From: Jyri-Pekka J{rvinen <jyrtsi@vipunen.hut.fi>
Subject: Re: Worst allied fighter in WW2
Keywords: Brewsters in FAF 
Organization: Syndicate Inc. tng - Assistants of Aeronautical Engineering
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 17:17:25 GMT


From Jyri-Pekka J{rvinen <jyrtsi@vipunen.hut.fi>

In article <BzH4v6.AMp@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> bakc@giraffe.ru.ac.za (MR KR COMAN) writes:
>
>From MR KR COMAN <bakc@giraffe.ru.ac.za>
>
>	Point taken regarding the Finns use of the B.B., and their 
>outstanding performance with this a/c -- full credit given.  As a qualifier,
> I've also posted elsewhere that the Red AF during the Winter War left a lot 
>to be desired in terms of equipment, command and control, motivation and 
>morale.
>
> [Brewster being]
>nothing but a death sentence to its pilots should it be assigned to front-
>line squadron service in Europe.
>

Fair and well-deserved praise has been given to our fighter pilots in
some (thanks to the posters :) ) of the articles dealing with this
"the worst fighter" subject.

But it seems that many people underestimate the opponent our Brewster
pilots were facing or have some misunderstandings of the FAF at war.
This may be due to the fact that our *three* separate wars in 1939-44
are not too well known outside Finland.

For example, FAF did *not* use Brewsters in the Winter War.
The first four planes were flown to Finland on 1.3.-40.
Before the end of the Winter War two more planes arrived,
but none of these saw any action in the Winter War.

True, some Soviet plane types were old - but there were so large
numbers of them. 

To clear up any possible misunderstandings and offer some all-round
education, here is a list of all the planes that the Finnish aces (i.e.
the list is not complete) shot down using Brewsters:

67.5  I-153's
60.5  I-16's

48    Hurricanes  (of which 7 by Lauri Pekuri, 6 by Eino Peltola,
		   5.5 by Lauri Nissinen and 5 by Eero Kinnunen
                   - 23.5/48 by only four men) 
41    LaGG-3's
40    MiG-3's
27.5  Yak-1's
24    SB-2bis's
18.5  Pe-2's
13    LaGG-5's
13    Spitfires
10    La-5's
9     Il-2's
7.5   DB-3's
7.5   R-5's
6.5   I-15bis's
5     DB-3F's
5     MiG-1's
4     ARK-3's
4     Tomahawks
3     AR-2's
2     Yak-7's
2     He-111's
1     Ju-87
1     Li-2
1     SB-3
=====
421.5 kills by "the worst fighter of WWII"   (from Ref.1)

I wonder what would have happened if our aces had encountered at least
some modern fighters instead of those obsolete pieces of junk like
Hurricanes and Spitfires...  :-) :-) :-)

Ref.2 gives gives the total of 472 kills with Brewsters. 83 FAF
pilots gave their contribution to this number.

It was our luck that the Soviet pilots were not too skilled.

But what can you do with a plane that may be considered inferior to
those of the enemy?   

If we concentrate on the non-Soviet enemy planes, the FAF pilots proved
that the following predator-prey combinations were possible:

Predator:		Prey:
---------               -----
Fokker			Hurricane
Fiat			Hurricane, Spitfire
Morane			Airacobra, Hurricane, Tomahawk
Brewster	 	Hurricane, Spitfire, Tomahawk

One popular belief is that the Brewsters were totally useless after 1941
or so.
That is not true: our pilots scored kills with them during our whole
Continuation War 1941-44. 
They had to: we had so few Me-109's.

Tha last aerial victory by a Brewster at the Karelian Isthmus was scored 
on 17.6.-44 and after that one of our pilots managed to shoot down a Ju-87
on 3.10.-44 in the Lapland War against the Germans. 

Two FAF units used Brewsters: Lentolaivue 24 and
Havittajalentolaivue 26.

Lentolaivue 24  (Flight squadron 24)
==============

Between 25.6.-41 and 31.12.-41 LeLv 24 scored 135 kills with
BW's with the cost of two BW's and two pilots.
On 13.2.-42 5 Hurricanes were shot down and 8 more on 30.3. by
the 2nd Flight. One week later they surprised a large Soviet
formation and scored 11 Hurricanes and 1 DB-3.
On 14.8. 3rd Flight met 6 Hurricanes and got them all. Later
during the day 4th Flight shot down three more.
Two days later 3rd Flight destroyed 11 I-16's.
On 18.8. 60 Soviet fighters fought against 16 BW's. One BW was
lost and 16 Soviets downed.
In April -43 Pe-2's, LaG-5's, Spitfire V's and Tomahawks arrived
to the front.
On 21.4.-43 two BW's were lost for 4 LaGG-3's, 4 LaG-5's and 11
Yak-1's in a battle between 16 BW's and 35 Soviets.
Then La-5's and Yak-9's arrived.
Despite of the high number of air combats against them, our BW's
managed to shoot down only 4 of them.

Between 25.6.-41 and 21.5.-44 LeLv 24 scored 456 victories with
BW's.
21 BW's were lost: 15 in combat, 4 in accidents and 2 in air
raids.
FAF pilot losses: 12 KIA, 2 POW.

Havittajalentolaivue 26  (Fighter squadron 26)
=======================

LeLv 24 gave its BW's to HaLLv 26 when they changed into Me-109's
in -44.
Between May -44 and 4.9.-44 HaLLv 26 scored 17 victories against
superior Soviet fighters.
7 BW's were lost: 4 in combat and 3 in air raids.
Pilot losses: 2 KIA.

The Lapland War
===============

In Lapland our BW-pilots learned the power of German AA-fire.
4 BW's were shot down by German AA and 2 more were lost in
accidents.
FAF successes: 2 Ju-87's shot down and one Ju-88 damaged (later crashed).

About individual BW's
=====================

*41* aerial victories were achieved with BW-393, 7 of them by
Capt Luukkanen and 26 by Lt Wind.
36 aerial victories achieved with BW-364, 28 of them by Eino
Juutilainen. 
Capt Karhunen scored 7 kills in 4 days with BW-388.
BW-373 flew its last flight on 30.6.-48 after 955 hours 45
minutes of flight time.
The last BW-flight in FAF was performed by BW-377 and BW-382 on
14.9.-48.

 
1. Keskinen - Stenman - Niska: Havittaja-assat/Finnish Fighter Aces. Suomen
   Ilmavoimien historia 11. Tietoteos 1978, Espoo.
2. Keskinen - Stenman - Niska: Brewster B-239 ja Humu. Suomen
   Ilmavoimien historia 1. Tietoteos 1977, Espoo.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+ Jyri-Pekka Jarvinen                * "Computers can be controlled.   +
+ Helsinki University of Technology  *  You just disconnect them.   "  +
+ Aeronautical Engineering           *     - A Kyle Reesism            +
+ 02150 Espoo Finland                * "...but I'm an intellectual and +
+ jyrtsi@vipunen.hut.fi              *  I know that science fiction is +
+ jjarvine@finhut.hut.fi             *  art."  - Eppu Normaali         +
+--------------------------------------------------------------------- +






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