Swedish Air Wing F 19 in Finland -

The Air Missions

Introduction

The Swedish Volunteer Air Wing in Finland or F 19 Finland was a Swedish volunteer flying unit forming an air wing in 1940 in Finland during the Winter War. To help Finland, the Swedish Air Staff began preparations to raise a volunteer flying unit with a fighter aircraft squadron and a bomber squadron to be used in North Finland with the Swedish Volunteer Corps. The Commander of the Volunteer Air Force Wing was Major Hugo Beckhammar. There were about 240 enlisted volunteers (airmen and ground crew) who at the end of December went to Kemi in North Finland to prepare an airbase in Veitsiluoto. On 30 December, the government ruled that combat aircraft were to be put to the disposal of the volunteer air wing; four bombers B 4 Hawker Hart, and twelve fighter aircraft J 8 Gloster Gladiator. More information about the Swedish aircraft. On 7 January 1940 the Wing’s main airbase in Veitsiluoto, south of Kemi, Finland, was ready and operational and on 10 January the aircraft arrived from Sweden with Swedish crews. Two days later, on 12 March the F 19 Air Wing carried out their first mission in Finland when they attacked Soviet troops and an airbase at Märkäjärvi relieving hard-pressed Finnish units. To achieve a better range of aerial operations, five advanced airbases were organized, foremost on frozen lakes. More information about F 19 and the Swedish Volunteer Corps in Finland during the Winter War 1939 - 1940.

F 19:s Air Missions

From 10 January 1940 and up to the armistice on 13 March, the F 19 Wing answered for the air defense of North Finland (Finnish Lapland), a territory corresponding to a quarter of Sweden’s total territorial area. However, the air defense was concentrated on the so-called Salla front near the Soviet border where the Finnish ground units were hard-pressed. The main mission of the F 19 Air Wing was reconnaissance and air strikes at Russian airbases and ground troops. A further task was to answerer for the air defense of the cities Uleåborg, Kemi, and Torneå with fighter aircraft. The F 19 Wing single-handedly answered for the air defense of North Finland since all the Finnish aircraft were used for the defense of South Finland. Up until 10 January, when the Swedish Air Wing arrived, the Russian air power dominated the air space over North Finland. When the cease-fire came into effect on 13 March 1940, the F 19 Wing had been in operational service for 62 days (of which 60 were flight days and on average were eight aircraft operational each day (67%)). The F 19 Wing destroyed twelve Russian aircraft (of which 8 in aerial combat and 4 on the ground). The Air Wing lost six of their aircraft; three fighters and three bombers, and three pilots were killed. However, only two aircraft were lost in aerial combats.

The F 19 Airstrikes

No less than 35 Soviet air raids were prevented by the F 19 Air Wing’s fighters. According to Finnish military statistics, presented by Swedish Lieutenant Greger Falk, the Swedish fighter pilots scored eight aerial victories and destroyed four aircraft on the ground. Besides, they damaged an uncertain number of Soviet aircraft which hasn’t been confirmed. The only Swedish fighter pilot killed in aerial combat during the Winter War was Lieutenant John Sjöqvist. Also, a Swedish Hart bomber was damaged by Soviet fighters but the piloted managed to make a forced landing. The pilot and the air gunner survived and were able to get back to the Swedish lines uninjured. Below are a few airstrikes and missions from the flying units war logbook:

Swedish Pilots with the F 19 Air

Wing Killed During the Winter War

1940

• Lieutenant Anders Robert Zachau, born on 31 August 1906 in Forshälla, Uddevalla, died on 12 January 1940 in Märkäjärvi, Finland. Zachau was a forester and a Lieutenant in the reserve with the Bohuslän Regiment I 17 but had been serving with the F 3 Air Force detachment in Fårösund, Gotland, as a reconnaissance officer. Zachau signed up as a volunteer with the F 19 Air Wing at the outbreak of the Winter War. Before an air raid on 12 January, Lt Zachau requested to participate and was assigned to Lt Per Sterner’s Hart bomber as an air gunner. This Hart bomber collided midair during the airstrike on the Russian airbase in Märkäjärvi with another Swedish Hart bomber. Both aircraft crashed and Lt Zachau was killed. His mortal remains weren’t found until September 1942 and were then brought to Sweden. He was buried on 19 March 1943 at Uddevalla North Cemetery. He was married on 22 September 1934. Lt Zachau’s name is listed on the memorial tablet in the chapel at Karlberg War Academy and on the memorial at The Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping. The image shows Lieutenant Anders Zachau. • Second Lieutenant John Magnus Sjöqvist, born on 14 March 1918 in Karlshamn, Blekinge. During an airstrike on 23 January 1940 against the Russian positions in Märkäjärvi, he was wounded in aerial combat and his Gladiator aircraft crashed in which he died. Mid-March 1940, after the war, Sjöqvists mortal remains were found and brought to Sweden for burial. He was buried at the Stockholm North Cemetery on 12 June 1940. A Soviet report describes Sjöqvist’s last combat: ”A group of I-15bis fighters from the 145. IAP Flying Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Konkin shot down an enemy aircraft at 13:00 over Mjatijärvi. The aircraft – a biplane fighter – caught fire mid-air and came crashing to the ground 3 - 4 kilometers south of Mjatijärvi, the pilot was killed.” Source: Finnish aviation historian Carl- Fredrik Geust. 2Lt Sjöqvist’s name is listed on the memorial at The Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping. The image shows fighter pilot Second Lieutenant John Sjöqvist. v: Flygvapenmuseum, ID: FVMF.004263. • Lieutenant Sten Åke Hildinger, born on 6 June 1914 in Hammarö, Värmland. Hildinger was an Air Force Engineer. His Gladiator crashed on 10 March 1940 about 8 km south of the Veitsiluoto airbase during a routine test flight of a repaired aircraft in which he was killed. The engine of the Gladiator aircraft had been replaced and was now being tested. He took off from the airbase at 14:10 and during the test flight, he made a nose-dive. The aircraft was then torn to pieces at an altitude of 1,000 m. Hildinger was hit by debris and lost consciousness. The aircraft crashed and Hildinger died instantly. Lt Hildinger was buried at the Stockholm North Cemetery on 19 March 1940. Lt Hildinger’s name is listed on the memorial at The Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping. The image shows Air Force Engineer Lieutenant Åke Hildinger. Image: Flygvapenmuseum, ID: FVMF.004274.

The F 19 Aerial Victories in Finland

Officially the F 19 Air Wing scored eight aerial victories during the Winter War. There were more shooting downs than that, however unconfirmed. The Finnish aviation historian Carl-Fredrik Geust has been able to clarify that 2Lt Per-Johan Salwén scored three aerial victories. In the second place, with two aerial victories came 2Lt Einar Tehler. Other pilots with one aerial victory each were Second Lieutenants: Ian Iacobi, Gideon Karlsson, and Roland Martin. These eight victories were accordingly confirmed. For some reason wasn’t Steninger’s and Frykholm’s shooting down of an SB-2 bomber near Rovaniemi on 21 February among the confirmed victories.

The First Air Strike on 12 January 1940

The Swedish aircraft arrived at the Veitsiluoto airbase in Finland on 10 January. The aircraft belonged to and were crewed by the Swedish Air Force. The Finnish army units at the Märkäjärvi front sector held their positions despite repeatedly intense Russian attacks but were under hard pressure and requested an airstrike at the Russian’s positions in Märkäjärvi as soon as the Swedish Air Wing was operational. The village of Märkäjärvi was located between Rovaniemi and Salla, close to the Russian border. The date of the airstrike was set to 12 January, two days after the F 19 Wing’s arrival in Finland. 11 January was used to prepare the aircraft for the mission. The plan was to take off at 09:00 on 12 January with two squadrons consisting of 4 fighters and two bombers in each squadron. The airstrike at Märkäjärvi was planned to be carried out from two directions, one squadron from each direction. The crews of the 8 fighters and 4 bombers were selected on 11 January. However, during the briefing early morning on 12 January, a change was made regarding the crews. Lieutenant Anders Zachau, an air force reconnaissance officer, had requested to participate in the airstrike, which had been granted. He took the place as the air gunner in Lieutenant Per Sterner’s Hart bomber instead of air gunner Roland Sahlberg. Further, The Commander of the F 19 Air Wing, Major Hugo Beckhammar, was personally going to lead the airstrike and he replaced the air gunner Tord-Erik Thorstensson Medalen in Second Lieutenant Åke Mörne’s Hart bomber. The aerial strike force consisted of: • Fighter group 1, 4 Gladiators crewed by pilots Ian Iacobi, Carl-Olof Steninger, Martin Wennerström, and Hans-Olof Palme. • Fighter group 2, 4 Gladiators crewed by pilots Åke Söderberg, John Sjöqvist, Arne Frykholm, and Åke Nellelbladt-Hollsten. • The bombers, 4 Hart bombers crewed by Åke Mörne/Hugo Beckhammar, Arne Jung/Matti Sundsten, Per Sterner/Anders Zachau, and Gunnar Färnström/Thure Hansson. • Left at the airbase in Veitsiluoto for the air defense of the base were fighter pilots Roland Martin and Gideon Karlsson with their Gladiators. The bomber crews above; the pilot’s name first then the air gunner’s name. The strike force’s departure from Veitsiluoto in the morning of 12 January was unfortunately delayed for two hours due to bad weather. During the flight to the Märkäjärvi front sector, the aerial force made a stopover at the advanced war base Oskar to refuel. At that moment there came an air defense alarm about approaching Russian bombers. The 4 aircraft in Fighter group 2 was then already refueled and they took off immediately to face the approaching bombers. The now reduced force continued towards Märkäjärvi to relieve the Finnish units. The airstrike force now consisted of 4 bombers and 4 fighters, Once over Märkäjärvi front sector, the force first attacked a formation of vehicles, thereafter the Russian base in Märkäjärvi. The air raid was very successful despite twilight. Quarters and vehicles were set on fire and three aircraft on the ground were destroyed. The aerial photo shows the Russian base in Märkäjärvi after the first airstrike on 12 January. The photo was taken by Thure Hansson, air gunner in pilot Färnström’s Hart B 4 blue Z. Image: Flygvapenmuseum, ID: FVMF.003908. The markings on the photo and explanations: Hans Högman. Not only the bombers but also the Swedish fighters were armed with bombs. The fighters were able to carry four 12 kg bombs under the wings which they dropped over Märkäjärvi; thereafter they used their machine guns at suitable targets on the ground. Despite the bombing of the Russian aircraft on the ground, two managed to get airborne. Second Lieutenant Ian Iacobi spotted, from his Gladiator, a Russian Polikarpov I-15bis (I-152) behind his wingman Second Lieutenant Carl-Olof Steninger’s Gladiator. Iacobi quickly managed to maneuver his aircraft behind the Russian fighter and were able to shoot him down. This was F 19:s first aerial victory during the Winter War. However, the Swedes also lost aircraft; Three Hawker Hart B 4 bombers were lost. Two Swedish Hart B 4 collided in midair while trying to avoid Russian anti-aircraft firing. The third Hart was shot down by three Russian Polikarpov I-15bis fighters during the flight back to the airbase. The Swedish pilot Gunnar Färnström managed to make a forced landing and both Färnström and his air gunner Thure Hansson survived. The two were then able to ski back to the Swedish lines where they arrived the following day after spending the night in a forest cabin (the Swedish aircraft always carried one or two sets of skis fastened on the exterior of the fuselage). Two Swedish bombers collided midair: During the airstrike on the Russian positions in Märkäjärvi on 12 January, two Swedish Hawker Hart B 4 bombers collided midair; one airman died while three survived. The Hawker Hart was a two- seater light bomber aircraft with a crew of two, who sat in individual tandem cockpits; pilot and air gunner. The two Hart aircraft were turning to escape enemy anti-aircraft firing and during the evasive maneuver, the two aircraft ran into each other. One Hart ran into the other from underneath at which the engine of the upper Hart was torn off. One of the Hart’s were crewed by pilot Arne Jung and air gunner Matti Sundsten. The other Hart was crewed by pilot Per Sterner and air gunner Anders Zachau. Jung had just dropped his twelve kg high-explosive bombs on a formation of vehicles when he collided with Sterner. The images show, from left: Swedish bomber pilots, Lieutenant Per Sterner, and Second Lieutenant Arne Jung. On the photos they are wearing the Swedish Air Force uniform m/1930. Both pilots, Second Lieutenant Arne Jung and Lieutenant Per Sterner, managed to bail out (behind enemy lines) and were able to find each other in deep snow and darkness a few hours later. Arne Jung’s air gunner, Sergeant First Class Matti Sundsten got stuck in his seat and wasn’t able to bail out and fell with the aircraft to the ground. However, for some miraculous reason he survived; the aircraft leveled off before hitting the ground which reduced the airspeed. The aircraft also hit two spruce trees which reduced the speed further. Sundsten then fell through the floor of the fuselage and landed in the deep soft snow more or less unharmed. This was far behind enemy lines, but on skies in deep snow in the very cold weather with temperatures down to -40 C (-40 F) he managed to reach friendly lines. The aircraft always carried skis and supplies which saved his life. When he after four days reached the Finnish lines he was spotted by a squad and nearly got shot. However, the Swedish airmen had been tough a few sentences in Finnish in case of such situations. One such phrase in Finnish was ”Älä ammu, olen vapaaehtoinen ruotsalainen lentäjä” which means “Don’t shoot, I’m a Swedish volunteer aviator”. This phrase saved his life. The Finnish squad took Sundsten on skies to a Finnish headquarter 20 km away, from where he was taken to a hospital in Rovaniemi. Besides frostbites, he was without any serious injuries and was soon back in service. The air gunner in Sterner’s Hart bomber, Lieutenant Anders Zachau, wasn’t, like Sundsten, able to bail out. However, unlike Sundsten, he didn’t survive the crash and was killed. His mortal remains weren’t found until 1942 and were then brought to Sweden for burial. The two pilots Sterner and Jung didn’t manage to get back to friendly lines. After three days outdoors in the arctic cold weather with deep snow, they were captured by a Russian squad. They had then not eaten for three days and were exhausted. The Russians brought them to a headquarter where they were interrogated and maltreated. Sterner was beaten with rifle butts, Jung was put in front of an execution squad, submitted to fake executions. The interrogations were very tough and included both torture and brainwashing executed by NKVD during the four months of imprisonment as POWs. The NKVD was the Soviet Security Service and Intelligence Agency between 1934 and 1946. On 10 May 1940, both Jung and Sterner were part of an exchange of POWs on the Soviet-Finnish border near Vyborg. To save their lives under the Soviet imprisonment they had been forced to sign an agreement to become Soviet spies when they got back to Sweden. However, both Sterner and Jung informed the Finnish and Swedish Military Intelligence Services. Once in Sweden, they were persuaded by the Swedish Military Intelligence to become double- agents. Information that Sterner thereafter obtained from Soviet sources led to the Swedish capture of the Soviet spy Sidorenko. After the airstrike on the Russian positions in Märkäjärvi on 12 January when three Hart bombers were lost, only one Hart bomber remained in operational service. It was now decided to only use the remaining Hart for nocturnal air raids. One reason was the low maximum speed of the Hart aircraft which made the Hart an easy target for Soviet fighters. On 16 February the F 19 Air Wing received yet another Hawker Hart from Sweden. Thereby a total of five Hawker Hart had been transferred to Finland.

14 January 1940 - Luleå, Sweden, being

bombed by the Russians

At the F 19:s airbase in Veitsiluoto just south of Kemi, the air defense alarm device was sounded at 12:35 on 14 January. Soviet bombers were approaching the area from the east. At the time it was bad weather with snowfall and fog in the vicinity of Kemi. A pair of Swedish Gladiators were on stand-by but couldn’t take off due to the bad weather. However, in the snowstorm, the Soviet bombers continued westward across the Gulf of Bothnia towards the Swedish City of Luleå. Three of the Soviet bombers flew in over Luleå. The Swedish anti-aircraft guns in Luleå opened fire. Disturbed by the firing the Soviet bombers dropped their bombs over Kallax Island outside Luleå. There were material damages but no people were killed or injured. The Soviet bombers might have failed in their navigation and ended up in Sweden by mistake in the bad weather, but the air route chosen indicates that the target must have been a new Swedish Air Force airbase under construction in Kallax. During the Soviet bombers’ return flight they got into trouble due to fuel shortage and had to make a forced landing in Finland. The crews was taken as prisoners of war and the aircraft were ceded by the Finns. The map shows the northern parts of Sweden and Finland. Luleå and Pajala in Sweden and Kemi in Finland are marked with red circles. Further, the places Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi, and Salla are underlined. On 17 January, a pair of Swedish Gladiators were perusing armed reconnaissance in the air, taking off from the advanced airbase Oskar. They then caught sight of four Soviet fighters, I-15bis. The two Swedish Gladiators, which were crewed by pilot Per-Johan Salwén and pilot Roland Martin, intercepted the Russian fighters and opened fire. Two of the Russian I-15bis fighters were shot down. One of the Russian fighters managed to make a forced landing on the ice of Lake Märkäjärvi with his front of the aircraft completely damaged. The second Russian fighter made a forced landing with his damaged aircraft about 14 km west of Kuolajärvi. The F 19 Wing had now achieved three aerial victories. During the night of 23 January, the F 19 Air Wing carried out their first nocturnal air raid with the Hart bomber. The pilot was 2Lt Åke Mörne with the Chief of Staff Captain Björn Bjuggren in the air gunner’s seat. The Hart took off at 23:30. The temperature at the airbase was then -40 C (-40 F), however, at the altitude of 2,000 m (6,000 ft.) it was only -6 C (21 F). The target was the Soviet airbase in Kairala. The attack was executed at 01:00 with several dive bombings. On the return flight, the Hart made a stopover at the Nora base. It was then -45 C (-49 F) at the airfield.

A Swedish Gladiator shot down on 23

January

At 10:00 on 23 January four Gladiator fighters took off from the Veitsiluoto airbase to carry out an armed reconnaissance mission over the Salla front and to relieve Finnish units at the front. The Swedish group of fighters was crewed by pilots Ian Iacobi, Arne Frykholm, John Sjöqvist, and Einar Tehler. They made a stopover at the Svea airbase in Poiso and took off again at 12:05 heading towards the front. At 13:10, they faced a Russian flying unit consisting of three I-15bis and one I-16 from the Soviet 145 IAP Flying Regiment. The encounter soon developed into aerial combat at low altitude. During the aerial combat, the aircraft came in over an area held by Russian ground troops, and the Swedish aircraft were now also fired at by the ground troops. One Russian I-15bis soon had to deviate due to damages caused by the Swedish aircraft’s firing. However, later set out Russian reports have shown that all three I-15bis aircraft were damaged in the aerial combat. During the intensive aerial combat, 2Lt John Sjöqvist’s Gladiator was badly hit by enemy fire, either from the Russian fighters or anti-aircraft guns on the ground, and crashed behind the Russian lines. His Gladiator exploded midair and fell burning to the ground. Lt Sjöqvist was immediately killed. His mortal remains were found Mid-March, after the end of the war, and was sent to Sweden for burial. The remaining three Gladiators returned safely back to the airbase. After the combat, it was established that the Russian fighters were equipped with armored back-rests in their cockpits as well as armored fuel tanks. The Swedish Gladiators weren’t armed with explosive ammunition. Despite the Swedes were scoring many hits at the Russian fighters, they were able to stay in the air. Their fighters simply didn’t explode due to their armored fuel tanks. During the night between 23 and 24 January, the Hart B 4 bomber was commissioned for yet another nocturnal air raid. The pilot was again 2Lt Åke Mörne but this time with fighter pilot 2Lt Martin Wennerström in the air gunner’s seat which was unexpected. The Hart took off at 23:30 but had to return to base unsuccessful due to fog and low clouds over the target area. Dive bombing during nights demanded some visibility such as moonlight. On 26 January, a detachment of the Swedish Anti- aircraft Company at the advanced Nora war airbase shot down a Russian SB-2 bomber. On 30 January, the advanced Nora airbase, located by Lake Hirvasjärvi 50 km south-east of Märkäjärvi, was too close to the enemy lines and was relocated. The new location for the airbase was further west, 5 km south-east of Kemijärvi. The base was then renamed Nora 2. On 1 February, the Soviets carried out an air raid on Rovaniemi with twenty-six SB and eight DB-3 bombers from the 5. OSAP Flying Regiment. The city was raided in two waves. Three Gladiators from F 19, crewed by pilots Per-Johan Salwén, Carl-Olof Steninger, and Hans Olof Palme were on alert midair. The Swedish fighters took off from the Oskar airbase at 10:30. The three Gladiators weren’t able to prevent the bombings of Rovaniemi but they attacked the Russian bombers and the aerial combat lasted between 11:15 – 11:35. Per-Johan Salwén shot down a Russian SB bomber (s/n 15/59) which had to make a forced landing 78 km north of Rovaniemi. The aircraft had 200 bullet holes made by the 4 machine guns in Salwén’s Gladiator. A Captain and a Major of the Russian crew died. The pilot tried to escape after landing but was shot by Finnish army units. After the aerial combat, yet another Russian SB bomber had to make a forced landing about 75 km north of Rovaniemi. On 2 February, four Gladiators were on alert at the Oskar airbase since yet another bomb raid over Rovaniemi was expected. They were crewed by pilots Åke Söderberg, Martin Wennström, Gideon Karlsson, and Hans-Olof Palme. The air defense alarm was sounded at 11:15 and the fighters took off. The Russian aerial force only consisted of six SB bombers this time and they immediately turned back when they caught sight of the Swedish fighters and dropped their cargo of bombs over a forested area. The Russian bombers took the same action several times when they faced the Swedish fighters, i.e. turned unsuccessfully back home. The Russian bombers were rarely escorted by Russian fighters. On 2 February, Sergeant First Class Erik Arvid Hylén made several test shootings at armored shields taken from Russian aircraft that earlier been shot down. The I-15bis had 7.5 mm shields and the I-16 9 mm shields. The test shootings were made from a distance of 40 m (120 ft.). Firing with 6.5 mm rifle cartridges and 8 mm standard ammunition didn’t penetrate the I-15bis shield. However, with 8 mm explosive ammunition both shields were penetrated. The tests showed that the Russian aircraft were well protected against the ammunition used by the Gladiators and explained why the Gladiators’ firing had a limited effect on the armored Russian aircraft. At night on 5 February, the Hart B 4 was commissioned for yet another nocturnal air raid. This timed crewed by the pilot 2Lt Åke Mörne and the air gunner Thord-Erik Thorstensson Medalen. However, due to the low height of clouds and poor visibility, the air raid on Kuolajärvi had to be aborted. However, near Salla church pilot Mörne saw flames from several bivouac campfires that the Russians lit to keep warm in the cold weather. Mörne, therefore dropped, from an altitude of 1,200 m, two 50 kg bombs over the place. Mörne dropped further bombs over a bivouac campfire west of Sallajoki. The Hart was then fired at from anti-aircraft guns which were silenced when the bombs hit the target. On 6 February, the anti-aircraft troop at the Nora 2 airbase in Posio shot down a Russian I-16 fighter. On 16 February, yet another Hawker Hart B 4 arrived from Sweden to the F 19 Air Wing in Finland as a complement to the only remaining Hart bomber with F 19. The Hart had been fetched from the F 4 Air Wing in Östersund by pilot 2Lt Gunnar Färnström and air gunner Matti Sundsten. On 18 February, the two Hart bombers were commissioned to make a nocturnal air raid on the Soviet airbase in Kairala where the Russians had a major air-fuel depot. The weather was fine and the temperature was -20 C (-4 F). The Russian air-fuel depot was the main target and its exact location had been established by Finnish squads. The first Hart was crewed by pilot Åke Mörne with Roland Sahlberg in the air gunner’s seat. The second Hart was crewed by pilot Gunnar Färnström with Thure Hansson in the air gunner’s seat. The two Hart bombers took off at 20:30 from the Nora 2 airbase. During the flight, the two bombers lost contact with each other and only Mörne/Sahlberg reached the target area. At 21:30, Mörne commenced the airstrike, dive bombing the target, and scored a direct hit on the air-fuel depot. Further, a Russian I- 15bis fighter was destroyed on the ground. The air raid was very successful. The second Hart, crewed by Gunnar Färnström / Thure Hansson failed in their navigation and never reached the target zone. At 22:20, after the air raid, Mörne landed his Hart at the Nora 2 airbase.

The following day, 19 February, the Russians executed a counterattack on the Nora 2 airbase with three I-15bis fighters. The anti-aircraft troop opened fire with their Bofors anti-aircraft guns and shot down one of the Russian fighters. In total, the Anti- aircraft Company shot down 6 Russian aircraft during the Winter War. Later on the same day, the two Swedish Hart bombers made another nocturnal air raid with the same crews as last time. The target was the Soviet headquarters west of Kuolajärvi. The two Hart aircraft took off from the Nora 2 base and the airstrike was executed at 23:00 with a successful result. After the airstrike the two Hart returned to the Nora 2 airbase for refueling and rearmament. Thereafter they made a second airstrike on the same target at 01:45. During the second airstrike, there was only sparse firing from the ground. On 20 February at 08:40, the air defense in Uleåborg sounded an air-raid warning. Fighter pilots Per-Johan Salwén and Gideon Karlsson took off with their Gladiators from the Ulrik airbase. A Soviet force of bombers from Uhtua was approaching the area. Per-Johan Salwén opened fire at one of the bombers, an SB, at an altitude of 2,500 m over Vaala. The Russian bomber dropped in altitude hit by the Gladiator's firing but managed to glide fly the aircraft (plané) towards the Russian lines. One Russian air gunner was killed or wounded and another member of the crew bailed out, who later was captured by Finnish ground troops. Salwén also attacked another SB bomber which was damaged and at which the rear gunner was mortally wounded and later died in hospital. Gladiator pilot Gideon Karlsson was also involved in the shooting down of this SB bomber. In the afternoon of the same day, Gideon Karlsson crashlanded his Gladiator at the Ulrik airbase. He hadn’t observed a change of the direction of the wind. The aircraft was completely wrecked when it tipped over forward during the violent landing. However, Karlsson survived without any injuries. The engine could be salvaged and was later installed in another Gladiator.

Pajala, Sweden, bombed on 21 February by

the Russians

On 21 February, two Gladiators took off from the Oskar airbase to pursue surveillance in the airspace above Rovaniemi. The two Gladiator fighters were crewed by Carl-Olof Steninger and Arne Frykholm. At noon, the two pilots spotted a Russian force of bombers consisting of three SB-2 and seven DB-3 from 5 OSAP. One SB was shot down by Carl-Olof Steninger and Arne Frykholm together (s/n 5/95). Carl-Olof Steninger also damaged a DB-3. White fumes of leaking air-fuel were seen behind the aircraft. The image shows the shot down Soviet DB-3 bomber, now loaded onto the back of a truck. The Soviet airmen (wearing dark flying suits) were taken prisoners of war after the forced landing. Photo: Karl Johan Åke Sundström. Image: Flygvapenmuseum, ID: FVMF.004098. DigitaltMuseum. Carl-Olof Steninger and Arne Frykholm also shot down an DB-3 (red 11 s/n 391695 from 5 OSAP) which made a forced landing in Sikakoski, 18 km north-west of Vuotso by the Petsamo road. The three members of the crew tried to escape on skis but were soon captured by Finnish ground troops. The air gunner was shot dead when he tried to get away. This particular bomber was one of 7 Russian bombers that earlier that day had been dropping bombs over Pajala, Sweden. At first, the Soviet Union denied that they had dropped bombs over Pajala. “A malicious fabrication” they called it. However, on 6 March they acknowledged that a group of Soviet bombers had got lost during an air raid in Finland. The map shows the northern parts of Sweden and Finland. Luleå and Pajala in Sweden and Kemi in Finland are marked with red circles. Further, the places Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi, and Salla are underlined. On 23 February, only seven Gladiators were fit for service. One Gladiator was destroyed in a crash landing and the engines of two Gladiators were seized. However, the engine of the crashed Gladiator was repaired and installed in one of the two Gladiators with seized engines. On 28 February, the Commander of the fighter squadron, Captain Åke Söderberg, had to return to Stockholm on a leave of absence. His wife had just given birth to a son two days earlier. The appointed new Commander of the fighter squadron was 2Lt Ian Iacobi. On 2 March, the new advanced war airbase Ulrik 2 was put in order. On 5 March, a squadron of heavy bombers B 3 (Junkers Ju 86) from the Swedish Air Force was gathered in Kiruna, northern Sweden. The bombers came from the F 1 Västmanland Air Wing in Västerås and were intended for the F 19 Air Wing in Finland. The Commander of the squadron was Lt Henrik Wrede. The squadron was waiting for permission to enter Finland. On 7 March, Einar Tehler took off with his Gladiator from the Ulrik 2 airbase in Vaala to intercept an approaching Russian force of bombers consisting of three SB. At 14:00 he caught sight of the bombers and attacked. One SB bomber was immediately damaged by Tehler’s firing and began leaking air-fuel and soon there were dark fumes. The aircraft was gliding to the ground where it crashed. Tehler then attacked another SB bomber and was able to shoot it down too. The third SB managed to getaway. However, Tehler’s Gladiator had also been hit by firing during the aerial combat and was leaking air-fuel. He managed to fly the Gladiator back to the Ulrik base. The Gladiator aircraft had the main fuel tank ahead of the cockpit. Since bullets had been penetrating the fuel tank, Tehler was showered with air-fuel during the flight back to the base. The aircraft was repaired and was back in service the following day. Tehler was officially registered for two shooting downs that day, two Tupolev SB. On 9 March, planning for the relocation of the ice airfields to land-based airfields began. It was getting warmer and the present airbases were located on frozen lakes which ices were about to melt. The main airbase in Veitsiluoto, south of Kemi was scheduled to be relocated to the Rovaniemis airfield. The advanced airbases Nora 2 and Svea was scheduled to be relocated to the Kemijärvi airfield, Ulrik airbase to the Uleåborgs airfield, and Ulrik 2 to the Pudasjärvi airfield 90 km north-east of Uleåborg.

Soviet TB-3 Bomber Shot Down on 10 March

On 10 March, 2Lt Gideon Karlsson took off with his Gladiator to pursue surveillance in the airspace above Rovaniemi. He was flying on a circular route over the city at an altitude of 2,000 m when he spotted six Russian TB-3 bombers on a westerly course. When the bombers caught sight of Karlsson’s Gladiator they turned around and flew back home. However, Karlsson was able to intercept the bombers and attacked the last of the TB-3 bombers and managed to shoot it down. The TB-3 bomber (s/n 22198) crash-landed 5 km east of Kemijärvi on Lake Murtosel at 14:30. Finnish army units arrived at the lake soon after the landing. The Russian crew went into defensive positions and defended themselves. In the following combat, five Russian airmen were killed and three were taken prisoners of war. All four engines of the TB-3 bomber were riddled with bullets from 2Lt Karlsson’s Gladiator. The TB-3 or Tupolev TB-3 was a Russian four- engined heavy strategic bomber manufactured in the 1930s. Despite obsolescence, it was in operational service with the USSR until 1943. The bomber had a crew of 8 - 10 airmen and had a maximum speed of only 196 km/h (122 mph). The TB-3 was a huge aircraft with a wingspan of 41 m (137 ft) and a length of 24 m (80 ft). Its height was 8.5 m (28 ft). The image shows the heavy Soviet TB-3 bomber shot down by Second Lieutenant Gideon over Rovaniemi. Image: Flygvapenmuseum, ID: FVMF.004034. On 10 March 1940, the F 10 Wing lost their last Gladiator during the Winter War when a Gladiator aircraft crashed just south of the airbase in Veitsiluoto during a routine check-up flight after a motor exchange. The pilot of the aircraft was Air Force Engineer Lieutenant Åke Hildinger who instantly died in the crash. The crashed Gladiator had for some time been under repair at the Veitsiluoto airbase due to a seized engine. The defective engine was now replaced with the engine from a crashed Gladiator and the aircraft was now being tested by Lt Hildinger. Hildinger took off from the airbase at 14:10 and during the test flight, he performs a nosedive. The aircraft was then torn to pieces at an altitude of 1,000 m. Hildinger was hit by debris and lost consciousness. The aircraft crashed and Hildinger died instantly. The war ended on 13 March, with an armistice at 11:00. The Swedish F 19 Volunteer Air Wing had then been in operational service since 10 January and been carrying out aerial missions for 60 days. F 19 completed 600 hours in the air on 560 aerial missions. The Finnish word Järvi: Several of the names of the Finnish places mentioned in this article ends on “järvi”, for example, Märkäjärvi. “järvi” means “lake” in English.

Remarks: The Hawker Hart was a two-seater light bomber aircraft with a crew of two, who sat in individual tandem cockpits; pilot and air gunner. In the above chart are the pilots’ names before the respective air gunner’s name.

Summary

In total, the F 19 Air Wing destroyed 12 enemy aircraft but also lost six aircraft of their own of which two were lost in aerial combats (one Gladiator J8 and one Hart B 4). Three Swedish pilots were lost. The Hart B 4 lost in an aerial was crewed by Färnström/Hansson. 2Lt Färnström managed to make a forced landing and both pilot and air gunner escaped unharmed. However, their aircraft was totally destroyed. The two Hart B 4 which collided midair during an airstrike came down 15 km north- east of Märkäjärvi behind enemy lines. These two Harts were crewed by Sterner/Zachau and Jung/Sundsten. Nine Gladiators (out of 12) and two Harts out of 5) returned to Sweden at the end of March 1940 where they reentered operational service at Swedish Air Wings. The Commander of the F 19 Air Wing, Major Hugo Beckhammar wrote in a rapport on 24 February 1940 that he was recommending medals of distinction to two of the pilots; bomber pilot 2Lt Åke Mörne and fighter pilot 2Lt Per-Olof Salwén. The rapport mentioned 2Lt Salwéns three shooting downs on 17 January (I-15bis), 1 February (SB-2), and 20 February (SB-2). Major Beckhammar concludes his judgment by “2Lt Salwén has at several occasions shown great drive, initiative, sound judgment and great skills in shooting”. Major Beckhammar concludes his judgment about 2Lt Åke Mörne with these words: “2Lt Mörne has during the air raids shown daringness, sound judgment, and great precision of aim, which is why the bomb raids under his command have been very successful.” The Commander of the Fighter Squadron, Captain Åke Söderberg, used to call 2Lt Per-Johan Salwén ”The boy with the telescope eyes” since Salwén always was the first to spot enemy aircraft midair. Finnish Field marshal Gustaf Mannerheim officially thanked the members of the Swedish Volunteer Air Wing in a ceremony held on 26 March 1940. The following Swedish airmen were awarded Finnish orders/medals of distinction: • Air Wing Commander Major Hugo Beckhammar was granted the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 3rd Class. • Chief of Staff Captain Björn Bjuggren was granted the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 4th Class. • Wing Adjutant Lieutenant Greger Falk was granted the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 4th Class. • Bomber pilot Second Lieutenant Åke Mörner was granted the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 4th Class. • Air Gunner Sergeant First Class Matti Sundsten was granted the Finnish Medal of the Cross of Liberty, 1st Class. • Air Gunner Sergeant Thure Hansson was granted the Finnish Medal of the Cross of Liberty, 1st Class. • Fighter pilot Second Lieutenant Per-Johan Salwén was granted the Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 4th Class, at a later occasion.

The Aircrew with the Swedish F19

Volunteer Air Wing

About 20 to 25 pilots and air gunners served with the Swedish F 19 Air Wing in Finland in 1940 during the Winter War. More information about these airmen at Airmen with the F 19 Wing.

Related Links

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