War diaries of Finnish Brewster Squadrons now online in Brewster Buffalo Forum

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War diaries of Finnish Brewster Squadrons now online

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Martti Kujansuu	War diaries of Finnish Brewster Squadrons now online		Lead	[-]
Registered User Posts: 41 12/18/09 16:44:16	Tags : None Remove this ad The Finnish National Archives Service has really started to digitize their more rare material to the Net. The material now online includes day by day "war diaries" of Lentolaivue 24 and also monthly reports. Flight or lentue is the smallest unit with daily war diaries. Naturally these all are in Finnish but those who can read them can get much out of the text or help others. http://digi.narc.fi/digi/search.ka P.S. The last flight of BW-372. Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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Cubdriver		#1	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 2230 12/19/09 12:01:33	Don't tease! Which is the last flight, 1530-1645? Is this the pilot's logbook? Can you 'English' the entry? I'd like to put it on the Annals of the Brewster Buffalo webbook. -- Dan Ford for my email address, click here Warbird's Forum \| Piper Cub Forum \| the blog \| the book
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Martti Kujansuu		#2	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 42 12/19/09 18:36:23	Cubdriver wrote: Don't tease! Which is the last flight, 1530-1645? Is this the pilot's logbook? Can you 'English' the entry? I'd like to put it on the Annals of the Brewster Buffalo webbook. In fact the entry starts from the previous page. The entry is from 2./LeLv. 24's official war diary (SPK 17886 at the Finnish National Archive) without exact information of individual flights, they are at the squadron's logbook; here is the text in whole; feel free to correct my humble translation from Finnish to suit your taste. The text is written by an unknown individual probably after Ohukainen's/Pekuri's account. 25.6. Sää puolipilvinen. Koneita kunnossa 6. 12.25-14.15. Hälytyslento 4 BW:llä luutn. Ohukaisen johdolla. IV-viestien mukaan pommari viiden hävittäjän suojaamana kierteli n. 7000 m:ssä Rukajärven seuduilla. Näitä takaa-ajaessaan parvemme tapasi "Eino Ilmarin" puljineen. Yhdessä odotettiin Sekehen länsipuolella ja todettiin ryssien starttaavan. "Eino Ilmarin" pulja toimi taistelun alkaessa jonkinlaisena lakisuojana n. 500 m meikäläisten yläpuolella. Yksinäinen HC. sai muodostelmat hieman hajalle, ja silloin alkoi joka puolella lappaa MIG- ja HC-koneita kuin lapamatoa. Ylikers. Korhonen joutui 1 HC:n ja 1 MIG:n ahdistamaksi, mutta selvisi tilanteesta hyvin ampumalla raketteja väikyttelevän MIG:n alas. Hän oli tilanteen alkuvaiheissa kutsunut apua, jolloin luutn. Alvesalo kiiruhti paikalle, mutta liian myöhään, sillä Korhosen nikkeli oli jo tehnyt tehtävänsä. HC:kin pakeni. Luutn. Ohukainen seurasi tilanteen kehittymistä kers. Anttilan kanssa edelleen ylhäällä, mutta saatuaan tiedon, että Seesjärven koillispäässä on suurehko ryssämäärä, hän lähti kers. Anttilan kanssa loivassa syöksyssä sinne. Jostakin ylhäältä yllätti 5 HC:ia heidät, jolloin kers. Anttilan perään painoi yksi päästen nähtävästi hyvin tulittamaan. Luutn. Ohukainen riensi apuun ampuen Anttilan ahdistajan (HC:n) alas, mutta joutui heti sen jälkeen jäljelle jääneiden neljän HC:n kanssa hurjaan kamppailuun selviten kokeneena lentäjänä uhkaavasta tilanteesta. Kers. Anttilaa hän ei enää tämän jälkeen nähnyt. Hetken kuluttua luutn. Ohukainen jälleen huomasi valojuovien viheltävän takaa ampuvasta HC:ista, joka pinnasta oli päässyt yllättämään n. 200 m:ssä ajelevan BW:n. Toinen tankki syttyi hiljakseen palamaan, selkäpanssari tärisi nikkelistä ja mittaritaulu meni pirstaleiksi, mutta tästä piittaamatta luutn. Ohukainen kurvasi jonkin aikaa ja ampui ahdistajansa (HC:n) lentokoneelle sopimattomaan elementtiin, jonka jälkeen hän yritti tehdä pakkolaskua pienelle järvelle Seesjärven pohjoispuolella. Tällöin jokin HC ampui toisen tankin tuleen BW:n ollessa n. 10 m:ssä järven päällä. Luutn. Ohukainen veti kuormun pois, ajoi veteen ja kone lensi ympäri liekkien lyödessä ohjaamon yli. Hän sukelsi kuomusta, nousi "palavan veden" pinnalle, sukelsi uudelleen, nousi jälleen pinnalle haukattuaan aimo annoksen vettä ja lähti uimaan rantaan n. 200 m:n matkaa. Saappaat oli pakko jättää järveen, sillä töin tuskin hän ilman niitäkin jaksoi uida rantaan. Nyt alkoi n. 20 km:n korpivaellus sukkasilla sääskien ja hyttysten seurassa. Ilman kompassiakin luutnantti suunnisti mainiosti - miinakentän läpi - ja pääsi omalle puolelle. 18.45. Saattaa arvata, millainen riemunhuuto kentällä karjaistiin, kun puhelin ilmoitti jo kupeeranneena pidetyn päällikkömme voivan paksusti!! Kers Anttilan kohtalosta ei vielä ole mitään varmuutta. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 25th of June. Broken clouds. Six planes in order. 12.25-2.15 PM. Alarm mission with 4 BWs lead by Lt. Ohukainen. According to the air surveillance messages five fighters were circling at 7000 meters near Rukajärvi [1]. While pursuing them our flight met "Eino Ilmari" [2] with his flight. Together they waited west of Sekehe [3] and saw Russkies starting up [their planes]. "Eino Ilmari's" pulja [4] was used as a some kind of top cover c. 500 meters above us. Lone HC seperated the formations and then MiG and HCs started to appear like tapeworms. SSgt. Korhonen was harassed by a HC and a MIG but survived from the situation by shooting down the rocket launching MIG. As he had called help at the beginning of the battle Lt. Alvesalo hurried to help [him] but he was too late since Korhonen's nickel had done the job. Also the Hurricane flew away. Lt. Ohukainen followed the situation with Sgt. Anttila from above but after receiving information that a large number of Russkies are at the NE end of Seesjärvi [5] he went there with Sgt. Anttila in shallow dive. Somewhere above five Hurricanes surprised them so that one of them got behind Sgt. Anttila and was able to fire. Lt. Ohukainen hurried to help and shot down the tormentor of Anttila but immediately got into battle with the four remaining Hurricanes. As an experienced pilot he survived from the life-threatening situation. He did not see Sgt. Anttila after that. After a moment Lt. Ohukainen saw tracers flashing by, a Hurricane had surprised from below the Brewster, now flying at 200 meters. The other tank catched fire slowly, the back armor shaked by then nickel fired and instrument panel shattered. Regardless of this Lt. Ohukainen maneuvered for some time and send the tormentor (a Hurricane) to an element not intended for an aeroplane. After that he tried to make crash landing to a smalla lake N of Seesjärvi. Now some other Hurricane shot the other tank to fire when the Brewster was flying at c. 10 meters above the lake. Lt. Ohukainen ejected the canopy, crash landed and the plane turned over while on flames almost reached the cockpit. He left the cockpit and rose surface of the "burning water", redived, rose again to the surface and after receiving mouthful of water swam to the shore 200 meters away. Boots had to leave on the lake since he could swim without them. Now [he] started twenty kilometres walk through the wilderness with only socks and flies and mosquitos with him. Even without a compass the lieutenant orienteered well - through minefield - to own side. 6.45 PM. One could guess what kind of yell of joy he received at the [aero]field when a call informed our prized commander was feeling well!! The fate of Sgt. Anttila is still unknown. [1] Finnish name for Ругозеро, Rugozero. [2] Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, commander of 3./LeLv. 24 [3] Finnish name for Се́гежа, Segezha. [4] Best translation for this Finnish slang word ("mixed gang" or something like this) in this context would be unknown sized part of Flight. [5] Finnish name for Сегозеро, Segozero. Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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Cubdriver		#3	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 2231 12/20/09 10:37:28	Thank you! But surely the pilot was Lauri Pekuri? The fight and crash landing certainly sound the same as Col Pekuri's account in the 1990s. Nor do I find the name of Lt Ohukainen in the list of Brewster air-air victories nor the list of Finnish aces. Is Ohukainen some kind of nom de guerre? -- Dan Ford for my email address, click here Warbird's Forum \| Piper Cub Forum \| the blog \| the book
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Martti Kujansuu		#4	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 43 12/20/09 13:48:12	Cubdriver wrote: Is Ohukainen some kind of nom de guerre? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_Pekuri "Pekuri had changed his name in 1942, having before been named Lauri Ohukainen." Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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Cubdriver		#5	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 2232 12/20/09 21:27:29	There seems to have been a lot of that going on in 1942! At least two of the AVG Flying Tigers either changed their names after their service (Frank Anderson) or had an assumed name to begin with (Edwin Conant), and a third spelled his name differently (Raine/Raines). Thank you so much for this. -- Dan Ford for my email address, click here Warbird's Forum \| Piper Cub Forum \| the blog \| the book
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Martti Kujansuu		#6	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 44 12/21/09 18:58:29	Remove this ad Cubdriver wrote: There seems to have been a lot of that going on in 1942! At least two of the AVG Flying Tigers either changed their names after their service (Frank Anderson) or had an assumed name to begin with (Edwin Conant), and a third spelled his name differently (Raine/Raines). Thank you so much for this. An interesting fact is the date of Pekuri's name change took effect was the day after he was shot down! The source; http://tiiksjarvi.blogspot.com/2009/03/kesakuujune-1942.html Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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Cubdriver		#7	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 2234 12/21/09 19:28:29	Who's this? -- Dan Ford for my email address, click here Warbird's Forum \| Piper Cub Forum \| the blog \| the book
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Martti Kujansuu		#8	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 45 12/23/09 06:47:42	Cubdriver wrote: Who's this? She was a lotta or member of Finnish woman auxiliary organisation for women. Apparently she served around Tiiksjärvi. Those are her memoirs. Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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Berry Pond	Globetrotter, story of two puppies by BW-372 lake	#9	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 23 12/23/09 20:37:38	Kyllikki Villa (born 1923) is an author, a globetrotter and a translator, who lives in Helsinki. The book was published in 2006 and it is based on her correspondence with her mother. Many Brewster-pilots are mentioned in this book, because she was in Tiiksjärvi. By the way, hopefully I have not told this before, last September I went with Vladimir Prytkov and a professional shooting group once again to the BW-372 lake(Bolshoe Koleozera). It is in the middle of nowhere, there is a very bad road which can be driven only by a jeep, and last half a mile there is no road but a kind of trail to walk. It is about 25 miles as the crow flies from the nearest houses. So all of a sudden two joyful puppies joined to our company, without barking, without snarling, happily jumping at our feet. There were no other people anywhere there. We could not leave them to the forest because of wolves and bears and the coming winter. So we took them with us to our Russian hostess to Voldtozera village and found a veterinary surgeon in Segezha. In December 7th the vaccianations were done and I could take them over the border to Finland - after Vladimir had droven over 1000 miles because of the dogs in two days. I found them a loving family, so this story ended very well. In their dog passports they are named Brewster and Buffalo, their family gave them names Juri and Oksana. I have wonderful photos and shoots of them. Merry Christmas! Marja Lampi
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Cubdriver		#10	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 2249 01/17/10 00:16:52	I've split this topic. Feel free to pile onto this thread, but the lake is now a thread of its own. -- Dan Ford for my email address, click here Warbird's Forum \| Piper Cub Forum \| the blog \| the book
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Martti Kujansuu		#11	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 47 02/25/10 07:21:34	All of the HLe.Lv.26's, last unit to fly Brewster in combat, aerial combat reports with B-239s are now also online. Starting from this BW-383's PE-2 kill on 9 June 1944 to BW-384's damaged Yak-7B on 30 July 1944. http://digi.narc.fi/digi/fullpic.ka?kuid=4592975 Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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Martti Kujansuu		#12	[url]	[-]
Registered User Posts: 48 07/21/10 20:02:39	Remove this ad From the diary of the 5th Frontier Guard Jaeger Battalion or "Rajajääkäripataljoona 5". http://digi.narc.fi/digi/fullpic.ka?kuid=3451184 June 25th 1942. [...] 3.00-4.00 p.m. Aerial combat north of Seesjärvi where six Russkie's Hurricanes [were shot] down and two of our own. The other fell on fire in to a pond near point 133,0. The pilot, Lt. Ohukainen, after swimming to shore, came with barefoot and through own minefield to Hornio's[?] field garrison. Ohukainen had shot down two Russkie planes of which the other had flew on fire towards south of where Ohukainen had crashed. Later a small fire was detected at osk. 38.30 - psk. 32.30. [...] 25.6.42 [...] 15,00-16,00. Ilmataistelu Seesjärven pohjoispuolella, jossa kuusi ryssän Hurricanea alas ja kaksi omaa. Toinen näistä omistamme putosi lampeen piste 133,0 luona palavana. Lentäjä, luutn. Ohukainen pelastui tullen (rantaan uituaan) avojaloin ja oman miinakenttämme läpi Hornion[?] KV:oon. Ohukainen oli ampunut alas kaksi ryssän konetta, toinen oli lentänyt palavana etelään Ohukaisen putoamispaikasta. Myöhemmin todettu pieni palo osk. 38.30 - psk. 32.30. [...] Traditional Finnish Footwear Traditional Finnish Motifs Traditional Finnish Dwellings Traditional Finnish Hunting & Fishing Methods
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War diaries of Finnish Brewster Squadrons now online

War diaries of Finnish Brewster Squadrons now online