The Finnish Air Defense inthe Winter War ‘The Finnish Alr Defense was consisted of the Air Force, the Antiaircraft Forces and the Alr Surveillance troops. The commander of the Air Defense (and Air Force) was Major General J.Lundqvist, assisted by the Commander of the Antlaircraft Forces, Col. FHelminen and the Alr Defense HO (iImapuolustuksen esikunta, 'Pe). + The Finnish Air Forces The war starts General data of the planes used in combat during Winter War ‘Types and numbers of different warplanes that Finland received during Winter War Strengths of different fron ‘during the war Eighter-units Bomber-units Reconnaissance and utility Swedish volunteers Problems’ Results « The Antiaircraft Forces ‘The Finnish Alr Force (FAF) Source: Tlvsodan Historia 9.186 ‘The history of Finnish Air Force began when the “Whites” received an aircraft, Thulin Parasol (Morane Saulnien, from Sweden in February 1918, The plane was a donation, and was flown to Finland by a Swedish Count, Erk von Rosen, ‘So was the Finnish Air Forces born (at firs it was the Finnish Aviation Force, and in the 1920s, the name was changed into Finnish Air Forces). Back to Top!The war starts ‘The Finnish Air Force was, atthe beginning of the war, a weak airforce in both quality and quantity. The planes were generally outdated (the only “modern” fighter was the Fokker 0.21 and the only modern bomber, the Bristol Blenheim) and compared to the size ofthe country, not to mention the number of enemy planes, the strength of the Finnish Air Force was too sm: [As FAF couldn't afford a war of attrition, the Finnish fightors were mainly reserved to defend the home front and the bombers to pinpoint attacks in generally small formations. Besides occasional support missions in the frontlines, the Army received mainly intelligence data from the FAF (on 1 February 1940 a recon plane brought back pictures where over 100 Soviet artllory battorios could be found, juicy targets ifthe FAF had had more bombers or the Army more artillery shells) Only in the battles in the Bay of Vipurl were the fighters and bombers used In bigger numbers and regardless of losses. Baokto Top! General data of the planes used in combat during Winter War Bomb Plane name Type* |Abb.*| Yeart | TOP speed | Ceiling ‘Armament load kmih | meters ‘a Fokker D.XXI F [| R | te | ate 0100 axe mm mg Bristol Bulldog (MKIV) | _F | 6u | var | 302 010 247.7 mm mg axa Gloster Gladiator Fo | 1% | 395 "0200 4x77 mm mg Fiat 6.50 "Freccia” F | Fa | 1957 | 480 “0700 2x 127 mm mg Morane Saulnier 406 F [ms | 1935 | 450 3500 37.5 mm mg max 0 Bristol Blenheim iiiiV |e | et | 1 | 06 o200_| Berd 77mmmg | max i000 Fokker CVE RU | Fo | 1924 | 265 7600 2xmg rmax260 Fokker © X DBUR | FK | 19m | 350 a000| ax? 7etx76am—_| max 40 Blackburn RiponiF | UR | RI | 1e20 | _1e0™ 7 twinmg+2xma | _maxd00 Junkers K-43, W-34 u__ | w | 126 | _200™ | S800" t-axmg max 500 "= Type; ive bombing, R= reconnaissance, U=ullty ‘Abt. ® abbreviations used by ane Year= the year of fst fight = plane with wheats, with oat the performance was One Douglas 0C-2 plane (airliner converted to a bomber), Finnish designation DO, was donated from Sweden, but since It made only one bombing run, I chose not to include it in here. For more detailed Aircraft-info visit the following web site: www.sci.fi/~ambushvfafffaf,htm| Back to Top! Types and numbers of different warplanes that Finland received during Winter War Plane name and Finnish | Country | Sods | of Notes abbreviation donated _| planes Fiat G.50 (FA) aly isola 33 [originally 35, bt 2 destroyed in transit [Gloster Gladiator (GL) England [10 donated [30 Morane Saunier 406 (MS) [France [donated 30 Brewster 239 (BW) Usa fold ® [total number 4, did't see action = (sa) Hawker Hurricane (HC) England __ [sold ® {otal number 11,1 destroyed in transit, dsa Bristol Blenheim (BL) England [oold iaz [destroyed & 1 damaged in transit Douglas DC-2 (D0) ‘Sweden [donated A Imade 4 bombing run Koolhoven F.K.52 (KO) ‘Sweden [donated 2 lity pane ‘The 3 Fokker C.D. (performance almost identical withthe Fokker C.V.E.) planes donated from Sweden were, also used in combat, but since it was originally a training plane, I didn't include it into the above table.Back to Top ‘The tables below, show the strengths of different frontuine units during the war. Note, that the drop in strength ofa plane type, doesnt automatically mean plane-losses, since planes were attached to other units, or ‘withdrawn from frontine servi ‘The number (In parentheses) shows the number of planes under repair Fighter-units Unit Plane Dec tst | Jan isth | Feb ist | Feb 15th | March 1st [Match Liv22 aw a é Ltv.24 FR % 2 8 3 28 25 Bu 0 = = Liv.26 on 3 7 3 FA 2 it a Ms 3 35 33 Liv.28 ws. 8 TOTAL 7a =m =e rea [e709 Tei ae aan ans FBT Unt further notice, the image will be unavailable for viewing Picture and background information courtesy of Jouni ROnkK® “Einnish Air Force -almost in service- 1935-1945" “This FR.76, was the frst Fokker D.21 in the FAF. When the war started, this was the only plane, which had ‘the 20 mm cannons installed in the wings (a atest), With this plane, Lt, Tatu Huhanantt downed a Soviet SB-2 bomber on December 2th 1939, The plane flow inthe LLv24 Back to Top Bomber-units Unit |Ptane| Dec ist | Jan 15th | Feb 1st | Feb 15th | March 1st] March a z z Luvaz | 8 + Be z z 2 Gi z Luvaa | BE s Hi livas [er | 9 3 7 3 7 ¢ TOTAL 7 no | eo | #@ | 3a | 7A “able source: “Talvsodan Historia, p97 Until further notice, the image will be unavailable for viewing. Picture and background information courtesy of Jouni Rénkké "Finnish Air Force -almost in service-_ 1935-1945" This Bristo! Blenheim flew in the LLv 44, twas one of the three bombers with permanent skis attached, lon February 25th 1940, the plane had on accident while landing, and spent the rest of the war under pai.