D.XXIs to Finland 2 Finnish test flights in the Netherlands When the seven Fokkers were ready in the Netherlands, Finnish Air Force Capt. G. E. Magnusson  flew nine acceptance test flights on Fokker D.XXI FR-76 between August 27 - 31, 1937. On the right Lt Col Magnusson as the commander of LeLv 24, Squadron 24, Finland's highest scoring fighter squadron in World War II (877 victories with 29 losses). Capt. Magnusson had been for five months in the best French fighter regiment in 1933 and had flown in the "Georges Guynmer" squadron. In 1938 he had been months in the best German fighter unit "Geschwader Richthofen" and had taken part in a large Luftwaffe exercise. The Finnish Air Force was looking for an interceptor to fight against Soviet bomber formations. Capt. Magnusson thought that it was as important to check the capabilities for possible fighter-to-fighter combat so he flew a rigorous test profile for the Fokker. He noticed that it was possible to disengage the fighter fight against faster fighters by diving with the Fokker. This observation turned out to be very important in the Winter War against the faster Soviet fighters. Capt. Magnusson wasn't happy with the idea of using long range gun shooting in the Fokkers. He thought that the aircraft would succeed in close-range machine gun intercepts. Test flights with the 20 mm guns in FR-76 proved that he was right. The guns deteriorated the Fokker flying performances and their fire was inaccurate. The Dutch participants were happy with the co-operation with Capt. Magnusson. They mentioned that usually they gave a chance for the foreign test pilots to "look through their fingers", but Capt. Magnusson was the first one who didn't give up his principles. The first Finnish Fokker, FR-76 at Amsterdam in summer 1937. This is the aircraft Capt. G. Magnusson used during the test flights. Note the blue swastika, which is Swedish count Eric von Rosen's lucky sign from 1918 when he donated the first aircraft (Morane Thulin Parasol) for the Finnish Air Force. The fighters were delivered in Amsterdam October 12, 1937 and they arrived in Finland between the 4th and 13th of November. The serial numbers for the aircraft were: 5438, 5439, 5440, 5441, 5442, 5443 and 5444. In Finland they were designated FR-76 - FR-82. FR-77 and FR-78 in a container in Amsterdam waiting for shipment to Finland. According to the license Finnish Air Force ordered 14 more Fokkers from the local Aircraft Factory on the 7th of May 1937. The aircraft belonged to the so-called Series II and they were delivered between November 11, 1938 and March 18, 1939. They were designated FR-83 - FR-96. On the 15th of June 1937 Finnish Government acquired an unlimited license for the Fokker production and a 21-aircraft Series III was ordered from the local State Aircraft Factory. The fighters were delivered between March 16 and July 27, 1939 and designated FR-97 - FR-117. On May 9, 1939 Finnish Government ordered 50 Series IV Fokkers with the Twin Wasp engines because the Mercury engines were used to the Finnish Blenheim bombers. All the aircraft (except one) were delivered just before the Continuation war and they were designated FR-118 - FR-167. Mercury Fokker cockpit. Wasp Fokker cockpit on the right. (Finnish Air Force scored 129 confirmed victories against Soviet aircraft with the Fokker D.XXI fighter during the 105-day long Winter War of 1939 - 40 with an exchange ratio of 16:1) Fokker restoration Finnish Air Force had 97 Fokker D XXIs during WWII. After the war all were more or less destroyed. Some Fokker parts were found from a junkyard in central Finland 1975. The parts were later identified to be parts of FR-110 fuselage. In 1979 parts of Danish volunteer Fritz Rasmussen's FR-81 were found by divers from lake Saimaa. They were lifted and transported to Central Finland Aviation Museum. At the same time huge amount of original aircraft plans were found in the Karelian Wing. Among the papers were Fokker D XXI wing structure plans. The fully restored Fokker D XXI at Utti AB, 1989. FR-110 is now in the Central Finland Aviation Museum. The museum is located at Tikkakoski, 20 km north of the city of Jyvaskyla along highway 4. Now the Museum had the fuselage, stabilators, wing plans and a lot of the internal equipment. A new wing was built in 1982. In November 1984 Karelian Wing started the restoration process. Some parts had to be remanufactured. In 1986 Satakunta Wing divers found another D XXI (FR-137) from a lake and it was lifted to serve the FR-110 restoration. The work was finalized by November 1989 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the day when the Winter War started. The restoration effort took some 10.000 man hours. Information combined and translated from: Finnish Air Force History 3: Fokker D.XXI, Keskinen, Stenman, Niska, Tietoteos 1974 Fokker D.XXI Suomen Sinessä, Karjalan Lennoston Kilta ry, Itäviestintä 1989 Fokker D.XXI Talvisodassa, O. Anttonen, Suomen Siivet 2/1969 Home Latest Topic | Air Warfare | Conferences/Air Shows | Fighter Tactics | Fighter Aircraft | Missiles | Fighter Aviation Topic | Fighter History | Warbirds | Magazines | Current News | Links | Physiology | Photo Gallery | Bibliography | SIIVET - Wings | What's New J Lindberg. Copyright © 1997-2006 Fighter Tactics Academy. All rights reserved. Revised: tammikuu 01, 2006.