Fighter Squadron 21 history, Page 2b

2. Kasinhäntä 1925 - 1939, Page 2

After long delays the State Aircraft Factory finalized in the beginning of 1934 the 19 license-built Ripons. In addition six Junkers K.43f maritime liaison aircraft were purchased from Germany in 1930. Because the Lake Ladoga (Laatokka) are of Karelia was seen secondary in defence plans no new planes were transferred to Sortavala and the unit had to continue with the Hansas.

Kotka (Eagle) (20218 bytes)

Domestic Kotka (Eagle) was seen as "good enough for the secondary front", meaning the Lake Ladoga area, even though the performance didn't meet the hopes. Technical information: two-seat, wooden sea plane, later land plane. As a sea plane wingspan 12,7 m, length 10,25 m, weight 2380 kg, Max speed 225 km/h, endurance 4 hours.

The first prototype of VL E.30 Kotka (Eagle) was produced in September 1930. Finnish Air Force tested the aircraft in November and already on the 30th of December 1930 the air force ordered five Kotkas more. Kotka was a biplane for maritime reconnaissance and bomber missions. The development of the aircraft was continued till 1933 but the results didn't meet the hopes. The aircraft was considered as "good enough for the secondary front". First Kotka KA-147 was received at Kasinhäntä in March 1932. The Kotkas formed the basis of the Kasinhäntä combat aircraft inventory till 1938 but the unit had only six aircraft when the required number was 12 aircraft and three spares. The main reason for the shortage was the Finnish Air Force's doctrinal change from sea plane air force into a land-based air force. This resulted in re-equipping the new land-based squadrons first and only after that the maritime air stations.

Kasinhäntä received in October 1936 two Tuisku (Blizzard) trainers for instrument training. The other Tuisku (TU-160) was transferred to Air Station 4 already within a month and the remaining one was badly damaged in an accident in February 1937. The unit received a new Tuisku as late as June 1937. By the end of the year the unit had three Tuiskus. The aircraft was the most modern one at Kasinhäntä during the late 1930's concerning the structure and the flying qualities.

At the end of the 1930's the Kasinhäntä aircraft inventory was out of date. Even though the Finnish Air Force converted during the 1930's from sea planes mainly to land-based aircraft and bases there were plans to keep the Sortavala air station. Kasinhäntä received the long awaited replenishment when Air Station 6 moved from the Viipuri Tervaniemi and received new Bristol Blenheims. As a result Kasinhäntä received their four Junkers K.43 maritime liaison aircraft. More aircraft arrived in June 1938 when Sqn. 34 transferred seven Blackburn Ripons from Turkinsaari to Kasinhäntä.

During autumn 1939 there was no shortage of aircraft even though the inventory was way out of date. During mid-1930's a decision was made to get modern aircraft to Kasinhäntä in the end of the decade. In 1939 Finnish Air Force headquarters got a permission to acquire twin-engined Fokker T.VIII-W liaison aircraft and the license from the Dutch Fokker company which was the Finnish Air Force's "royal supplier" to re-equip Sortavala and Santahamina air stations. Two aircraft were ordered from the Netherlands and 22 were to be built by the domestic State Aircraft Factory (Valtion Lentokonetehdas). The aircraft should have been in operational use by 1940 - 1941 but the world war prevented Finland from getting them ever.

Major Stenbäck flew with composer-professor Armas Järnefelt in a Sääski (Mosquito) during summer 1933. Notice the squadron 1930's insignia: The left side of the Karelian coat of arms on a triangle.

Flight operations from Kasinhäntä air station

During the latter part of the 1920's flight operations stabilized at Kasinhäntä. Flight hours climbed steadily. Most of the flights were training flights. There wasn't a lot of tactical training because a lot of the pilots were inexperienced and needed advanced flying training and sea plane conversion training.

The Finnish Air Force flight operations during the late 1920's suffered from a lack of vision and goal. Flying was a means to itself without a real understanding of how to use air power in a real war.

On the whole during the early 1930's the Finnish Air Force wasn't capable of accomplishing the wartime missions planned for the service.

The tactical development of the Finnish Air Force was focused more during the 1930's. Training syllabi were developed, the training was supervised and tactical exercises were more advanced. As a result of the depression during the 1930's the problem was the tight budged which forced to limit the flight hours when training requirements soared. Monthly flight hours were sparse for the flight crew. In addition to flight hour limits the low number of available aircraft and their poor combat condition affected the combat training at Kasinhäntä squadron.

Finnish Air Force had given advance air combat and bombing training to its pilots and navigators already from the mid-1920's. The squadron commander assessed in 1935 that Air Station 3 flight crew were proficient in shooting and bombing so that they could perform the wartime missions. Only the younger pilots and navigators didn't meet the criteria yet. The acceptance of new aircraft during the late 1930's resulted in a break in combat training when new syllabi were developed.

A British specialist committee had stressed in their study the importance of joint exercises in developing the air force. During the 1920's there wasn't much co-operation between the air force, army and navy which was mainly a result of the reluctance of the air force to participate in the exercises. In the 1930's the joint exercises still went adequately at most. There were shortcomings in the planning and execution of the exercises. One problem was that the exercise leadership was unaware of the air force operating capabilities. Common results were continuing communication problems between the army and the air force pilots.

Hansa startup (27885 bytes)

Hansa startup for engine test. During startup the propeller was turned only "once behind the compression". This lessened the fear of getting hit by the propeller during startup. There was often a fire in the carburetor during startup. The fire was usually suppressed by the maintainer putting his hat over the intake. Notice the squadron eagle insignia on the fuselage.

There were several fatal accidents during the first two decades of the Finnish Air Force history. Especially the Hansa received a "flying coffin" reputation because between 1923 - 1930 there were 20 fatal accidents with 42 persons lost. It has to be remembered that the air force flew more with the Hansas than all other types combined.

Transfer from Vakkolahti to Kasinhäntä and the reception of the new aircraft meant strong growth in the operations and also stabilization. Even though the squadron was a maritime squadron co-operation with the army in the Lake Ladoga area of Karelia was already one of its missions. Flight operations grew year by year during the late 1920's. The global depression during the early 1930's halted the growth of flight hours. On the other hand when the available flying hours were diminished the flight operations changed in the mid-1930's also at Kasinhäntä from basic flying training to more war time mission training.

Because the mission of the squadron at Kasinhäntä was to operate at a secondary front it affected the resources that were allocated to the air station. There were too few aircraft and their quality was the poorest in the air force and there were too few officers till the end of the 1930's. This didn't mean that training and operations would have been any worse at Kasinhäntä than any other air station in the Finnish Air Force. On the contrary - for example during training inspections and flying competitions the air station faired always very well.

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