Fighter Squadron 21 history, Page 9

9. Pori Air Base 1945 - 1980

The return to peace 1945 -1952

The order concerning the Air Force peace time basing and organization was given on the 25th of November 1944. The squadron numbering was changed. The former Reconnaissance Squadron 12 became Fighter Squadron 11 (FSqn.11) and Reconnaissance Squadron 16 became Fighter Squadron 13 (FSqn.13). Reconnaissance Squadron 14 and Fighter Squadron 32 were decommissioned and FSqn.32 was amalgamated into FSqn.13. The squadrons, which had move to Pori already in mid-October 1944, formed the peace time Flight Regiment 1 (Fl.R 1).

Because of continuing changes and shortages in personnel and aircraft both squadrons were united into one in January 1949. The aircraft, flying and maintenance personnel of Fighter Squadron 13 were ordered to move to Fighter Squadron 11. The maintenance chief and a maintenance group were left to Fighter Squadron 13 to keep up the maintenance of the stored aircraft. When the aircraft and officer situation eased up exceptionally in autumn 1949 the personnel could be divided into two squadrons again, which both acted as one training unit to carry on the flight training. The training squadron organization was kept till early 1953.

The first stage of the Pori base was finalized in late autumn 1939. The second stage building started when the Winter War broke. After the Winter War Pori became a military airfield when the defence forces took command of the airfield based on wartime laws. During 1941 - 1943 the Germans built 261 buildings in the base. Pori was a busy wartime depot base for the Germans during wartime. At times there was over 100 aircraft in the base. In July 1944 most of the German operations were moved to Nivavaara at Rovaniemi. The Germans mined the base and in the evening of the 15th of September 1944 the mines started to explode. The field with the runway were hit worst. The base was operational again in autumn 1945.

MT airborne in the Pori area. The last "Mersu" flight at Pori was flown by chief master sergeant L. Aaltonen in a FSqn.13 MT-506 on the 12th of June 1953. The rudder of the aircraft is at Fighter Squadron 21 Air Combat Center. Seppo Uolamo on the right giving the MT-506 rudder to Fighter Squadron 21 at Pirkkala in May 1998 in front of an F-18 Hornet.

Flight Regiment 1 used after the war mainly VL Myrsky, Curtiss Hawk 75 A and Messerschmitt Me-109G aircraft. Until the end of spring 1947 the VL Myrsky (Storm) was the most important aircraft; the squadron had 36 aircraft. After the war the aircraft were stored in the hangars at Pori because the Allied Commission ordered the Air Force to cease flight operations on the 19th of September 1944 and this lasted until August 1945 (almost a year). There were a lot of aircraft for the amount of personnel because in addition to the Myrskys the regiment had 14 Curtiss Hawk aircraft. The first Curtisses were received from the decommissioned FSqn.32. The aircraft were divided between the squadrons so that the second flight from both squadrons operated Curtisses. In 1946 the war weary Curtisses were stored.

The wing tip stall character of the Myrsky during landings proved to be a problem. Operations with the Myrsky were brief because of the weak structure. Finally flight operations with the Myrskys were prohibited on the 9th of May 1947 when Capt. K. Ikonen from FSqn.13 crashed when MY-28 broke in a 850 km/h dive. Earlier on the same day also FSqn.11 had flown the last flight with Myrskys. During the whole operations time the Myrskys achieved only 3500 hrs (about 70 hrs/aircraft).

Flight Regiment 1 received the first two Messerschmitt Me-109 G-2 (MT) aircraft on the 19th of June 1946. When the last CU aircraft were retired at the end of August 1948 and when flight operations with the Me-109 G-2 version were prohibited on the 15th of September was the sole Me-109 G-6 the whole war inventory of the regiment.

The aircraft situation got better as late as June 1949, when Pori received 18 MT aircraft of which ten were permanently transferred to Pori. The commanders of Flight Regiment 1 and 4 suggested in late 1949 that flight ops with the MT aircraft should be prohibited, but this could not happen because then the Air Force would have been left without warplanes.

As a result of crashes the number of warplanes decreased in the regiment. During autumn 1951 there were times, when the squadron didn't have a single flyable MT aircraft. The last MTs were flown till June 1953, when all the flyable in the Air Force were transferred to Utti for their final flights.

Winter 1953: CUs in the snow and the Messerschmitts being warmed. Lower right Air Force HQ Beechcraft liaison aircraft.

The operations at Flight Regiment 1 can be divided into three periods based on how many aircraft the regiment had. The first period is from August 1945 to May 1947, when there was no shortage of aircraft. There was almost nonexistent aircraft inventory from June 1947 to summer 1949, when the Me-109s arrived. The third period is from summer 1949 to receiving the Vampire aircraft in the early 1953. During the third period the flight operations were quiet because the Messerschmitts were in very poor condition. Because of their sorry condition the flight ops with the Messerschmitts weren't too active.

Training squadron briefing 1951 (47282 bytes)

The training squadron being briefed in 1951. Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters behind.

The focus in flight training during the post-war years was in the air combat training (whenever possible) and in the poor weather training. Also Me-109 conversion training was given in the regiment for the young pilots that were transferred to the unit. MT conversion training was started in summer 1946, when the first G-2 versions arrived at Pori. In the first phase the conversion training was given to six pilots that were considered to be the best. The poor condition of the aircraft hurt the training.

The 1 v 1 air combat training was started immediately after MY and CU conversion was done. A thorough air-to-air gunnery program was performed parallel to the air combat training. When flight operations with the Myrskys were prohibited in May 1947 the training had progressed to successful four-ship combats. When the regiment was left with 5 - 7 CUs and four MT G-2 aircraft the former were used for air-to-ground and air-to-air gunnery and the latter for conversion training. When the aircraft situation go even worse during autumn 1948 there was no real flight training - more like sustaining the current skill level.

MT-483 flipped over (22887 bytes)

The MTs had a lot of takeoff and landing incidents. During takeoff the Messerschmitt tended to yaw because of the propeller torque. MT-483 flown by ensign E. Marttinen flipped over during takeoff on the 23rd of Feb 1953.

Air combat training was restarted during autumn 1949 when the regiment received Me-109 aircraft. After a long break in the section air combat training was started with a five hour refresher and conversion training to make sure that the pilots could handle the aircraft. The air combat training followed immediately. Participation in a large navy exercise and the poor autumn weather resulted in not finishing the air combat training syllabus. In spite of this the vice regiment commander Maj. Jorma Karhunen estimated that as fighter pilots 50% of the regiment's pilots were good, 35% satisfactory and 15% below average.

When the aircraft situation worsened air combat training could not be as thorough. Only 1 v 1 air combat training and air-to-ground gunnery could be practiced. At the end of 1951 the 1 v 1 training was performed as gun camera practice based on the orders from the Air Force HQ. The main objectives were achieving the right attack position, timing the attack, shooting distance, lead and timing the break turn. The poor aircraft situation forced a break in the air-to-air gunnery training and they were restarted in the early 1950's.

MT-463 landing incident (18091 bytes)

The flap actuator chain of MT-463 flown by master sergeant L. Sarkasuo broke and resulted in an overshoot. Capt. Tauno Tuormaa and ensign Olavi Halminen looking at the aircraft.

There were many fatal accidents during the post-war years; during 1945 - 1952 21 accidents. The most common reasons were human mistakes (12 incidents) - including in few cases breaking the SOP rules - and technical faults (6 incidents).

There were four fatal accidents in Flight Regiment 1 during 1945 - 1952. The main reason in one incident was the destruction of the aircraft while airborne, one weather related, on human mistake and one human mistake combined with a mechanical failure. It is worth noting that there were no fatal accidents with the Messerschmitt fighters in the regiment even though there were many takeoff and landing accidents. This is a tribute to the experienced wartime pilots and technical personnel and their professionalism and also maybe good luck, considering the poor general condition of the aircraft.

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