On the 1st December 1939 Squadron 24 was ordered to fly a constant 2-plane patrol over the industrial area of Vuoksi river valley. Lt. Luukkanen and his wingman were doing the 2nd shift at about 10:00 hrs. There was a solid cloud cover starting at the altitude of 300 m. When the two Fokkers were above Enso, Luukkanen saw two unknown two-engine bombers flying to NE in the same altitude under the cloud at a distance of 1000m . Immediately the fighter pilots banked their planes after the targets. The enemy changed course, curving to SE, which only made it easier for the fighters to catch up with them.
Luukkanen approached the bomber under full power from behind and opened fire at a range of 100m. The enemy rear gunner responed and tracers were flying on both sides of the Fokker's cockpit. The Finnish pilot hardly noticed the enemy fire, he was getting too close and he had to interrupt his attack.
Luukkanen made another approach and fired again at the enemy. The altitude was now about 150 m as the Fokker was buffeted by strong pressure waves. The bomber had released her bomb load. The fighter pilot kept his plane under control, however, and kept firing until the target was again too close.
As the Fokker approached for the third time, the bomber extended her undercarriage to slow down - Luukkanen had to pull up to avoid collision.
At the fourth attack the Finnish pilot had more presence of mind: he throttled back to get more time to shoot. He also aimed specifically at the right engine of the bomber. As he fired at a range of 50m, the bomber engine began to trail gray smoke and the propeller stopped. A couple of minutes later the bomber belly-landed on a small field surrounded by forest.
Luukkanen was astonished. Would it be this easy to shoot down aircraft? It was only now that the eager fighter pilot remembered that he should have checked the nationality of the bomber. He saw the red stars on the wings and was relieved.
The crew of the Soviet SB-2 had survived, three men climbed out and waved a white cloth. For a while the Finnish pilot thought about landing next to the victim, but he judged the terrain was too rough. For orientation he followed the railroad nearby flying so low that he could read the nameplate of the next railway station: Koljola.
Luukkanen flew back to base, so exited that his first landing attempt failed. When he had parked his fighter, his ground crew and all the pilots who were there came to congratulate the first victor in the history of the Finnish Air Force. The target of his wingman had escaped in the cloud cover.
Now we know that unlike he sincerely believed, it was not the first victory of the FAF. Earlier that morning Sgt. V. Porvari of LeLv 26 had downed a SB with Bristol Bulldog BU-68 at Muolaa.
On the 4th of March 1940 Luukkanen's flight was based at Lemi, using lake Kivijarvi as their airfield. The cloud cover was heavy at 200 m, there was a drizzle of snow. The eight pilots were doing the main activity of fighter pilots: waiting. The command center consisted of a sauna with a field telephone line on the edge of the lake. There was little talking, occasionally the men played the "navy" game to pass their time. At last the phone rang at noon.
Lt. Luukkanen received an order to repel a Red Army column approaching on the ice of the Gulf of Finland from Suursaari (Gogland) to Virolahti, 70 km South from their base. He first sent Sgt. Juutilainen for a weather reconnaisance mission to find out whether the mission was possible at all.
As Juutilainen returned with affirmative information, Luukkanen gave the necessary instructions to his pilots and soon eight Fokker D.XXI took off. The cloud cover was en route down to 50m, but the weather improved at target, the clouds were at 300m.
The Finnish pilots saw their target on the ice, 10 kms from the coast. The column consisted about 500 men and dozens of sleighs pulled by horses, without any white camouflage. Also the nearest enemy air base on Suursaari was covered by fog, so the Fokker pilots did not have to worry about Soviet fighters.
Luukkanen ordered his pilots to follow in a loose single file. He dived at the column, leveled at ten meters and opened fire. The enemy soldiers and horses panicked as the Fokker's machine gun bullets raked their ranks. One by one the Finnish pilots fired at the enemy at leisure, as if on a training mission. They killed all the horses and as many men as possible, but it was difficult to tell who of the enemies lying in the snow was a casualty and who was not. Luukkanen spent his last bullets on a man in white fur coat, hoping to have killed the enemy commander.
Having used up their ammunition the Finnish pilots returned to the base. A coastal fence observation post had watched the raid and saw how the enemy retreated, leaving behind half of their men and all the horses as casualties. This was the first of Luukkanen's ground attack missions, the others were far more difficult due to improved enemy countermeasures.
It was the 30th October 1942, a day with good flying weather but for some haze on the sea level. Cpt. Luukkanen was leading five BW's of his flight over the eastern Gulf of Finland in a search and intercept mission, as he received a report from the observation station of Seivasto about an enemy formation, plus the direction and distance. Immediately Luukkanen changed course and soon the Finnish pilots saw eight enemy fighters ahead and below. Eight of them were I-16 bis (I-18?) and two of a new type - Spitfires!
The Soviet pilots saw the Brewsters, too, judging from the restless movement of their planes. Luukkanen ordered everyone to attack the enemy. Luukkanen dived, fired at one I-16 and pulled up to retain his altitude advantage before turning for another "pendulum swing". As he headed for the battle for the second time, he saw one Spitfire behind the tail of one of his BW's. The enemy pilot was blind to anything else but the fighter in his gunsight. Luukkanen approached unnoticed and fired from behind and above. His burst hit the Spitfire cockpit and the enemy dived toward the sea.
As Luukkanen looked around one second later he found himself alone in the company of enemy fighters - he counted 12 I-16 bis'es and I-153, which formed a Spanish Circle around his BW. The Finnish pilot got a mental jolt upon realising his situation, there was no time to think. He fired at the nearest I-16, but already two enemies were behind his tail, firing their guns. Luukkanen dodged by sideslipping, again there was another enemy in his shooting sector whom he fired at.
Luukkanen fought for his life. By instinct he turned and twisted his BW to dodge the enemy fire, for the first time the enemy even fired rocket projectiles. The Finnish pilot fired at every opportunity, but there was no chance of accurate aiming. He had successfully dodged at least ten attacks as an enemy bullet smashed one of the panes of his cockpit hood. At the same moment a I-16 overshot the BW due to too a high speed for the situation. Luukkanen managed to shoot at the enemy as it was no farther than 50 m - the Soviet fighter literally exploded. The BW was again being fired at, and Luukkanen dodged. One second later he found that he had spent his ammunition.
There he was, out of ammunition, above enemy territory, 200 km from his base and alone. Never had Luukkanen more loved life than now that he was about to lose it. He half-rolled and dived, feigning being hit by wiggling his fighter. As he pulled out of the dive near the sea surface he found that the enemy was not following.
As Luukkanen returned to the Suulajarvi base, he found that in addition to his two victories the other pilots had scored two more, but he had lost one pilot - the first loss of pilot to his flight since June 1941.
The 6th March 1944, the anniversary day of the Finnish Air Force was a very beautiful, cold, cloudless. Major Luukkanen, the commander of Fighter Squadron 34, was sitting in the radio room of the Kymi Air base near Kotka and listening to radio messages informing about the enemy movements. At 14.00 hours he realised that an bomb raid to Kotka was imminent, and ordered all available fighters to scramble. Five Me-109 G2 planes took off, the MT-201 flown by Luukkanen.
They had taken off just in time to intercept 39 enemy aircraft north of Suursaari. 27 Pe-2 bombers were escorted by 12 La-5 fighters at 5000 m. The agressor outnumbered the defender by 8 to 1, but that was nothing unusual. The five Me's attacked from the direction of sun. Luukkanen turned the safety off over the trigger and announced in the radio: "Eikka here, I am taking the third from the left". The target was the leading Pe-2, gleaming in the sun as if it were a brand new plane. The bombers fired defensive rockets, exploding at a distance of 200 to 300 meters and the rear gunners began firing. Luukkanen opened fire at the selected bomber at a range of 100 m, and rapidly the distance closed. As the range was 50m he saw two of his 20mm shells explode at the bomber's right engine, which immediately caught fire.
The flaming bomber dived. Luukkanen looked around and saw four more burning bombers dive and some parachutes hanging in the air. The surviving bombers dropped their loads on the ice below and retreated to SE full speed. The altitude was now 4000 m.
At the same moment the escort fighters attacked. Luukkanen dodged , being able to curve tighter than the enemy diving from higher altitude. Soon he had a La-5 in his gunsight less than 50 m away. The Finnish pilot fired, the enemy fighter shook under the impact of 20mm projectiles, then the fuel tank exploded, ripping the La into a cloud of debris.
The dogfight dispersed so that each Messerschmitt pilot had to rely in himself. Luukkanen saw one La-5 near ahead, there was another behind, but quite far. He estimated to have time for a quick attack at the one in front of his fighter, before the other enemy would have time to intervene.
After a few seconds the MT-201 was 50m behind the tail of the La-5. Luukkanen fired, the enemy took a hit in the left wing and dodged. The Finnish pilot forgot about anything else as he struggled to keep the wiggling enemy in his gunsight.
Suddenly the side pane of his cockpit hood was smashed with a bang and he felt a thud in his back. Flaming and howling rain of 20 mm tracer ammunition passed the Me on both sides and above the cockpit. Instinctively Luukkanen kicked the rudder and pulled the stick back, then pushed it to the side against his thigh. The MT-201 half-rolled down, the pilot saw a wildly firing La-5 just behind the tail.
Luukkanen pulled his fighter in a vertical dive from about 4000m to shake the enemy off. The Baltic ice was approaching at a rate of 200 m per second. He pulled the stick with his right hand and turned the horizontal rudder trim wheel with his left. The stick trembled in the pilot's hand and he blacked out, warm blood flowing from his nostrils over his mouth and jaw.
Luukkanen came to as the MT-201 was flying at an altitude of 200 m, slightly tilted to the right, fuel gauge reading at zero. But the engine kept running steady, and he balanced the plane by keeping the stick pushed to left. The radio was dead.
He landed successfully. As he climbed out of the cockpit of his shot-up fighter with bloodied face, the pilots who had been left in the base having no planes to fly were alarmed. They grabbed the major by the arms and tried to put him in a car for transport to the hospital. Finally Luukkanen managed to persuade them that the blood was just pus from his inflamed nasal cavities.
The MT-201 had taken four 20mm hits in the rear fuselage. The battery and the transceiver were smashed, the vertical rudder actuator rod was cut and the backrest armour very nearly pierced. Yet the fighter could be repaired.
In his memories Luukkanen tells only about this first enemy attack of the day, where he and his pilots scored 12 victories at a cost of two damaged Me. The Suulajarvi-based flight shot down four more enemies from the same formation as the enemy retreated. The enemy units were the 12.Gv.PBAP (bombers) and the 14. GvIAP (fighters) (Another story of the same day: see Urho Lehtovaara in two exciting combats story).
It was 19 June 1944. Major Luukkanen was leading 10 Me109 G6 fighters of his squadron to Summa to cover the infantry in the main defense line. The fighters were flying in about 400 m altitude, in order to detect the enemy against the clouds and the sky. Tactically, however, it was disadvantageous.
At Perkjarvi Luukkanen detected an enemy balloon floating at the end of its cable at 600 m, controlling the enemy artillery fire. No enemy fighters were seen, and Luukkanen decided to destroy the "sausage", alone, in order not to expose his pilots to unnecessary risks. The balloon would certainly be protected by very heavy AA artillery of all calibers.
Over the radio, Luukkanen ordered the other pilots to rally to the west and stay there. He proceeded to attack from the same altitude, rather carelessly, he judged afterwards.
As he was 400 m from the balloon the defensive AA opened intense fire. The air around the Me was full of tracers, something hit the right wing, the fighter was violently jolted to the left. Luukkanen corrected the course and took aim at the "sausage". He fired at the range of 150 m. There was a flash and in a second he left the burning balloon behind, still under AA fire.
At the very same moment the Me shook as if it had hit a solid object and the engine stopped with a bang! Pieces of debris flew past the cockpit.
Luukkanen pulled the stick, converting his remaining speed into altitude. At 800 m, still being fired at, he had to put his fighter into glide. He was more than 20 km in the enemy territory, leaving a trail of gray smoke.
In an eerie silence he closed the main fuel valve and prepared for landing in terrain. To his regret the pilote saw nothing but solid forest below, he ejected the canopy and reported his pilots "Going down!"
The treetops approached at a speed of 350 km/h. The first tree that the Me hit was as thick as a telephone pole, it ripped off the right wing with a crashing noise, half a second later the left wing was gone. Luukkanen tried to steer with vertical rudder between two large trees. The engine and the cockpit passed through the gap but the rest of the fuselage was cut off with a huge crash and creaking.
The wreck impacted the soil at an estimated speed of 100 kmh. Luukkanen prepared to die, he crossed his hands and closed his eyes. There was an infernal crashing noise, and he was jolted violently against the left wall of the cockpit.
The pilot opened his eyes. He found himself in the wreck of his fighter, surrounded by forest. A large boulder had finally stopped his wild ride. Luukkanen climbed out of the wreck and fumbled for a cigarette. He did not even know on which side of the front he was, and there was sand in his eyes, nose, mouth, inside his clothes.
He heard the noises of the front line from the south, three enemy fighters flew overhead, and artillery shells landed on a hill 100 m away. Suddenly he heard someone talking and hid in a bush with his pistol drawn.
Fortunately the comers were Finnish soldiers, and Luukkanen learned he was on the No Man's Land. He checked the remains of the MT-415, finding two 40mm hits. He removed the instruments from the instrument panel and followed the soldiers with his parachute on his shoulder.
Luukkanen arrived back to his Squadron late that night and had a sauna bath before going to bed. His commander, Col.Lt.Magnusson told him to take two weeks' leave, but Luukkanen refused, preferring to beat back the feeling of failure the very next day. He admitted to himself how foolhardy he had been. It had been sheer instinct that had made him land in the forest with high speed which had prevented the fighter from slapping sideways against the tree trunks.
More details of his biography please check in another story: "Eikka" Luukkanen - The Youngest Squadron Leader.
