Finnish Fokker C.X's crew on positions. In text is findable a snap of story hero, not fighter pilot this time, but brave observer-gunner: Lt. Kahla. There is also snap of crashed Kahla's Fokker.
Paavo Kahla was born in Lohja in 1918. He did his military duty in Air Force Reserve Officer Course no. 8 in 1938. Because he did not learn to make good landings, he was transferred to Observer training which he completed. Then he started his studies in Helsinki University, faculty of Farming and Forestry.
When the war broke out in Nov.30, 1939 Kahla had been mobilised to Reconnaisance Squadron 16. He continued in the same unit in June 1941. His "vehicle" was always the Fokker C.X two-seater biplane.
He was decorated with the Mannerheim Cross on the 26th April 1942. His commendation dated 24.Dec.1941 reads:"Ensign Kahla has as aircraft observer performed 141 missions showing phenomenal courage and consideration. Despite obsolete equipment and oftentimes adverse weather conditions he has fulfilled his missions in an laudable way. The reconnaisance data provided by him has been reliable and very valuable to our commanders."
Kahla flew mostly visual reconnaisance missions, both day and night, (with bombs loaded for dive-bombing targets of opportunity), but also aerial photography missions, field artillery fire control missions, pure dive-bombing missions and even some material drops for Finnish long-range reconnaisance patrols deep in the rear of the Red Army.
If intercepted by enemy fighters, the standard strategy for the FK crew was the following: the pilot kept flying on, with a gentle pressure on the pedal on the side of the oncoming enemy. Then as the enemy was estimated to open fire, the pilot would pull the stick back and stomp down one pedal. The fighter would swish past, and the FK would go in vertical dive. The pilot would turn the plane with ailerons before pulling out of dive at treetops. The fighter pilot always lost sight of the FK.
Kahla, unlike many observers, did not have any
favourite pilots, but flew with anyone available. In his free
time he pursued his studies fo forestry, hoping to graduate after
the war would be over.
It was 12.Aug 1942 in Eastern Karelia (Olonyez). Reconnaisance
Squadron 16 was based in Hirvas. Lieutenant P. Mannermaa took off
at 11.20 hours with the FK-99 Fokker C.X reconnaisance biplane
with Ltn. Paavo Kahla as his observer. At the pre-mission
briefing the lieutenant had described the flight route and given
the necessary orders and advice, taking into account the pilot's
lack of experience. The weather was sunny, with some cloud, base
at 400 m.
The pilot, who had been rejected from fighter training, was on his second mission, but the observer had done more than one hundered. The FK crossed the Lake Onega at an altitude of about 300m and arrived over lake Lusanjarvi. Kahla ordered the pilot to proceed to the estuary of the River Andoma to check the shipping traffic. After that they continued to North along the Lake Onega Eastern coast. The observer recorded on his map the several enemy troop billetings that he found.
The Fokker was shot at with rifles, and Kahla let his pilot retaliate with the two 7.7mm fuselage guns. Mannermaa soon became so absorbed in "playing Stormovik" that Kahla had to restrain him. Reluctantly the pilot pulled back to 300 m.
As they approached the estuary of Vodla River they saw a largish ship just coming to Lake Onega. Before the observer realised what was happening the pilot dived at the enemy ship. Kahla was just cursing the pilot and explaining that the ship was a well-armed gunboat as the enemy opened fire. The exploding AA shells paralysed the pilot's ability to react, the observer had to pound him in the back of the head with his fist to get him back to his senses. Fortunately the gunboat turned, expecting a dive-bomb attack, throwing the gunners off their aim.
Soon the pilot recovered from his shock, now the FK was flying over cape Oraviniemi. Since the last check the enemy had built something new and Kahla told Mannermaa to fly around the area. The inexperienced pilot obeyed the order literally, banking at 100m above an enemy AA machine gun position. Suddenly tracers criscrossed around the FK and the rattle of the enemy MGs struck Kahla's ears. He cursed and swore at his pilot, telling him to take altitude. Mannermaa applied full power, pulled the nose up and turned his head back as if to say something. At the very moment Kahla heard how a bullet struck the body of his pilot, whose head sagged. Kahla shook his shoulder and found the pilot lifeless.
Kahla snatched his
parachute and clipped it on the harness hooks on his stomach. The
FK was flying at 150 m under enemy fire until out of range. The
observer glanced at his watch: it was 12.55 hours, then he
considered his chances. He was now about 150 km behind enemy
lines without other equipment than a knife and a pistol. It was
better to try to get in the front cockpit and fly closer to
homeland before bailing out. He also might save the plane and the
pilot, too.
Kahla could not get on the pilot's seat without removing the cockpit canopy. He tried to dislodge it, by pushing with his shoulders, but in vain. The only possibility was to take the outside route.
Kahla stepped over the edge of the rear cockpit and pushed the tips of his shoes in the slots on the side of the FK, fighting the 250 kmh slipstream. He slid the hood back and reached with his hand one of the hand grips on the upper wing.
But the rip cord of his parachute had been stuck and to his horror he saw how the parachute began to creep out of its bag. He tried to keep the slippery silk wedged between his body and the canopy, but without success. He could not back off, either. The partially opened chute silk approached the tailplane. Kahla had to get rid of it,but the old-fashioned chute did not have any quick release harness. The chute silk began to flap in the slipstream and pulled itself out more and more, but getting snagged on the tailplane prevented the dome from opening. Yet he was pulled with considerable force.
Kahla hung on with his left arm inside the front cockpit edge and with his right he pulled the sheath knife out of his overall pocket. Fingers cramped he cut off the chute cords one by one until he saw the silk dome extend itself in the slipstream behind the plane. Now he did not have any more choices. The FK flew steadily but the nose was creeping up.
Having got rid of the chute Kahla let his knife drop and slid the canopy as back as it would go, then he reached his arm and pushed the stick to adjust the plane, just about to stall. It was only now that the dead pilot's grip of the stick was released.
Kahla pulled his upper body in the cockpit and found that Mannermaa was dead. By accident he touched the stick and the FK's nose went down. Kahla slid head first in the cockpit and struggled frantically to get in the lap of the dead pilot to recover the plane from the dive. The dead pilot's feet remained on the pedals, but the observer found he could control the FK with the stick only. However, the travel of the stick was limited, but fortunately the FK was an inherently stable aircraft.
Kahla tried to recover and calm down. He was too tired to try to shift the dead pilot. The instrument panel clock showed 13.10 hours. It had been the longest 15 minutes of his life.
The FK was now flying at 450 m at the bottom of the cloud cover. It was the first time Kahla found himself at the controls of a Fokker C.X. During basic training he had been assigned to observer duties - for not learning how to land. He did not understand enough about the instruments save the airspeed indicator. He tried to decrease altitude but the nose kept going down and the speed increased too much. He did not dare to adjust the power setting for fear of making the engine stop.
Soon they were flying on the Lake Onega. He found that the dead man had piloted the old FK far more steadily than he could...Slowly the base approached andit was time to start worrying about landing. How he wished he had had a radio transceiver! But for the FK, transceiver was installed only for artillery fire control missions...
Kahla saw the airstrip of the Hirvas base, the runway seemed to be hopelessly short, he was sure he would overshoot it. He decided to fly over the houses where the squadron was billeted to alert the ground crews before trying to land. The men on the ground saw how the pilot's head and right arm hung limply out of the cockpit.
The FK approached the runway, weaving up and down, nearly hitting the treetops. The aircraft was not perfectly aligned with the runway, but the involuntary pilot could not use the rudder.
Sgt. Kuuluvainen was watching on the edge of the runway. He saw the FK approach with too much speed,and the flaps in. The plane barely avoided hitting a dispersal shelter, then thumped down and bounced up to the height of treeetops - about 20m. Kahla cut the ignition and pulled the stick as far back as he could. The FK stalled and descended with a left tilt.
As the left wingtip and the propeller seized ground before the left undercariage wheel did, Kahla grabbed a fuselage structural tube. The plane bounced up again with pieces of wooden propeller flying. Then there were several bounces until the dragging left wingtip made FK nose over with a loud crunch. A huge cloud of dust that enveloped the wreck. The observer fell to the ground from the cockpit which had turned upside down and lost consciousness. It was 13.20 hours.
Kahla came to his senses in a matter of seconds and crept away from the plane, face bloodied. The witnesses hardly believed their eyes at seeing the dead pilot in the cockpit. With tremendous respect the men looked at Paavo Kahla, the man who seemed not to know what the word "impossible " means...
He sat down, only his slightly wandering gaze told that he was as much beside himself as a man with his character could be. The mechanics respectfully removed the dead pilot from the plane. Upon inspection one single rifle calibre bullet hole was found on the left side of the front cockpit. The fateful bullet had pierced the pilot's left side and exited from his right. The FK-99 remained in repairable condition, but it had to be sent to the Aircraft Factory.
Lt. Kahla filled in a report sheet with the following
contents:
Flight Squadron 16.
Reconnaisance report dd.12th August 1942
Hours 11.20 to 13.20
Report No. 1103
Aircraft FK-109
Pilot Ensign Mannermaa
Observer Lt. Kahla
Flight route: Hirvas - Lake Lusanjarvi - Andoma River - Vodla
River - Oraviniemi - Hirvas
Observations:
Estuary of Andoma River 12.10 hrs 300 m
2 small tugboats, 6 barges, 3 empty, 3 with timber cargo
6 km to NE 12.15 50m
1 hut, about 10 men, organ MG on shore (organ MG = 4 x Maxim m/09
cal.7,62x53R)
Estuary of Mustajoki River 12.15 hrs 50m
2 huts, 5 men, fired at
8km to SE Vodla river x=62.00, y=54.00 12.30 300 m
17 barges, partly empty, waterlogged, partly laden with firewood,
6 motorboats, 2 tugboats
Estuary of Vodla River 12.30 300 m
Gunboat type 233 shooting with 40mm AA, outgoing
12.30.12.55 50 to 200 m
Blockhouses with smoking chimneys and men, AA MG fire
(coordinates omitted)
Oravaniemi 12.55 50m
Ensign Mannermaa was hit by one bullet, lost consciousness, 5 sec
later died. I climbed over the cockpit canopy and flew the plane
to the base where she nosed over at landing.
Distribution: VII Army HQ. -
teleph.
A.F. HQ. - 1 copy
Fl.Reg.2 - 1 copy
Sqn. 16 - 1 copy = 3 pcc
Next day Lt. Kahla continued service as nothing had happened. He had only received a gash in his brow and bruised his nose.
Captain of Reserve, Knight of the Mannerhem Cross, Paavo Kahla's career was ended on 23.10.1944 when the Finnish Armed Forces were fighting against the Wehrmacht in Lapland. Kahla was the commander of the Fokker flight which was a part of the Detachment Sarko, based in Kemi.
On the evening of the 22nd October his pilot, Sgt. Jouko Liinamaa told to is friend, Brewster pilot Lt. Juurikainen that he was likely to die next day when he was going to pilot Capt. Kahla. The Sergeant told that Kahla used to make his pilot fly just above the road to be reconnoitred. The fighter pilot went to talk to Capt. Kahla and warned him about the German AA gunners, which were very proficient. Kahla listened without commenting. Another fighter pilot. Lt. Riekki, confirmed the warning, telling that four days ago two Brewsters had been shot down by the German AA. But Kahla said him that the best method to count traffic was to fly above the road at 300 m.
Kahla had packed his kit before taking off next morning, because it was to be his last mission before demobilisation. But he was not going to shirk from doing his duty to the very end. FK-104 took off at 06.00 hours but it did not return from the mission. They were last seen at 06.22 hours by a Finnis observation post.
He and his pilot were shot down by German AA in Kittila near Aakenustunturi. They were the last casualties of the FAF in the II WW, but their remains were not found until one year later by a reindeer herder.
Here is a photo of Fokker C.X of Finnish Air Force. This obsolete biplane was succesfully used by FAF from begin of Winter War till end of WW2. First Fokker's delivery of 17 aircrafts, powered by Bristol "Pegasus" engines (Dutch version flew with Rolls-Royce "Kestrel"), started on 18 May 1936. The planes arrived to LLv 12 (13 planes, Suur-Merijoki base) and LLv 14 (4 planes, Laikko base). Second, licenced, serie of 13 planes was ordered in Finnish VL factory on 12 October 1936, third of 17 Fokker C.X's - on 12 February 1937. Total number of Fokker C.X's used in Winter War was 31.
1999.05.28, © WW II Ace Stories.