How The Top Finnish Biplane Ace Fought the Russians (Winter War 1939/40) 

Ilmari Juutilainen......94 air victories, the biggest non-german ace in history, and most amaizing thing, with Dutch, USA and german planes.......worth a video!!!

I am a dane, and I have a danich friend. His mother had two brothers. They were both pilots. When the Russians attaked Finland they both voluntied to defend Finland. They were both killed over Finland skys during the winter war. Now his mother is 96 years old - I often think of her with sadness - losing both her brothers in 1939/40 against the russians.

Finnish winter war stories are some of the most interesting. Thank you.

Never fails to amaze me how this flyweight air force packed a heavyweight punch.

The Fins really had a multinational Air Force. I knew they flew the Bruster Buffalo and the BF 109 but I didn't know about the Fokker, Gladiator or the Fiat G50. The Fins turned out to be a hard pill to swallow for the Soviets. Great Video, Thanks :)

Nice video. When Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union in 1939, Sweden sent a force (F19, i.e. 19th Wing) consisting of volenteers and 12 Gloster Gladiators fighters but also 5 Hawker Hart bombers. After 62 days when the war ended, they had shot down 12 Soviet planes and lost one themselves in combat and 5 because of other reasons.

Finn here, nice video! Also in case some didn't know, Finnish air force used the "swastika" in their logo before nazis used it, and at winter war Finland had nothing to do with Germany just yet.

I did not know these stories about this aerial war. Good discover !!!

Interesting topic, I always learn something watching your videos. Awesome work.

Russia still taking land in this day and age. I love the biplanes . This was a really cool video to watch!

Great video again! And it has some Christmas mood with those lots of snowy pinetrees on the ground. ☺🎄

Nice Christmas present. Merry Christmas to all.

Nice presentation regarding the Finnish-Russo War. Happy Holidays to you and your family as well as your viewers 🎄🎊🎉. ♠️🎩🎱🎯🇺🇲🏁🇺🇦🔱🌻🏵️🌸🌼🏴‍☠️🏹

Beautiful.. please do a video like this for the Buffalo pilots as well!!!

Amazing images!!!

The Russians fought the Fins in an effort to overthrow the government and established one more friendly to Russia The same is happening today 2022 in the Ukraine and when they overthrow that government their intention is to move once more into Finland and Sweden Both countries which are not as yet a part of NATO

January 6th made lieutenant Jorma Sarvanto world rekord shooting down 6 soviet bombers in 4 minutes with Fokker XXI.

Fascinating aircraft.

Sretan bozić🎁🍾

The pilot is firing to far away from the bomber. He should get in closer to the bomber in the game. It's better hits at 250 meters or less. Also the pilot is flying in 2 dementions. I saw no dive's into the bombers from above nor attacking from below.

Jako kvalitetan video pozz iz BiH

Not only that. They downed Russian bombers with Bristol Bulldogs.

How come the Finnish plane had a swastika on it?

❣️

08:25 looks like British also fight the battle 🤔

Finland didn't use a swastika roundel on their planes this early in the war did they? At least not until the Continuation War..

If you call bombs as leaflets then ok if thats your standard education. But don't mess those leaflets if you found one. Please.

Let's not forget we would all be under the boot of Nazism without the sacrifice of the Soviet people.

war thunder- the game from ruZZians devs, who support war against Ukraine. Think about this, when next time will play in it.

yeah, you forgot to call brave Finish pilots "bandits"? That's what Russians would had called them.

You want a Story, i'll tell you. Mr.Tuominen took of on 2nd June 1943 to chase Soviet bombers after they had raided Kotka Harbour. As red bombers had already reached sea, he had closed on the formation, but being new to BF109, he was flying like always - an older fighter - never fire your guns until you see the eyes of rear gunner. But his 20mm cannon fire blew up Soviet PE-2, debrie hitting and damaging Tuominen's 109. Realising he would not make it back to airfield, not even coast, he noticed a small island below him. Someri, in the hands of Finnish forces. He dove, firing his guns over the island, alerting finnish soldiers. Men saw him bellyland his 109 close to island, but still far away, so they rowed a boat to pick him up. Took him to sauna and gave him Brandy. Finnish navy boat fetched him next day. He was given a new 109, and continued flying successfully. Crashed 109 was lifted up, but salty sea water had done too much damage to the plane, it was written off. Stories first part as told by him in several aviation books, later part as told by my grandfather manning AA-gun (40mm bofors) on the Someri island.

Note that there where no yellow "eastern front" markings on Finnish fighters during Winter war. Germany was Russian ally during that time.

It needs to be remembered that at the time the Gladiator was deployed as a frontline fighter in Finland (Winter War) a large part of the Soviet fighter force, especially those deployed against Finland, still consisted of the I-153. Both represented the pinnacle of the biplane fighter and thus were fairly equally matched. The Gladiator also was not so much worse than the main Soviet fighter, the I-16, that it wouldn't stand any chance against it, especially if the I-16 pilot could be fooled into a turning dogfight. (The difference was more like Hurricane vs. Bf-109) So this is not completely a case of an obsolete fighter facing modern opposition. Probably the biggest fault with the Gladiator at the time was that, in theory at least, it was pretty much useless as an interceptor as it simply could not catch or keep up with the new Soviet bombers - and even this was somewhat mitigated by the poor tactics and doctrine employed by the Red Air Force. What's more the Gladiator wasn't even the oldest biplane fighter operated by Finland, they also had the Bristol Bulldog which was a 1920's aircraft already retired by Britain long ago, and which could only theoretically catch the SB-2, momentarily, by being just at the right position to dive after it from above, and which it's own pilots considered a "suicide aircraft". And even that type managed to score a couple of aerial victories agains the Soviets. Also one thing that many people do not realize is that in WW2, biplane aircraft were still used A LOT, especially in the early years 1939-41. The Soviets, British, Italians, Japanese all still had operational squadrons of biplane fighters at the beginning of the war, the Germans, French and Americans had or were only just getting rid of the last of theirs, and EVERYBODY used biplanes for other purposes all the way until 1945 and beyond. Hell, they were still used as spotter aircraft in Korea. The reason why this is not immediately obvious from wartime newsreels and pictures, war films etc. is that they were already considered a bit old-fashioned compared to the sleek-looking modern fighters and bombers, so people were shy to show them in their propaganda if better alternatives could be found.

Finnish Air Force also had Gloster Gauntlets, one of which still flies and is the only flyable Gauntlet in the world. I've seen it a couple of times, magnificent plane. The callsign of the plane is GT-400 or OH-XGT and it is owned by Lentotekniikan Kilta (Aviation Engineering Guild.) The planes has a peculiar history, it's actually made from two Gauntlets, which were found in a farm barn in the 1970's.

Once again Showtime112, A+. I truly enjoy the work you put into these and it's great to listen/watch videos of often obscure or forgotten combat missions.

How about one on the US fighters in Finnish service (Curtis Hawk, Brewster Buffalo, Curtis Warhawk)?

Soviets still trying to force their will on their neighbors

At 44 kills, he's the FIFTH most successful Finnish ace?!? Wow, the Russians must have lost a lot of planes!

Thank you for another great,entertaining history lesson.History might really be repeating with the deployment of the Antonov biplanes over Ukraine,strange times we live in. Best wishes for you and yours in the coming year,stay safe. 👍🙃

This theater of operations was were junk became gold. The Brewster buffalo, ms 406, p-36, g.50, and dxxi fokker all earned quite the name in this war.

Gotta say, your pronunciation of Finnish names is pretty good

3 Gloster Gladiators (named 'Faith' 'Hope' & 'Charity') also formed the core of Malta's air defence 🇲🇹

I am a Finn and didn't know our air force used British made Gloster Gladiator biplanes before watching this video. It is interesting this biplane seems to have been quite successful also in other theaters of war even though biplanes were quite old technology by then. Thank you, very well made video! 👍

Would like to hear more about Finnish Aces

GREAT video and thanks for bringing this historical event of aviation history. Keep working, you are doing an EXCELLENT JOB.

Adding a vote for continuing a series on the Finnish planes of the Winter War and Continuation War. I think the Finns had a language advantage: no one was able to effectively communicate to them how bad the planes they were flying actually were. Everyone that puts the Brewster Buffalo in their top ten worst fighters of the war(s) videos has to rationalize the success the Finns had with it in the earlier years. Voting for the Buffalo next, although the Fiat G.50 is also a contender. I think you mentioned that our hero also flew this plane, which might make a good follow up to this video if the plane has a flyable model in the game.

Thank you for this very detailed video. Oiva Tuominen is my great grandfather or as we called him "Oippa vaari". There is lots of stories about him, but this one is not that well known in public. I shared the video with other family members too and it's greatly appreciated.

In Facebooks early days (2009) I had a friend from Finland named Henri. (Who I randomly met Lol) We talked about Samurai games and life and also about how the Winter War was important to the Finnish people and culture and I shared with him my mixed American culture. A true friend. If all is going as he said he should be a nurse now. Lost touch with him over the years and forgot about him until now. Great video and appreciate the remembrance of a good friend 😊

During the Winter War Finnish Gloster Gladiators wore the British RAF camouflage for biplanes, which is quite complicated, Dark Green, Dark Earth, Light Green, Light Earth, and the lower surfaces White, Black and Aluminium.

I read a book many years ago about the Finns at this period but cannot remember the title. I recall that the Gladiator had a lot more power from its engine than was generally needed and could zoom and outmanoeuvre many more modern aircraft, as was done by Faith, Hope and Charity fighting over Malta later as well. I also recall that the Finns also added skis to aircraft at this time as well as operating wheeled aircraft from ice covered lakes and forward hidden airfields or bush strips. I am not sure but i think it featured their top aces one of whose rank was a sort of warrant officer, maestr or mestru something like that. It inspired me to learn to fly. I am not certain but i think the chap who was featured here actually re aligned his guns as he had such expertise from being a mechanic. I recall there were two -303 machine guns in the nose and one on each wing.

Finns shot down more bombers than which they got scores. Small caliber guns wasn`t enough got engine fire in any time, but enough to get cooling fluid out and bombers didn`t got back to base. After war Estonians was told that they saw many forced landings to Gulf of Finlad`s ice.

Russians bite off more than they can chew... some things never change.

I hope you also do some air combats of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, someday?

An excellent narration, and some of the best graphics yet. The Hungarians flew the Italian CR.42 biplane on the Eastern Front and claimed 24 kills against Soviet I-16 fighters, in summer 1941. Amazing what the old technology was capable of, in the modern setting.

Those FAF guys were absolute badasses, doing everything they could with what they had, which unfortunately wasn't much. IIRC Finland had something like 100 airplanes at the start of the Winter War vs. the thousands of Soviet fighters and bombers.

It doesn't matter how advanced your technology is It depends how effectively you use it

One interesting story from winter war is Jorma Sarvanto, and his 25min solo flight (wingman had trouble with motor) where he shot down 6 (from formation of 7) bombers during a 4min combat. Ran out of ammo so another pair of finns chased down the last one. Haven't seen this covered in english, although there seems to be some reenactment of it. edit: skimmed through the reenactment and its mostly just the guys having fun and at start telling some small tidbits of information, which atleast somewhat differs from what was written by Sarvanto in his memoir.

If it wasn't so sad it would be funny how history repeats itself.

This was a Wonderful Video! Can you do vids of the Continuation War? There was a "Finish-version" of the Bf-109, starting with an "M", I think. The Finish Air Force adopted the Swastika in 1922, --a year before the National Socialists also adopted a black Swastika. The "Blue Swastika" seemed seemed to bring the Finns "Good Luck." The Finns had some Ju-88s. Were they ever used against the Murmansk Port? Was the Czech-Avia flown by the Finns? I hear the Finns flew some Fiat Cr-42 "Falco" Biplanes as did the Swedes. Those were open cockpit, --not having the canopies that came with the Gloster or Avia. Italy's "Falco" was the most-produced Italian fighter, but they were out-classed in the Med by '42. Italy had a DB-601 adapted to a Falco airframe, that was reportedly the "fastest" biplane fighter, reaching speeds slightly above 300mph in level flight.

Y'know, this is IMPRESSIVE! If you want, you could look into something similar on the other side of the world at a slightly later time period. Namely, the Boeing P-26 "Peashooter", which was somewhat analogous to the Polikarpov I-16. The Peashooter was flown by Filipino fighter pilots against the A6M Zero! ENJOY!

From the start pretty much the same excuse the modern day Soviets used to invade Ukraine

I always wanted to do something like this in war thunder but a series about pilots of the spanish civil war but i never got to doing it. I even made a list of the doable ones

biplanes have unmatched turning capability but slow speeds, if you capitalize on this like the Finn's did you can knock out the enemy in the first turn. If they kept an eye on the sky above to not get dove on, they could hold their own.

Question..... What did the finn air force named the gladiator? Was gladiator there name or a different finn name of the gladiator?

Quite surprised you are using War Thunder now! Combined with your A+ quality videos, its amazing!

Strange during the Finnish RUSSIAN WAR, the Soviet invade Poland with German, yet British and French declared war against German.

Ah- stubborn is not unusual for a Finn. (Like my grandmother.)

Most of the heroes of the Winter and Continuation War have passed on now but I remember going to Finnish Independence day remembrance ceremonies years ago ago. Any participants of the war were announced and they would proudly stand up wearing all their medals and would be applauded by people who realized these men were gods.

You don't hear too much about Finnish air force action, especially with the Gladiators

What has occurred in Russia since the end of the Communism? I'm just a spectator..I really don't see any difference between the old regime and the present regime 😎.... The Finns are very tough people...

Great stuff to get close up visuals on the Gloster Gladiator. Hope Faith and Charity spring to mind.

Utmost courage & balls of stainless steel goung up against the more modern fighters in a Gladiator. Much respect for all who flew that aircraft. Thanks for posting this fabulous story

Great bit of history! Thanks and keep'em coming ✌️❤️🇫🇮

Cualquier parecido con la actual invasión rusa en Ucrania es "pura coincidencia". Feliz Navidad!!!

Once more thanks for the great video. There is a sole flying Gloster Gountlet, the predecessor of the Gladiator flying here in Finland. Nice footage available in the RU-vid. Check it out.

Very good history using war thunder. Please do the seafire vs zero the last dogfight of ww2

Aeronave incrível! 🌟

And you are really doing these videos with war thunder but you Make good videos

I have never seen Winter War air warfare depicted like this, only read about it. Great work, thanks!

Russia has always sucked at war. And everything.

They fought the Soviets, not the Russians. And though the USSR was a tool for Russia to dominate and be powerful, it is an important distinction. Stalin did not like to let units fight in their own region, so a lot of the Red Army units in Finland were... Ukrainians, used to the open farmlands and relatively short and mild winter of Ukraine. Now these guys were sent into the frozen and roadless forests of Finland, which did not help their efforts. Yea, Russia being Russian; against Napoleon, The Great War, WW2 and today.

I am half Swede/ Finn , this is awesome

Sounds somewhat familiar in todays world in Eastern Europe.

Belli sti video, mi piacciono tanto! Sono chiari ed esaustivi. 👍🍀🤩

Gladiators were propably some of the better FAF planes during Winter War. However, they were still using planes that can be considered much inferior, like Bristol Bulldogs which managed to achieve 6 air victories during the war. Pilots of those must have had nerves made of steel.

Nice video, but skin in Gladiator is from 1941 :))

No Russians alive in 2029. Everybody killed, the majority of them eaten alive. Imagine that. It would be truly heartbreaking. I hope it will never happen to that great nation.

Thanks for the hard work making these videos.

Military channel dogfights missed these encounters!🙄 Jman

"Finish Aggression" Huh... that sounds recent! Victory Finlandia!

Winterwar time did not was yellow stripes on finnish planes...

Crazy accuracy with Gloster Gladiator.

Сбить на этом самолёте И-16 - это невероятно: Глостер проигрывал "ишаку" по всем параметрам и, особенно в скорости и скороподьемности.

Another good job Have a merry Christmas 👌

Nice job that Lautamaki bloke did. The Glads were a rippa little aircraft. Did a bludy good job in Malta in the had of British pilots too. Nice job m8

History repeating it self

Just found this channel and instantly subscribed.

Must have been so cold up there.

lol using war Thunder. Makes sense though, if you have no alternative in DCS. Merry Christmas!

Ukraine 2023. Russian narrative hasn’t changed…