Above is the photo of Cadet Lapra Nissinen in 1942.
Lauri Vilhelm Nissinen was born in Joensuu 31 July 1918. His father was "mechanic" by profession. The sources tell very little about his background except that he was a good cross-country skier and that he had joined the Vartsila Home Guard at the age of 13. He received more education than just the compulsory.
Nissinen did his compulsory military service in the Air Force in 1936 as volunteer, during which time he became attracted to flying as career. Having completed his service, he immediately applied for NCO pilot training in 1938. He was accepted and he completed the course very successfully, becoming a cadre NCO of the FAF.
Due to his good performance during training he was allowed to select the squadron he wanted. He selected HLeLv 24 with its Fokker D.XXI equipment, the only first line squadron of the FAF. Lance Corporal Nissinen joined the squadron in May 1939 and during the training in summer -39 he proved to be a very promising young pilot, quick-witted and with excellent gunnery, and was promoted to Sergeant.
As the Winter War broke out, Sgt. Nissinen opened his score on the second day of the war as he shot down one SB-2 and damaged two others on 1 December 1939 at Viipuri. By the end of the Winter War he had scored a total of four victories and held the rank of Sergeant Major.
As the squadron was equipped with Brewsters, Nissinen became a good BW pilot, but he also wanted to promote his career. He applied for and was accepted to Reserve Officer training - in anti-aircraft artillery, due to his mathematical talent. The FAF did not provide reserve officer training due to lack of resources.
As the war broke out again in 25 June 1941 officer-pilot Nissinen fought successfully. He was a very aggressive pilot and often he had more than a dozen of hits in his BW upon return from mission. The reason for this was mostly heads-on shooting, which the Soviet I-153 and I-16 pilots resorted to, being unable to escape the faster Brewster. For example on 7 July 1941 at Kakisalmi two enemy pilots in succession engaged him in heads-on shooting, the Finnish pilot winning in both cases. Nissinen was admonished by Capt. Karhunen, the flight commander who ordered him to keep to the "pendulum" tactics as trained to do. Nissinen admitted that heads-on shooting was a foolish thing to do, but he did not want to disengage if challenged by the enemy. Karhunen characterised his pilot as a typical Carelian, extroverted and of lively character. As a fighter pilot he showed battle spirit, indomitable tenacity and unyielding brotherhood. He never neglected to abandon a favourable firing position if any of his fellow pilots was in need of help.
Two days later, on 9 July 1941, about 05.00 hours near Sortavala Karhunen's flight of 6 BW's bounced five SB-2 bombers flying at 600 m escorted by 15 I-153. Ensign Nissinen was flying the BW-353 as wingman to Lt. Kokko. Together they approached a division of four Tchaikas from rear, then at a range of 150 m opened fire, lethally hitting two enemy fighters. Immediately Kokko was attacked by three more enemies from behind, and the two survivors of the attack turned against Nissinen. Having altitude advantage the enemy pilots chose to engage the Brewster in heads-on attack. The Finnish pilot fired back, damaging both enemies so that they disengaged. Then Nissinen saw a single I-153 which tried to escape, and dived after the enemy. He fired when in range, then pulled up, another BW joined the attack. Three times Nissinen made a firing pass at the Soviet fighter, which just kept flying straight and taking hits, until the Finnish pilot was out of ammunition. Nissinen put on full power and soon was flying wingtip to wingtip with the Tchaika. He saw how the enemy pilot's head was leaning against the cockpit edge. The man was either dead or unconscious. The Finnish pilot followed him until another enemy approached and he had to disengage. In that battle 8 enemy fighters had been shot down and six damaged.
On 21 July 1941 he again shot down one I-153 on heads-on battle, but the enemy bullets damaged his engine. With good luck he returned to base, where his ground crew found four hits in the engine, one in the prop and several more in the wings.
On the 1st of August 1941 at Rautjarvi six BW's engaged eight I-16 bis fighters at 1600m. The enemy was taken by surprise. Nissinen attacked first, shooting at his victim at a range of 20m. The target exploded, its oil blinded the BW-363 windscreen and debris damaged the right wing, making Nissinen unable to continue battle. But at the very moment three enemies opened fire at him from behind. His fighter took several hits and he had to disengage with a nosedive. Enemy bullets had shattered the windscreen, so his view was better, but again he returned to base with luck only.
At the end of 1941 he was no.2 ace with 15 1/2 kills after Oiva Tuominen (21) but before Illu Juutilainen (15)
Early in 1942 Major Karhunen, the squadron leader, persuaded Nissinen to abandon the competition for No.1 ace title and become a cadre officer. The major reminded the young pilot that the war would not go on forever and he should think of his future. Also there was a shortage of Flight commanders. Nissinen decided to go to the Cadet School, which he completed in one year (June 1943, the training was "accelerated") and was promoted to Lieutenant. He also had been decorated with the Mannerheim Cross in July 1942. The citation read: "Ensign Nissinen has proven himself as a very skilled and resourceful Fighter Division (=4 aircraft) leader. His actions in air battles have been of exemplary tenacity and ruthless courage. Nissinen has participated both in the Winter War and in the present war in several air battles, some very fierce. He has scored 24 victories in total, 4 during the Winter War and 20 during this war."
As to his personal life, Nissinen was engaged to Miss Katri Makela, but hesitated to propose because in 1941 he thought the war would be brief. "Illu" Juutilainen, a married man himself, told him that there was no certainty of the war ending any time soon. So Nissinen applied for marriage furlough and was allowed to fly to Utti with a DH Moth, used as the liaison aircraft of the squadron. Enroute he buzzed the home of his fiancé and as the people came out he dropped a bunch of roses. His son Matti was born in 1943.
Upon return to his old squadron Lt. Nissinen was immediately made a Flight Commander (3rd Flight, the "Knight Flight" where he had flown before the officer training) and he resumed flying battle missions. His score was 26 at the end of 1943.
As the squadron was gradually re-equipped with Me 109 fighters in spring 1944, it was Nissinen's flight that was the first to receive them. The planes were old ones, already used by Squadron 34. Then the Soviet offensive started on 9.June 1944.
Lt. Nissinen had scored two more victories on the 17 June 1944 as two flights of the squadron 24 were sent to intercept Soviet ground attack planes attacking Finnish positions at Kaukjarvi. He was flying the MT-229. The other flight, commanded by Lt. Sarjamo, engaged the escort fighters and Lt. Nissinen and his men concentrated on the IL-2's . There was a 100 m thick cloud cover under which the enemy ground attack planes were flying.
Suddenly Nissinen's wingman, Ensign Heimo Lampi saw a crippled Messerschmitt dive through the cloud only about 30 m away at Nissinen, whose attention was concentrated on finding the enemy somewhere below. Lampi did not have any time to warn his leader before the falling fighter hit Nissinen's plane.
Both planes exploded upon the impact and fell to the ground in one mess. Both pilots were instantly killed.
Later it was found that it was Lt Sarjamo who was shot down
over the cloud and whose plane caused the collision. The squadron
lost two flight commanders in one minute. When the pilots of the
flight discussed this incident that night, one of them considered
it a rare chance for two fighters to collide like that. Flt.Mstr.
"Viki" Pyotsia, one of the oldest pilots, said with
emphasis:
- That, lads, was not a chance, but Fate, against which every one
of us is helpless.
Lt. Nissinen had scored 32 1/3 victories. His grave is in the military section of the Valkeala parish cemetry.
Major Karhunen, the squadron leader was short on competent officers. He called Major Luukkanen, the commander of Squadron 34, and asked for Lt. Kossi Karhila as replacement for Nissinen. Luukkanen agreed, and one of his top aces was transferred to Squadron 24.
(Indebted for this story to authors Jorma Karhunen, Heimo Lampi)
Note: please check another Karhunen's story: "Lapra" Nissinen and hunting for Col.Lt. Bogatchev.
2000.01.13, © WW II Ace Stories.