How The Top Finnish Biplane Ace Fought the Russians (Winter War 1939/40)
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- In November 1939, the USSR invaded Finland after this country refused to give up some territory that the Soviets demanded. The aggressors deployed at least 2500 aircraft against a handful of outdated aircraft operated by the Finns. Initially, they relied on Fokker D.XXI, a Dutch fixed landing gear monoplane but as the war began, they acquired whatever type they could get their hands on. One such type was the Gloster Gladiator, a British biplane. Outdated almost as soon as it entered service, thirty examples were soon put to good use. Slow but very maneuverable, it could be very effective against Soviet fighters, many of which were biplanes too. The Winter War between Finland and the USSR would produce quite a few aces on the Finnish side and the first Gladiator ace was Oiva Tuominen. This NCO pilot first joined the Air Force as a mechanic but soon became a pilot and demonstrated that an outdated biplane could be effective against enemy fighters as well as bombers. Tuominen would continue flying against the Soviets throughout the WWII and end up as the fifth most successful Finnish ace.
Main Sources:
- Andrew Thomas - Gloster Gladiator Aces
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- Biplane fighter aces Finland - Lentomestari Oiva Emil Kalervo ‘Oippa’ Tuominen
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- Oiva "Oippa" Tuominen - from mechanic to Knight
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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 certainly want to cover the story of Finnish aces some more in the future. Obscure wars and theaters are kind of my specialty 😉
Juutilainen never lost a single plane. He didnt even get hit once.
And even more impressive, neve lost a wingman and never took even a single bullet from an enemy plane. For my money the greatest fighter pilot ever. His brother was a fascinating character also.
When there are not racist Krauts and Nips to kill, socialist pig Russians will do!
Amazingly the American planes were Brewster Buffalo's. F 3A's in navy designation.
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 :)
Thanks for commenting. It really is a 'forgotten' theater.
@@showtime112 Forgotten in some circles but not all. For example, there is a board game called Buffalo Wings that I did the art for, and it includes most (if not all) the types used by the Finns, including machines captured from the Soviets.
The Finns also flew the Curtis Hawk 75 (P-36) and the Moraine Saulnier MS-406. Both of those were sold to them by Germany after the Nazis capturing them from the French and reconditioning them. It wasn't until late in the war Finland received any Me-109Gs. Their main fighter aircraft during the Winter War was the Fokker XXI.
The record the Finns racked up, using unwanted and hand-me-down aircraft -- whatever they could get -- from all over Europe, is a testament to how brave, resourceful and skilled Finnish pilots really were.
Bristol Blenheim, Hawker Hurricane, Morane Saulnier...
@@lookythat2 It didn't help that for much of the Continuation War, the Russians didn't have decent pilot training and as such, suffered a lot at at hands of the resourceful and highly experienced Finnish AF.
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.
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.
That's a pretty good story, thanks for sharing! I hope to cover more of his exploits in the future.
Thank you for excellent videos. Mr Tuominen was an officer and a gentleman. As my grandfather said, after a bottle of brandy, he was Alright.
Thanks for this story. Oiva Tuominen is my great grandfather and I've heard lots of these stories during my lifetime about grandpa Oippa, or "Oippa vaari" as we have called him. In the story presented at the video, Oippa flew circles and he was able to make tighter circles with his Gloster Gladiator than soviets and after a while "chasing a goose" the first soviet tried to break Oippa's manouvers the way that Oiva was able to get behind the soviet. The fight continued over the gulf of Finland for a while until the second soviet made the same exact mistake. Despite freezing temperature, Oippa was soaking wet from the sweat after the flight. I've heard the story about him felling to the sea many times from his son (my grandpa, passed away also 9 years ago). They were having a special dinner when the alarm went off and his son was watching him to depart to that flight at the end of the runway. Oippa made corkscrews all the way to the clouds when he was climbing, that was his way to say hello to his son. Because alarm went off during the special dinner, he was wearing his special parade suit during the flight. When he fell to the sea, they dispatched the rowing boat from Someri island to pick him up, but he "politely thanked" and refused to climb on board, but swim to the shore. Eventually wetting his suit caused it to shrink, which was his "only personal loss" during the whole war. Anyway, it was very nice surprise to see this video, I shared it to other Oippa's family members and relatives and it's well received.
We were so short of ammunition that many Finnish pilots tried to fly so close to russians that a couple of rounds will hit the engine and drop the plane.
Another reason was that there were easily eg two or four Finns against hundred russians in the skies.
You had to save ammunition to drop as many as possible.
Ilmari Juutilainen did drop more than hundred Soviet planes.
Once Juutilainen crashed and his squadron did a memorial ritual when they received a call that Juutilainen is safe, drunk and in sauna with other soldiers and will be returned to squadron next day.
Once Juutilainen stopped and restarted engine in the middle of fight, to make motor run better. Motor shut down and diving 90 degrees down he managed to drop one russian with his cannon on way down, starting engine with the air flow.
Soviets still trying to force their will on their neighbors
Sadly, some things don't change much.
@@showtime112 Просто время дешёвых ресурсов закончилось замерзни зимой собака!!!!
Ты как там еще с бензином для своего авто?
@@Otis791 Warmer than you vatnik
@@Otis791 do you guys still even have sugar or salt? And how are the vacations with the family in finland, oh, right, papa cant leave because he is not allowed by the (dictatorship) goverment
Note that there where no yellow "eastern front" markings on Finnish fighters during Winter war. Germany was Russian ally during that time.
The skins are not 100% accurate but approximated from the available ones. Creating perfectly historical skins would require either too long time, or too much money to pay someone. Thanks for providing info.
What's wrong with the russian people?
Throughout history they seem to be hell bent on causing misery.
I wouldn't trust a russian in any way.
They're bullies, liars, back stabbers,
drunks and greedy torturers.
I can't see the point of negotiating with them because whatever is agreed is meaningless.
I don't understand why the Ukrainians would even contemplate doing so, especially considering they're winning.
Finnish winter war stories are some of the most interesting. Thank you.
Thank you for commenting!
I think so to!✌️
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.
All good points, thank you for contributing!
Fascinating to see biplane vs biplane combat in the run up to WWII- and yet, America's Frank Tinker, flying a Russian I-15 as a mercenary with Spain's Republican forces (and not paid unless kills were absolutely confirmed) downed TWO Me-109's with his biplane among his other kills, as told in his outstanding autobiography Some Still Live.)Later, he was all set to join the AVG in China when he supposedly committed suicide.
The author Roald Dahl flew a Gladiator in the RAF. He was quite a character, of course.
@@TheSoundsage I don't doubt it for a moment - the very earliest A and B variants were yet a far cry from the later Emils and Friedrichs. And even then, a better-on-paper machine can only ever be as good as the man at the controls. If an overconfident Bf-109 pilot, thinking that he was flying a 'much more modern monoplane' made the mistake of not concentrating on utilising his own advantages but rather entering a dogfight on the I-15's terms... Well, that's that.
I remember one passage from a Finnish pilot's memoirs. He was flying a somewhat more modern monoplane - I think MS.406 or maybe G.50 - and tried to engage an I-153. The Soviet pilot dived down and made evasive maneuvers 'clearly enticing me to follow... I naturally did not, as entering a turning dogfight with a Chaika on low level was tantamount to suicide.'
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.
Thanks for contributing info!
I have met the pilot and seen the plane many times. One of his funny stories was one day at an airshow... He described that the Gauntlet was (is) an extremely stiff manouvering plane and you couldn't take off in it if it had cross wind due to weak controls on slow speeds. One day he took off for a performance and later people came to congratulate him for the bold steep turn right on touching off from the field. Jyrki said he didn't tell them that the turn wasn't intentional and he almost crashed the plane due to wind shear, full opposite stick 😂
I just saw it last weekend. Didn't fly though, there was too much wind probably. The Gauntlet has a very weak aileron response at takeoff speed.
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.
Thank you so much for this feedback! Obscure is the best 😉
@@showtime112 100%!
@@erikhesjedal3569 I enjoy the way he puts the pieces together. If you don't like it, move on. And you don't impress me. As long as you comment, troll or not, you help the algorithm so please continue.
How about one on the US fighters in Finnish service (Curtis Hawk, Brewster Buffalo, Curtis Warhawk)?
I hope to cover that in the future too.
Love your vids, you do a good job. I have a few “what if” ideas if you’d like? Keep up the good work 🫡
@@ExiledPiasa I sure will. For now, I'm not considering hypothetical scenarios since there is so much real stuff. Someday, who knows?
Finnish air force had only one Warhawk, captured from the russian. It was used only for tutorial flights by FAF, not for combat flights.
@@mtlb2674 Thanks for contributing additional details.
At 44 kills, he's the FIFTH most successful Finnish ace?!? Wow, the Russians must have lost a lot of planes!
True. The leading Finnish ace Ilmari Juutilainen is actually the highest scoring non-German fighter ace of all times.
The russians actually did have a lot of planes, about 2000 vs 160 or so finns.
Gotta say, your pronunciation of Finnish names is pretty good
Thank you! I did some research but apart from that, I used to watch a lot of WRC 😁
Never fails to amaze me how this flyweight air force packed a heavyweight punch.
I agree and I want to cover this conflict a lot more.
One reason was that Finns had adopted modern fighter tactics, using their own version of the finger formation, while Soviets were still flying the rigid v-formation.
Они и не наносили это все ложь!
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. 👍🙃
Thank you for the comment, it really helps! Both morally, and for the algorithm 😁 Best wishes to you as well!
Those Antonovs were to be used as drone decoys to expose Ukrainian air defenses just like in the 2020 Nagorno-Karbakh War.
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.
True, many types were only successful here. I'd like to cover more someday.
You’d almost think that the pilot makes all the difference. Finland had (and has) a legendary pilot training program.
@@thundershirt1 that and the lower temperature was not as harsh on their cooling systems. All these fighters were famous for suffering engine failure do to overheating in the Pacific and north African fronts.
Is English your second language? Please try that first sentence again.
@@thundershirt1 True, also, the soviet airforce in the winter war era had mostly green pilots, few if any of their fighters had radio equipment.
3 Gloster Gladiators (named 'Faith' 'Hope' & 'Charity') also formed the core of Malta's air defence 🇲🇹
I hope to cover that topic someday. There were more than three of them but not all of them were in the air at once.
@Showtime112
They believe there were up to 5 altogether and some were fitted with Bristol Blenheim engines.
There is the fuselage of one in the national museum in Valletta.
@@tonythorpe396 Thanks for contributing!
Russia still taking land in this day and age. I love the biplanes . This was a really cool video to watch!
Yup, some things don't change much. I find it interesting how the biplanea still played an important role in some WWII theaters.
Don't confuse the events of 1939-40 with what is going on today in Ukraine. To totally different situations.
@@hariszark7396 Sure, huge differences. I mean, one started in late autumn and the other in late winter. That's about it 😁
@@showtime112 that means you know nothing......
Please go do some research about the reasons things are happening in Ukraine. Spoiler alert: it's not what the systemic media are selling to you and the whole world.
If you want to have an opinion you should learn more about those things from independent sources of information.
@@hariszark7396 Behind every war, there are various explanations as to the causes and motives. Irrelevant. Russians are again attacking a smaller, sovereign nation to force something upon them and they are causing death and destruction. And again, they grossly overestimated their forces and underestimated those of the smaller country. That is absolutely the same. As for your 'reasons' I couldn't care less about them. Or any excuses for the aggression. Anyone who tries that gets an immediate ban.
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.
Thanks for the comment! I was thinking about doing a video about the Swedish volunteer force as well someday.
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.
Thanks for commenting and contributing info!
Would like to hear more about Finnish Aces
Flightmaster Ilmari Juutilainen was a highest scoring non German ace of the WW II with 94 kills. His brother, Aarne Juutilainen was equally famous ex French Foreing legionare, who served as a company commander. His famous decline to retreat and hold the line became an example of the Finnish "sisu", not giving in, for anything.
There will probably be more videos in the future about this topic.
I would like to hear about the finnish night raids when they infiltrated sovjet bomb squads and followed them back to their bases and bombed the airfields. As a matter of fact that should be a real movie. One of the most fashinating stories of the whole ww2.
In my opinion, Hans Wind was the best Finnish Ace of the War
@@loveofmangos001 He was living at Hervanta, suburb I used to hang out when I was a teen, I met him many times.
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! 👍
Thanks for the feedback! I like to cover such poorly known topics.
Really? Miksi edes kommentoit asioista mistä et mitään tiedä? Mene vaikka oluelle lähi kuppilaan niin vaikutat fiksummalta.👍🏻
They where the only fighter in Norway at the time of the invasion here, and scored some kills against HE-111 and BF-110's. One german crewman said that he thanked the british plane manufacturer for not putting more guns in the Gladiators, as the norwegian pilots scored many hits (he described the sound as hail on a tin roof), and he was amazed that his plane could keep on flying.
@@FyodorUshakovSuka "Really? Why do you even comment on things you don't know anything about? Just go for a beer in the nearby diner and you'll seem smarter. 👍🏻" I commented to thank the creator of this video for making me more knowledgeable about aviation history, especially because it is about the history of my own country. I am sorry if you missed that.. 🙄Why do you even comment if you have nothing good to say? And use English next time, trying to insult me with my native language without even being a Finn is just pathetic.. 🤦♂
@@FyodorUshakovSuka There's no reason to be mean like this. Not everybody know everything and I'm pretty sure you weren't born with all the knowledge of the World.
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.
You mean, the Finns thought Buffalo was quite alright and that's why they did well with it? 😁 I am inclined to to more videos about the Finns in the near future, seeing how successful this one is. Tuominen flew G.50 after the Gladiator and it is also flyable in War Thunder (just like the Buffalo).
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 😊
Thank you for this feedback and personal experience. It's a good feeling knowing that something you created had such an effect on someone.
GREAT video and thanks for bringing this historical event of aviation history. Keep working, you are doing an EXCELLENT JOB.
Thanks, your support is much appreciated!
@@showtime112 Please Showtime 112 don't get mad if any person writes something about politics, your work is HISTORICAL 100% and not political. Just IGNORE him.
@@pablopeter3564 I usually just ban their ass 😁
@@showtime112 average chad w
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.
Thanks a lot for this feedback! I sometimes get comments from family members of the involved pilots and they are special. Interestingly, I don't think there ever was a negative one.
Hello! I was wondering if you could recommend any sources about your great grandfather's career. I'm thinking about making a sequel focusing on his time flying Fiat G.50.
@@showtime112 Sorry, I didn't notice your reply sooner, but luckily my brother did! naturally it would be amazing if you would like to continue Oippa's story. There's lots of sources, written books, letters etc. but most of them are naturally in Finnish. I did my own research as a part of the school project in early 2000 about and at that time there was quite a lot of stories in English as well, but they were mostly "a bit colored" as Oiva was known to be good story teller as well. I'll ask rest of the family members, if we could provide the best and most accurate sources to you and maybe translate relevant bits to you as well. If that would be okay to you, what is the best way to contact you?
@@matiasnurmi1793 Hello! In the meantime, I was able to find some pretty good sources and I am about to finish the video. It covers the period between the end of the Winter War and the end of 1941. Perhaps I could send you the scenario so you can see if anything doesn't fit? You can contact me on showtime112b@gmail.com
Russians bite off more than they can chew... some things never change.
So it seems.
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.
It is true that the claims and the number of aircraft really shot down always differs. And not necessarily all the difference is in overclaims. Thanks for contributing!
@@showtime112 The russians claimed so many victories that if they were true, they shot down every plane in FAF three times over the war :)
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.
Thank you for contributing info!
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.
I hope you also do some air combats of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, someday?
It is very much possible with WT and I am interested in doing it. Just not sure exactly when but the inspiration will come 😁
@@showtime112 Hard to know where to start(I had two "old friends" who fought there).
It doesn't matter how advanced your technology is
It depends how effectively you use it
Exactly
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.
Exactly, talk about fighting against the odds!
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.
Thanks for the comment! I have to admit I wasn't aware of the Hungarian kills with the CR.42 but that's not a bad idea for a future video.
Some Hurricane pilots in the Med made the mistake of turn-fighting the CR.42. RAF got that straightened out quickly enough, though.
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.
Another great story is that of the bombers who sneaked into the soviet formation and returned back with them to bomb the strategic bombing airfields, making Soviets draw back their strategic bombing fleet and reduced the amounts of bombings to Helsinki and Tallinn.
Thanks for contributing! I intend to cover some more stories of Finnish aces in the future, this might be one of them.
If it wasn't so sad it would be funny how history repeats itself.
That news report is contemporary but if you change the name of the country and cities, it might as well have been from this year.
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
There are plenty of similarities for sure.
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.
Thanks for the feedback! I certainly want to do more videos about Finnish pilots. This topic is not known well enough and I have a soft spot for stories where an outdated weapon system performs well.
. . . And you can show the reverse Hackenkreuz on RUclips and in flight sims.
The swastika is an ancient sign of a positive nature, there were even native americans who had them on their beadwork and headdress, sadly the nazi version meant the opposite
Nice presentation regarding the Finnish-Russo War. Happy Holidays to you and your family as well as your viewers 🎄🎊🎉. ♠️🎩🎱🎯🇺🇲🏁🇺🇦🔱🌻🏵️🌸🌼🏴☠️🏹
Thanks for another comment! Happy holidays to you as well!
From the start pretty much the same excuse the modern day Soviets used to invade Ukraine
The history does repeat itself
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
Unless you hurry, I might beat you to it 😁
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!
That's an excellent idea for a video, thanks!
@@showtime112 GLAD to help! Hope you have fun with it! ENJOY!
Question.....
What did the finn air force named the gladiator?
Was gladiator there name or a different finn name of the gladiator?
I haven't encountered any information about Finns giving a 'local' name to the Gladiator or any other fighter. They were acquiring so many different fighter types from various sources that naming them would have been a lot of work 😁
@@showtime112 soo.....
Gladiator finn name 'unknown'?
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.
Skillful pilot can use the advantages of his machine and hope that the enemy makes a mistake.
True. The faster monoplane should always use their ability to engage and disengage at will and not try to get into any kind of "fair fight" with the enemy - this is not a joust. It was really only these times that the biplane could be successful, or otherwise being in the right place at the right time, or some other kind of fluke.
Ah- stubborn is not unusual for a Finn. (Like my grandmother.)
I did not know these stories about this aerial war. Good discover !!!
It's extremely interesting, I hope to do more about it in the future.
@@showtime112 yes, it's because this war was irregular, in fact at the beginning the russians did not want that the Finnish had cooperation with the germans. The Finnish refused and the russians started this war and they had huge losses against the finnish resistance. Then, on 1941, the Finnish had big association with the nazi and the war continued until 1944, when the russians took advantage on their opponents. They said to the finnish to eliminate the nazi on the peace treaty !!! The finnish executed the order but it was the end of the war so they did not make great effort to realize that. And the Carelie was integrated to the Russia i mean the USSR. Strange war !!!
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.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Those men had reasons to be proud.
You don't hear too much about Finnish air force action, especially with the Gladiators
That's true and in my opinion, quite unjust.
Usually because they're over shadowed by the exploits of the Buffalo & Bf109 pilots.
There's quite a lot of info available if you look for it.
@@DannyBoy777777 Same goes for most things but some topics will just present themselves. This is not one of them.
@@showtime112 I don't agree. No subject "presents itself."
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...
Doesn't seem that different, I agree.
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
Thank you for watching and appreciating it!
Strange during the Finnish RUSSIAN WAR, the Soviet invade Poland with German, yet British and French declared war against German.
If Hitler hadn't invaded the USSR but instead continued with their alliance, those two could have divided and ruled Europe for decades. It's quite scary to think of something like that.
@@showtime112 yes, we would have seen a cold war on three front the Anglo British American empire, Nazi German and the Soviet Communist empire battling in Europe and Far Asia divided with nationalised Chinese, Communist Chinese and Japanese at each other throat too.
@@showtime112 That "alliance" was never going to last anyway. It was not something that either side honestly wanted, both just used if for breathing space - the Germans to avoid a two-front war before they were ready for it, the Soviets to re-arm & organize for an inevitable war against Germany. Also, saying that "if Hitler didn't invade USSR" is a bit meaningless because if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been the Hitler that we know, and everything in Europe would have played out very differently since 1933 at least.
Once you've learned enough of WW2 and what happened in it it's interesting to delve into the process that really led into it. I suggest that everyone who's interested in this time period study a little deeper into the political wrangling behind the scenes in the immediate pre-war years between the Entente (Britain+France), Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which ultimately led to the signing of the infamous Non-Aggression Pact which basically gave Hitler the go-ahead to invade Poland (and - tying nicely into the theme of this video - the Soviet Union in turn to invade Finland), and why Britain & France were forced to declare war on Germany only at this very last moment when they absolutely had to. It's eye-opening.
@@Stripedbottom That was just a hypothetical 'what if' with a huge benefit of hindsight. The two monstrous regimes would have benefited from mutual cooperation, but they were both lead by dictators which would have hardly made such a choice.
Not necessarily so strange:
1. The Soviets were countering the Japanese to some extent on the more eastern Eastern Front.
2. Britain and France were not that well positioned to even counter Germany at that point.
3. Never fight a land war in Asia if you can get someone else to do it for you. We in the U.S. have had a problem figuring that out. . .
Quite surprised you are using War Thunder now! Combined with your A+ quality videos, its amazing!
It's actually the second WT video but the previous video was ignored by everyone 😁 WT isn't a proper simulation but it gives so many options. It's probably harder to use than DCS though.
@@showtime112 Oh noOooOo :(
I think I might have some bias against that last statement tho, for me DCS is hell for me in terms of controls haha, mouse aim just sat well with me, even on the dedicated "Simulator" mode
@@PointlessGunSyncs I actually meant, it is harder to use for video content creation. For playing, it is superlight category compared to DCS 😁
@@showtime112 OH my bad, I agree with you on that, its a nightmare when used for anything other than gameplay videos haha
I am still getting my feet wet with WT aerial missions. The graphics of the game are truly stunning! Previously a WoT tanker but that game is getting old! Props to War Thunder!
Great stuff to get close up visuals on the Gloster Gladiator. Hope Faith and Charity spring to mind.
Thank you for the positive comment! Yes, that story is one of the best known ones from WW2. It is 'kinda' covered in another video but focusing more on the Italian perspective.
Great bit of history! Thanks and keep'em coming ✌️❤️🇫🇮
I will if you keep watching :)
@@showtime112👍
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 RUclips. Check it out.
Thanks! I didn't know about the flying Gauntlet but it would be so cool to se it. Funny how old aircraft are considered worthless when they become obsolete but when decades pass, you can't help but think 'why didn't they preserve more of them?'
@@showtime112 Indeed, how right you are!
Knowing how many rare aircraft types we have had, only a few still remain. Excluding the two Fouga Magisters airworthy, the only other warbird flying here is the venerable DC-3/ C-47.
Well worth of studying are the two excellent museums, namely the collection of military aircraft (Ilmavoimamuseo) at Tikkakoski, central Finland and the Ilmailumuseo (Aviation Museum of Finland) at Helsinki Vantaa airport. Check those out! Keep up the good work mate!
Cualquier parecido con la actual invasión rusa en Ucrania es "pura coincidencia".
Feliz Navidad!!!
I have no idea what coincidence you are talking about 😁😁😁 Merry Christmas!
@@showtime112 He's stating that the Stalin's excuses & objectives, for the invasion of Finland, in 1939, are exactly the same as Putin's excuses & objectives, for the the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
@@CZ350tuner I know, that was sarcasm 😁
Sretan bozić🎁🍾
Hvala, i tebi također 😁
I have never seen Winter War air warfare depicted like this, only read about it. Great work, thanks!
That was the point of the video. Thank you for this feedback!
Very good history using war thunder. Please do the seafire vs zero the last dogfight of ww2
Thanks! Not a bad topic idea, I'll put it on the list.
And you are really doing these videos with war thunder but you Make good videos
Well, it's not the best thing around but it is the only platform offering such huge array of airplanes.
I am half Swede/ Finn , this is awesome
Nice to hear you liked it, thanks!
Russia has always sucked at war. And everything.
One could draw such a conclusion I suppose :)
@@showtime112 Historically they have always been awful with a few exceptions. Maybe not at repression and mass murder. But pretty much everything else.
Sounds somewhat familiar in todays world in Eastern Europe.
More than just somewhat, unfortunately.
Nice Christmas present. Merry Christmas to all.
Thanks for the comment, Merry Christmas to you as well!
Belli sti video, mi piacciono tanto! Sono chiari ed esaustivi. 👍🍀🤩
Thanks, I'm happy to hear it!
Nice video, but skin in Gladiator is from 1941 :))
Somebody is a connoisseur 😁 That might be true but those were the closest ones available and I can't afford a professional skinner yet. Also the Finnish Gladiators had skies instead of wheels at the time.
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.
Aeronave incrível! 🌟
Exactly!
Military channel dogfights missed these encounters!🙄
Jman
This didn't fit the range of stories they covered. I loved that series, I even bought the whole DVD set. They focused on American pilots with some British or Israeli stories.
Сбить на этом самолёте И-16 - это невероятно: Глостер проигрывал "ишаку" по всем параметрам и, особенно в скорости и скороподьемности.
It is very likely if the I-16 pilot tries to fight a turning fight instead of 'boom and zoom'.
Ukraine 2023. Russian narrative hasn’t changed…
So it seems.
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.
"Finish Aggression" Huh... that sounds recent! Victory Finlandia!
Some things stay the same
Thanks for the hard work making these videos.
Than you for commenting and all the support you provided to the channel!
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.
Hey! Nice video bud! Also can you please tell me how can i put like a proper swastika on my plane? Because its annoying how war thunder censores every simbol like it. Also im not a nazi and i dont want it because of fascist/ racist reasons. Only because i like historic things.
Love from Hungary
Thanks! You need to install a custom skin. However, in online games you are the only one who will see it. Other players will see your default skin. You find the skins here: live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/
Then you go to 'customize' option for your plane and click on the magic wand icon in the bottom right. This will create a folder for the template. You need to extract the files that you downloaded into that folder and rewrite the existing files. There are tutorials, search for 'how to install custom skins in War Thunder'
@@showtime112 Thank you very much! You helped a lot :)
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.
January 6th made lieutenant Jorma Sarvanto world rekord shooting down 6 soviet bombers in 4 minutes with Fokker XXI.
Possibly a topic for another video.
@@showtime112 Thanks a lot. Year was 1940.
Just found this channel and instantly subscribed.
Thanks, I hope you like the rest of the content too!
Great work! However it's amusing when even here in the comments some sore ruZZian trolls try to develop discussions a la " ..but, but Finland lost in the end & blablabla...". RuZZia lost their men 10x more and got just a microscopical amount of new land compared how much they had already. Finns kept their independence and avoided similar ruZZian genocide as the Baltics faced. And what did ruZZia with Karelia? Just turned it into similar crap as all other ruZZia is outside of St.Petersburg and Moscow. So who is the loser and who is the winner in the end?!
Some very good points there.
We're NOT all Nazis like you. Some of us remember the lessons of history, but people like you prefer to stay ignorant.
@@hathawayrose2183 Russian definition of 'nazi' - anybody that their great leader doesn't like 😁
Winterwar time did not was yellow stripes on finnish planes...
True but skins are limited in availability and very complicated to make so often, the closest one available is used in these videos.
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
Thank you for commenting! I intend to cover the Gladiators over Malta story in the future as well.
Another good job
Have a merry Christmas 👌
Thanks a lot, merry Christmas to you as well!
History repeating it self
That's what it looks like.
Must have been so cold up there.
As someone who doesn't like the cold, I can only imagine how bad it must have been.
lol using war Thunder. Makes sense though, if you have no alternative in DCS. Merry Christmas!
DCS is getting more and more limited. Some arriving modules will improve the situation but WT offers so many options. Merry Christmas to you too!
Great recreation of brave pilots of that era. If possible find stories about Douglas Bader, Brittish pilot who started flying Gladiators, but lost his legs in crash. Later he returned to fly and fight.Thank you!
Thanka for the comment! Yes, Bader is a very interesting topic which can result in a great video.
@@showtime112 There is also Soviet pilot Aleksei Mariesev who lost both feet, injury and frostbite. He flew I16 in beginning of war. It was winter. He got shot, crash landed in woods injured leg. Crawled for days in woods behind enemy frontline, survived bare attack. He could eat snow, bark and some berries. He got rescued. While in hospital, he thought he could never fly again. Someone gave him an newspaper whith a story about brave Brittish pilot who flew fighter plane and fought without both legs. Douglas Bader was insperation for him. He returned to the sky and made it through WW2. That is one example that I know.Soviet movie is made and there is different article he reads about Soviet one legged pilot ( propaganda ) but in book as original he reads about Douglas Bader.
Interesting topic, I always learn something watching your videos. Awesome work.
Thank you for the feedback and for being with the channel for a long time!
Crazy accuracy with Gloster Gladiator.
I have a thing for outdated weapon systems :)
By the desription NCO Oiva Tuominen was a sniper type, so accurate in more than one way! 😁
❣️
Thanks for the comment!
The great South African ace (60+) Marmaduke "Pat " Pattle shot down many superior Italian aircraft in a Gladiator , later converting to Hurricanes with which he destroyed many Me 109's in Greece
I hope to dedicate at leas one future video to him since his story really is a great one.
@@showtime112 Much appreciated 🙏 ... my late uncle who passed away 3 years ago aged 95 flew hurricanes and Tomahawks for the SAAF in North Africa , later P51' s for 5 Squadron SAAF in Italy ..... kind regards from a South African Marine veteran
I feel like there's gonna be a few saying you shouldn't show the swastika its "bad". As many only know it because of a certain none existing variant of a country.
But bit of historical context prior to failed artist tilting it and having it point the wrong direction. It to this day still represents good luck, peace etc. That failed artist specific one though is seen as the entire opposite and I believe some Asian countries have also made it illegal to show it In that direction. Take the last part with a grain of salt(don't immediately trust what I say do your own research). As I am not fully sure.
5:40 The swastikas are not supposed to be symmetrical.
How did you get the blue hakaristi (swastika) emblem of the Finnish Airforce on your plane?
You can add custom skins. Other players don't see them if you play online battles but that doesn't matter to me.
Beautiful.. please do a video like this for the Buffalo pilots as well!!!
Thanks! I am going to do more videos on the Finns in WWII. Their use of Buffalo is worth of more attention.
An interesting story is the one of the use of FIAT G.50 by the Fins. The ones they bought could not reach Finland before February 1940, one month before the end of the winter war. They were used in the continuation war, but had problems because, when they were ordered, at the time of the winter war, Germany was allied with the Soviet Union and objected to the delivery of the planes to Finland. The planes were therefore, for political reasons, dismounted, transferred by sea to Norway, then moved to Finland, then assembled. The assembly was not done properly. As the planes were underperforming during the continuation war, Italian technicians were sent to Finland to solve the problem. After the intervention of the FIAT engineers, the plane showed all its qualities. According to Wikipedia, out of the 177 total kills registered by Finland in both wars (winter and continuation) a stunning 99 were performed by pilots on G.50 (56%), in an epoch in which the Fins were flying all sorts of machines, including Hurricanes and BF-109. Only three FIATs were lost in the period, with a kill/loss ratio of 33/1 (!).
Thanks for contributing! I agree it is very interesting and I hope to cover some of that in the future.
@@showtime112 My source was the Italian page on the F.50. I hope it's reliable.
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.50
@@uffa00001 I'll see if I can find sources that confirm it.
They arrived at an opportune time for it, towards the end of the Winter War where the Soviets were focused on Finland. Then they were used in the attacking phase of the Continuation War when the Soviets had their hands full with the Germans. Later in 1943 they were replaced with Bf109's before the Soviet major offensive of 1944. The Fiat G.50 kill/loss ratio for the Continuation War only was 44:1 (88 kills, 2 combat losses). Though, Brewsters and 109's both had pretty ridiculous ratios as well.
The British used gladiators in the Norway campaign, as well as the defense of Malta and the east African campaign.
I hope to reenact those stories too in the future.
@@showtime112 cool. I'll subscribe.
Thanks!
Thank you very much, your support for the channel is much appreciated!
I knew a lot about the air war in ww2 but I don't think I knew that biplane on biplane dogfights happened
It wasn't the only such case. I will probably cover other stories in the future.
merry christmas...........