Finnish Air Force
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| Motto: Qualitas Potentia Nostra "Quality is our Strength" | |
| Established | 6 March, 1918 |
| Personnel | 3100 |
| Commander-in-Chief | Major General Heikki Lyytinen |
The Finnish Air Force (FAF) (Finnish: Ilmavoimat) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions'.<ref>http://www.ilmavoimat.fi/index_en.php?id=387</ref> As a separate branch of the military, the Finnish Air Force is one of the oldest in the world, having existed since the year 1918.
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[edit] History
The first airplane was donated — against official Swedish government opinion — by the Swedish Count Eric von Rosen in 1918. To hide a flying school advertisement on the side, he had his good luck charm, the blue swastika, painted on the white, circular advertisement. This resulted in the "blue swastika in a white circle" symbol, which has been the symbol of the Finnish Air Force ever since. After the end of the Second World War, the airplane symbol was replaced by a roundel of the same colors, but the symbol remains in use in decorations and some flags.
[edit] Winter War
The Winter War began on November 30, 1939 by the Soviet Union bombing 21 Finnish municipalities. From the Soviet Union's estimated 5,000 airplanes in 1939 about 700 fighters and 800 medium bombers were brought to Finland for the Red Army's ground forces command. The bombardment of Finnish industry and railways was not efficient.
The Finnish army had 17 bombers and 31 fighters at the beginning of the Winter War. There were 54 liaison aircraft but 20 of them were used only for messengers.
The Finnish command had learned that the new German Blitzkrieg tactics involved the destruction of enemy aircraft on the ground at their airfields. In order to prevent similar destruction, Finnish planes were decentralized to many different airfields and hidden in forests. Fake targets were made and many airfields also had shrapnel protection for the planes. As a result, Soviet air attacks on Finnish airfields were not effective.
The Finnish Air Force shot down 218 Soviet Air planes during the Winter War while losing only 47 to enemy fire. The Finnish anti-aircraft is also said to have shot down 314 enemy planes. 30 Soviet planes were captured.
[edit] Continuation War
The Finnish Air Force was prepared better for the Continuation War, with 550 planes, many of them quite modern. Finland had bought a large number of aircraft during the Winter War, but few of those reached service during the short conflict. Now with Hawker Hurricanes, Morane-Saulnier M.S.406s, Fiat G.50s, Curtiss Hawk 75s, and Brewster Buffalos, the FiAF was much more capable of both defensive and offensive actions. The FiAF's main mission was to achieve air superiority in the beginning of the war and after that countering Soviet fighters. The fighter squadrons were very successful at protecting the Finnish offensive of 1941. A Highly modified, more maneuverable, and significantly lightened version of the American Brewster B239 (Buffalo) was the FiAF's main fighter until 1943. Results with this fighter were very good, even though the Brewster Buffalo was considered to be a failure in the US Navy. In the Finnish use, the Brewster had a victory rate of 32:1 - 459 kills while losing only 15. German Bf 109s replaced the B239 as the main fighter of the FiAF in 1943.
Dornier 17s (received as a gift from Hermann Göring in 1942) and Junkers 88s gave more capacity to the bombing capability of the Finnish Air Force. The bomber units flew assorted missions with varying results, but a large part of their time was spent in training. Thus the bomber squadrons of Flying Regiment 4 were ready for the summer battles of 1944, which included for example the Battle of Tali-Ihantala.
While the FiAF was successful in its mission, the conditions were not easy. Spare parts for the FiAF planes were scarce, as the supply routes to Britain and the USA were cut. Repairs took often a long time, and the State Aircraft Factory was burdened with repairing of Soviet war booty planes, foreign types with minimal spare parts availability, and the development of own Finnish fighter types.
The Finnish Air Force did not bomb any civilian targets during either war.[citation needed] Curiously, also overflying Soviet towns and bases was forbidden, as to avoid any unneeded provocations and to spare equipment.
[edit] Organisation
The Air Force is organised into three commands, each of which operates a fighter squadron:
- Air Force Headquarters and Academy at Tikkakoski
- Lapland Air Command (Fighter Squadron 11) at Rovaniemi
- Karelia Air Command (Fighter Squadron 31) at Kuopio
- Satakunta Air Command (Fighter Squadron 21) at Tampere
- Support Squadron at Tikkakoski
- C3 Systems School at Tikkakoski
- Finnish Air Force C3I Materiel Command at Tikkakoski
- Air Force Training Air Wing (Fighter Squadron 41) at Kauhava
- Aircraft and Weapon Systems School at Halli
- Flight Test Center of Air Force at Halli
- Air Materiel Command at Tampere
The three commands are part of the Defence Forces' Readiness formations.
[edit] Commanders
- Captain Carl Seber 28.04.1918 - 13.12.1918
- Lieutenant Colonel Torsten Aminoff 14.12.1918 - 09.01.1919
- Colonel Sixtus Hjelmmann 10.01.1919 - 25.10.1920
- Major Aarne Somersalo 26.10.1920 - 02.02.1926
- Colonel Väinö Vuori 02.02.1926 - 07.09.1932
- Lieutenant General Jarl Lundqvist 08.09.1932 - 29.06.1945
- Lieutenant General Frans Helminen 30.06.1945 - 30.11.1952
- Lieutenant General Reino Artola 01.12.1952 - 05.12.1958
- Major General Fjalar Seeve 06.12.1958 - 12.09.1964
- Lieutenant General Reino Turkki 13.09.1964 - 04.12.1968
- Lieutenant General Eero Salmela 07.02.1969 - 21.04.1975
- Lieutenant General Rauno Meriö 22.04.1975 - 31.01.1987
- Lieutenant General Pertti Jokinen 01.02.1987 - 31.01.1991
- Lieutenant General Heikki Nikunen 01.02.1991 - 30.04.1995
- Major General Matti Ahola 01.05.1995 - 31.08.1998
- Lieutenant General Jouni Pystynen 01.09.1998 - 31.12.2004
- Major General Heikki Lyytinen 1.1.2005 -
[edit] Equipment
Image:F18hornet hn428 rissala.jpg
- McDD F-18 C/D Hornet (HN), fighter interceptors (63)
- BAE Hawk Mk51/51A (HW), trainers (50). The Hawks can also be fitted with AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and ground attack munitions. They are to be replaced by new planes, of a so far unknown model, in the next decade.
- Learjet 35A/S (LJ), used for transportation, surveillance, target towing and aerial photography. (3)
- Valmet L-70 Vinka (VN), trainers (28)
- Fokker F.27 (FF), transportation aircraft (2) (will be replaced by two EADS CASA C-295M by 2008)
- Valmet L-90 TP Redigo (RG), liaison aircraft (9)
- Piper PA-31-350 Chieftain (PC), liaison aircraft (6)
See also List of aircraft in the Finnish Air Force.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
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[edit] External links
