The enemy provided a rude awakening on the 13th of August. About at 05:00 a.m. I-16 fighters launched a strafing raid on the base. Thanks to AA there was no damage to the fighter aircraft. All airworthy Fiats scrambled to punish the insolent enemy.
Lt. Olli Puhakka had a technical problem in his "FA-1". The mechanics worked hard to fix it, and Puhakka took off alone some 15 min later, without any test flight after repairs.
He was already in enemy territory flying at 3000 m as five "Ishaks" attacked him. He dodged and to his horror found that the G force pulled out the undercarriage of his "FA". He managed to pull them back in, but the wheels kept coming out, the locking system was out of order.
Finnish pilot kept flying with his undercarriage out, pursued by five I-16, doing the most imaginative manouvers: fast horizontal rolls, spins, inverted flying. The Fiat G.50 had a tendency to do fast uncontrolled horizontal roll if the laminar flow was separated from the wingtips by a too tight pull of the stick combined with the application of rudder, and Puhakka kept doing this, allowing his machine spin quite freely, descending all the time.
Enemy pilots saw his problem and four of the I-16 left, leaving just one to finish off the apparently defenseless fighter flown by inept pilot.
Puhakka was flying at the lowest possible altitude over the Carelian forest and watched the approaching I-16. He did not want to give up yet. He found that due to the drag of the extended undercarriage his Fiat fighter could fly and manouvre at a very slow speed. Olli looked over his shoulder, estimating when the enemy was within range and would open fire. At that moment he pulled his machine in a tight curve. The enemy pilot fired, but missed, not being able to follow the "FA-1". The I-16 pulled up and prepared for another firing pass.
The same was repeated several times. Puhakka was able to dodge the bullets of the I-16 every time, but he could not disengage, and no help was to be expected. The "Ishak" pilot must have been even more frustrated. The enemy changed his tactics: now he decided to get his certain victory by flying at slow speed, thus being able to curve more tightly and having more time to sight accurately.
Lt. Puhakka saw the I-16 approach again, at slow speed this time. He pulled his plane into a curve as the enemy pilot opened fire, missing again. Puhakka tightened the curve, to prevent his adversary from getting proper deflection. The two fighters were now trying to out-curve each other at the height of treetops. Then the Fiat spontaneously spun upside down, but the pilot stopped it and controlledly returned to normal position. In his hunger for victory, or absorbed by the opponent's aerobatics the I-16 pilot allowed the airspeed of his fighter decrease too much: the Soviet fighter stalled!
It was with relief that Finnish pilot saw the enemy fighter crash the trees and explode on the ground... Another victory to his credit, no.7, this time without a single shot, though not an easy one.
Puhakka returned to the base. His fighter was properly repaired and he flew another mission that day, shooting down one more I-16 and one SB-2.
