Joppe Karhunen and his fovourite dog, Peggy.
1. PR coup
Lt. Karhunen (flying his personal FR-112) and Sgt.Vuorimaa, posted to Detachment Luukkanen, landed at Wartsila about 10.00 hrs on Christmas day 1939, refuelled and flew a recce mission. The weather was a little hazy, because fog drifted from the Lake Ladoga which was not totally frozen over The pilots were just taxiing to the dispersal area as Karhunen received a radio message:
- Five enemy bombers, direction Wartsila over lake Janisjarvi, intercept !
The two Fokkers took off and saw their targets flying at 1500 m at the same moment. The fighters approached - but the five SB-2 bombers kept their course. The bomber gunners waved frantically their arms, reached out and patted with their big dog fur mitts the red stars on the sides of the fuselage seeing two strange planes appear. (The early SB-2 bombers had a Scarff ring instead of turret.) The Finnish pilots rocked their wingtips reassuringly - the Finnish intelligence had found out that it was the identification signal of the enemy - and pressed closer. Then they opened fire. Two SB's dived in flames, soon another two followed, the fifth escaped as the Fokkers run out of ammo. Finnish AA gunners got the one that got away a few minutes later.
The interception mission had been a success in many ways. General Talvela, the commander of the Kollaa front section, had personally seen the destruction of the four bombers from the doorstep of his HQ, and he sent his congratulations to Karhunen and his wingman.
More followed: The next day Karhunen was interviewed by 20 foreign journalists, who had been shown the bomber wrecks. He told them, with the help of an interpreter, about the battle the day before. The audience was surprised and a little disappointed about the brevity of the pilot's "heroic" account.
Karhunen also met the enemy airman who had been taken prisoner. The sad Soviet Lieutenant told that their unit, 18. BAP, had been transferred from the Caucasus the previous day, and before their first raid they had been informed that there were no Finnish fighters in the area. That information had become incorrect six hours before...The target of the raid had been Gen. Talvela's headquarters at Wartsila.
2. Top dogs
In the morning of the 12th August 1941 all pilots of the Brewster squadron at Rantasalmi were waiting for takeoff order. The pilots ot the 3rd Flight were provided entertainment by the recently acquired mascot, Peggy Brown the Irish Setter. "Illu" Juutilainen began to play with the dog. He ordered her to sit in front of him and looking the dog in the eye he asked:
- Tell me how many enemies are we going to shoot down today?
The setter tilted her head, then began to bark.
- Count, lads ! said Illu.
Peggy Brown barked nine times, then laid down. The phone rang, the pilots were ordered to take off at 12.10 hrs. The mission was to provide air cover for army troops at Kirvu, Carelian Isthmus. The weather was warm with cumulus clouds up to 3000m which provided cover for enemy planes. Fortunately there was a fighter controller at the objective, providing Karhunen and his flight with information about the enemy as they circled about at 4000m. At 13.00 hrs Karhunen's wingman saw 1000 m below twenty Soviet I-153 in groups of 5 to 7 aircraft. The Brewsters attacked from the sun. As Karhunen started the first firing run he saw that the enemy was equipped with small bombs and rockets for ground strafing. His first target was the leader of the left wing flight. He fired at a range of 100 m but had no time to check the result before pulling up to regain the altitude advantage for the next firing run. His next target was a stray Tchaika that tried to turn at the oncoming BW, but too late. Karhunen hit the enemy, the victim shed its engine covers, then puffed smoke that turned into flames before the aircraft dived in a left-hand flat spin in the forest below. The Finnish pilot pulled up again, then turned to attack a MiG-3, but the enemy managed to break off and disappear in the clouds. Karhunen fired at several other Tchaikas, but the well-armoured enemies took hits without visible effect. He made one of them shed pieces, but did not have a chance to pursue. The dogfight went on for 30 minutes before the enemy retreated. The Finnish reinforcements failed to arrive in time, and Karhunen ordered the flight to rally for return. They landed at 14.10 hrs. At debriefing it was found that Sgts. Katajainen and Huotari had to disengage after their fighters had been damaged by the enemy, but no BW's were lost. Nine victories were confimed - just as promised... The Finnish pilots had successfully used the "pendulum" tactics against the slower but more manouverable I-153, which had tried to resort to heads-on shooting. The mission had been a success, the strafing raid had been intercepted.
3. Underdogs
In August 1942 Sqn.24 was based at Rompotti, charged with the task of interepting enemy aircraft from the besieged Leningrad to the NE Gulf of Finland. Maj.Magnusson had organised a fighter controller network to provide guidance to his pilots.
In the afternoon of the 16th August the 3rd Flight took off with its six serviceable BW's to intercept a formation of 8 SB-2 bombers escorted by 15 I-6 and 3 MiG-3 fighters. The controller from the Seivasto observation post vectored the flight to the target. It was 17.20 hrs as Karhunen, flying at 3500 m, saw the enemy below. The Brewsters attacked the escort fighters using the "pendulum" to retain their speed and altitude advantage. Karhunen shot down one I-16 during his first firing run. The MiGs disengaged. Karhunen shot down two more I-16, the total score for the flight was 11 I-16, but the bombers escaped.
The next day was quiet, and Karhunen returned to the lodgings as the sun was setting about at 20.00 hrs. Then the phone rang: it was Maj. Magnusson who told that 12 BW's were fighting against 60 enemy fighters on the area between Kronstadt and Oranienbaum. The four available BW's were scrambled to help the rest of the squadron disengage.
Karhunen and three other pilots arrived at the scene in half-darkness. Visibility was bad, but the Soviet AA projectile tracers were very well seen: they fired in the "furball" without regard to their own aircraft. Karhunen bounced one I-16 and shot it down, then he gave an order over the radio to rally North of Oranienbaum, out of the range of the Soviet AA. The radio frequency was full of noise, Karhunen hoped his message got through. Then five I-16 attacked him, his wingman had disappeared. The enemy flew five abreast and they opened fire simultaneously, missing him. The Finnish pilot turned against the I-16 and fired heads-on at the enemy leader. It was a hit and the victim dived, in a ball of fire. The remaining four tried to get behind his tail. The BW-388 was out of speed, Karhunen had to dive. The enemy was left behind. As Karhunen pulled out of dive, he saw several PE-2 ahead, and by chance one was just in range. He fired two bursts at the bomber which caught fire and ditched in the sea. The enemy AA opened heavy fire at the lone BW, the pilot broke off jinking.
By now the Finnish pilots had managed to disengage and they returned to Rompotti in a "mixed formation", landing in nearly full darkness at 21.20 hrs.. One BW, flown by Sec. Lt. Raitio, was missing. His body drifted ashore ten days later.
At debriefing it was found that the squadron had scored 14 victories in the battle, seven of them by the pilots of the 3rd Flight. Illu Juutilainen had shot down 3 I-16, Karhunen 2 plus one Pe-2, Sgt. Vesa one !-16. The pilots were physically tired and in a somber mood. It had been one of the hardest battles so far, and they had lost one of their pilots.
4. Moment of the truth
The air activity over the Eastern Gulf of Finland had increased during the spring of 1943. On the 21st of April the entire Sqn.24 was in alert readiness at sunrise in the Suulajarvi Air Base. Due to lack of aircraft the number of flights had been reduced to three.
The entire squadron (17 fighters) took off at 08.00 under radio silence to intercept 5 IL-2 returning from an anti-shipping raid near Kotka. They were escorted by at least 6 Yak-1s.
Capt. Karhunen was flying BW-364 (Illu Juutilanen's old fighter) and he spotted the ground attack planes with escorts at low altitude near Seiskari. He also saw contrails at high altitude. As they were closing in, Karhunen warned everybody against the enemy top cover, then he dived to attack the Yak leader. The enemy turned to the left, but the BW was more manouverable and Karhunen was able to stay in a good firing position behind the enemy. He fired until the Yak dived in the sea, creating a big splash. Karhunen pulled up and saw another Yak crash in the sea.
Now more Yaks and LA-5s joined the battle, soon there were 35 enemies against 17 BWs. The La's were particularly dangerous, they would dive from above for a firing pass, then pull up again with high speed. The BW pilots in their slower planes had to stay alert to keep track of the enemies and to be able to dodge on the right moment. Every BW was being attacked by two to three enemies, there was no chance of breaking off.
The Finnish pilots kept scoring, however. Capt. Sarvanto, Lt.Wind and W/O Kinnunen each shot down one Yak-1. Soon Sr.Sgt. Heinonen was hit and wounded having downed one La-5 and he had to belly land in Oranienbaum. (He died in a Soviet hospital.) A moment later W/O Kinnunen was hit by enemy AA. His burning fighter belly landed on a big ice floe and the pilot died soon after creeping out of the wreck.
As soon as Karhunen saw a chance he ordered his pilots to disengage. They succeeded in doing that, although some LA-5s pursued the BWs up to the coastline. The squadron landed at 09.30 hrs.
The mood in the squadron was somber that day, despite the 19 victories scored. They had lost two good men and everyone had become painfully aware about the obsoleteness of their aircraft.
Karhunen's Fokker D.21 FR-112, black '7', of 1./LLv 24, February 1940.
1999.04.26, © WW II Ace Stories.