondeful terrain for the benefit of AH fans. Any resemblance to real life names and events is purely coincidential.

 No sheep were harmed during the making of this interview, but I lost a pack of cigarettes, and my eyes hurt from the pic editing!

[CurtissP-6EHawk]

<-----pulls hook out of mouth, throws it on ground, turns and walks off....damn good story anyway! Fell for it all the way up to the Screen Shot  

[Jasz]

Nice story. If you want to read real tales from Finnish World War II aviation veterans, check the Finnish Virtual Pilots Association website -> www.virtualpilots.fi

Jasz

[kanttori]

Kweassa, it was great story! I really read it like true interview until I noticed my name there!:D

Hey man, do you know you are great author and your pictures are like early colour photos from those days. You are really artist, too!



Ps. I recommend that you read this book: Väinö Linna's "The Unknown Soldier". I know you like it! It is the story from our infantrymen in Continuation War and there aren't any pilot stories. But the book tells you very good what kind of men where those Finnish "barbarians" from icy land 60 years ago and nowadays, too!;)

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Great story, Kwe!

Camo

[thrila]

Nice story.

this Bruzny I met was clearly faster than my Hurricane, and I was a bit dazzled to see it out-running my Hurricane.

Hehehe....those FM2s.   It's like subbing a tiffie for a beaufighter.

[Sabre]

Excellent job, Kweassa.  I'll have to post a similar peice I wrote, a diary from a fictional LW pilot during the battle for France.  It was in six or seven parts, and resulted in the best compliment I ever received for my writing.  One of the readers posted the comment, "Always humbling and insightful to hearthe real thing. Whatever happened to this individual."  I think you've captured that feel here. Good work.

Back in my Warbirds days, Wabbit and I put together an anthology of short stories we'd written, based on our Warbirds experience, and published it with Burbank's Books...ever considered doing the same?  Thanks for the read. Salute!

[Tsingis]

This is like a script for a war remembrance movie. Great story.
I was wondering if "kanttori" would be a russian word . It is a pitty there are not too many movies that concentrate on the airwar. I really hope some stories like this would "catch fire" in the big producing companies. "Dark Blue Skies" was pretty nice, Spits vs MEs. Kanttori really has inspired a lot of people with his effort

[kanttori]

Kweassa, can I use your pictures in my Squads www-sites where is information from Finland vs Russia map:

http://www.savanne.org/ah/finrusmap.html

I am making update there soon and I need good pictures! If you have more, send them to me, please!

ismo@kesalesket.net

[Kweassa]

Of course, kanttori.

 Everything I offer to AH community, skins, stories, pics, is 100% free-for-all. Take 'em anywhere and use 'em anywhere.

 I'm glad you liked it