Aerial warfare in the Winter War
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The aerial warfare in the Winter War was the aerial aspect of the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940. While the Soviet air forces greatly outnumbered the Finnish Air Force, the Soviet bombing campaign was largely ineffective, and Finnish pilots and antiaircraft gunners inflicted significant losses on the Soviets.


Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Union enjoyed
air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...
throughout the war. The Soviet Air Force, supported the Red Army's invasion with about 2,500 aircraft of the
Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
, (the most common of which was the
Tupolev SB-2 The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB (russian: Скоростной бомбардировщик – ''Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik'' – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined ...
bomber, which had shown its effectiveness during the Spanish Civil war. However the VVS was not as effective as the Soviets might have hoped. The material damage by bomber attacks was slight, as Finland did not offer many valuable targets for strategic bombing. Targets were often small village depots of small value. Finland had only a few modern highways, so the railway systems were the main target for bombers. The
rail track A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...
s were cut thousands of times but were easily repaired, and the Finns usually had trains running in a matter of hours. Trotter 2002, pp. 187–193 The damage inflicted on Finnish targets was also diminished by poor navigation technique, and minimal bombing accuracy on the part of the SovietsHardesty p. 52 and Finnish casualties were reduced by effective air-raid precautions. However the Soviet air force learned from its early mistakes, and by late February they instituted more effective tactics. Trotter (2002), p. 193 One such success was the strike against the Ruokolahti airfield on 29 February 1940. At noon on that day 40
I-16 I16 may refer to: * Interstate 16, an interstate highway in the U.S. state of Georgia * Polikarpov I-16, a Soviet fighter aircraft introduced in the 1930s * Halland Regiment * , a Japanese Type C submarine * i16, a name for the 16-bit signed integ ...
and
I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' (Russian ''Чайка'', "Seagull") was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mong ...
fighters struck the base, destroying three aircraft on the ground and another three (two Gladiators and one
Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...
) for the loss of only one I-16. Finland's capital city, Helsinki, was bombed on the first day of the war; a number of buildings were destroyed and some 200 people were killed. However the city was the target of raids only a few times thereafter. All in all, Finland lost only 5 percent of its total man-hour production time due to Soviet bombings. Nevertheless, bombings affected thousands of civilians as the Soviets launched 2,075 bombing attacks on 516 localities. Air raids killed 957 Finnish civilians. The city of Viipuri, a major Soviet objective, was almost leveled by nearly 12,000 bombs. No attacks on civilian targets were mentioned in Soviet radio or newspaper reports. In January 1940, '' Pravda'' continued to stress that no civilian targets in Finland had been struck, even by accident. Tillotson (1993), p. 157


Soviet aircraft

At the start of hostilities the Soviet Air Force had the following aircraft in service:Hardesty pp. 250-1 Fighters *
I-15 I15 may refer to: * Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America * Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft * I15 (band) "Soulja Girl" is the second single from American rapper Soulja Boy's studio album '' ...
: biplane fighter (''Chaika''-"seagull") * I-15 bis : (improved version of I-15) *
I-16 I16 may refer to: * Interstate 16, an interstate highway in the U.S. state of Georgia * Polikarpov I-16, a Soviet fighter aircraft introduced in the 1930s * Halland Regiment * , a Japanese Type C submarine * i16, a name for the 16-bit signed integ ...
monoplane fighter (''Ishak''-"donkey"; called ''Siipiorava'', "
flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they ar ...
" by the Finns) * I-16 bis *
I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' (Russian ''Чайка'', "Seagull") was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mong ...
biplane fighter (also called the ''Chaika''; a variant of the I-15) Bombers *
DB-3 The Ilyushin DB-3, where "DB" stands for ''Dalniy Bombardirovschik'' (Russian: Дальний бомбардировщик) meaning "long-range bomber", was a Soviet bomber aircraft of World War II. It was a twin-engined, low-wing monoplane that f ...
twin engined long-range bomber * SB-2 twin engined high-speed bomber (''Katyusha''- "Catherine") * SB-2 bis *
TB-3 The Tupolev TB-3 (russian: Тяжёлый Бомбардировщик, Tyazhyolyy Bombardirovshchik, Heavy Bomber, civilian designation ANT-6) was a monoplane heavy bomber deployed by the Soviet Air Force in the 1930s and used during the early ...
four-engined heavy bomber Reconnaissance * Po-2 multi-purpose biplane (''kukuruznik''-"crop-duster") Naval aviation * MBR-2 multi-purpose flying boat * MBR2 bis Figures of Soviet losses during the conflict vary from source to source; One estimate puts the loss at 700–900 aircraft, the majority of them bombers: Against this Finnish losses were 62 aircraft, with a further 59 damaged beyond repair.Engle p. 62 Another states Finnish aircraft shot down 240 Soviet aircraft, with anti-aircraft fire accounting for 314 to 444 others.


Finnish Air Force

At the beginning of the war, Finland had a very small air force, with only 114 combat airplanes fit for duty. Therefore, Finnish air missions were very limited and
fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
were mainly used to repel Soviet bombers. Old-fashioned and few in numbers, Finnish aircraft could not offer support to the Finnish ground troops. Therefore, the Finnish Air Force adopted the same guerilla tactics used by Finnish ground forces, dispersing to makeshift airfields often consisting only of a frozen lake. In spite of aircraft losses throughout the war, the Finnish Air Force grew by 50 percent by the end of the war. Most new aircraft shipments arrived during January 1940. The Finnish Air Force had also revised its tactics; In
air combat ''Air Combat'' is a 1995 combat flight simulator developed and published for the PlayStation by Namco. Players control an aircraft and are tasked with completing a series of missions, with objectives ranging from destroying formations of enemie ...
, the Finns used the more flexible "
finger four The finger-four Tactical formation, formation (also known as the "four finger formation" and the "Fingertip Formation") is a flight formation used by fighter aircraft. It consists of four aircraft, and four of these formations can be combined int ...
" formation (four planes split into two pairs, one flying low and the other high, with each plane fighting independently of the others, yet supporting its wingman in combat), which was superior to the Soviet tactic of three fighters flying in a
Vic formation The Vic formation is a formation devised for military aircraft and first used during the First World War. It has three or sometimes more aircraft fly in close formation with the leader at the apex and the rest of the flight ''Echelon formation, ...
. This formation and the credo of Finnish pilots to always attack, no matter the odds, contributed to the failure of Soviet bombers to inflict substantial damage against Finnish positions and population centres. Finnish fighter pilots often dove into Soviet formations that outnumbered them ten or even twenty times, and Soviet bomber formations became wary of even single Finnish fighters, as they knew the pilot would not let them pass un-noticed. Entire squadrons could disappear on missions over Finland, and those back at their bases in Estonia could only guess at what had happened.Engle p. 58 On one occasion, the Finnish ace Jorma Kalevi Sarvanto encountered a formation of seven DB-3 bombers on 6 January 1940 and shot down six in just 4 minutes.


Finnish aircraft

At the start of hostilities, the Finnish Air Force had 146 aircraft of all types at its disposal, organized into 12 squadrons. The primary fighter aircraft were * 15 Bristol Bulldog IVs, which had entered service in 1935, * 41 of the more modern
Fokker D.XXI The Fokker D.XXI fighter was designed in 1935 by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker in response to requirements laid out by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (''Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger'', M ...
* 65 older Fokker aircraft of various types; Fokker C.X and
Fokker C.V The Fokker C.V was a Dutch light reconnaissance and bomber biplane aircraft manufactured by Fokker. It was designed by Anthony Fokker and the series manufacture began in 1924 at Fokker in Amsterdam. Development The C.V was constructed in the earl ...
* 15 Blackburn Ripons There were also 18 license-built Bristol Blenheim bombers. In 1939, an order had been placed in Italy for 25
Fiat G.50 The Fiat G.50 ''Freccia'' ("Arrow") was a World War II Italian fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by aviation company Fiat. Upon entering service, the type became Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane that had an enclosed co ...
fighters; two were being assembled in Sweden when the war broke out. During the war, a number of aircraft were ordered from abroad:Finnish Air Force in World War II, Heikki Nikunen
at century-of-flight.net
* 30
Gloster Gladiator II The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed privat ...
biplane fighters from the United Kingdom * 12
Bristol Blenheim IV The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until t ...
bombers from the United Kingdom * 30
Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier was a French aircraft manufacturing company formed in October 1911 by Raymond Saulnier (1881–1964) and the Morane brothers, Léon (1885–1918) and Robert (1886–1968). The company was taken over and diversified ...
fighters from France * 44 Brewster 239 fighters from the United States * 24 Gloster Gauntlet trainers from South Africa * 10
Fiat G.50 The Fiat G.50 ''Freccia'' ("Arrow") was a World War II Italian fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by aviation company Fiat. Upon entering service, the type became Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane that had an enclosed co ...
fighters from Italy * 12 Hawker Hurricane I fighters from the United Kingdom * 12 Westland Lysander reconnaissance planes from United Kingdom * 2 Bristol Bulldog from
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
* 3 J6B Jaktfalken biplane trainers from Sweden * 3 Fokker C.V.D reconnaissance planes from Sweden * 2
Koolhoven F.K.52 Koolhoven F.K.52 was a Dutch-designed, two-seat reconnaissance-fighter biplane, which was developed in the 1930s by Koolhoven. The aircraft was equipped with an enclosed cockpit and single-strut landing gear. Only six aircraft were produced. The ...
reconnaissance planes and 1
Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which b ...
transport plane from Count von Rosen, Sweden * 6
Caudron C.714 The C.710 were a series of light fighter aircraft developed by Caudron-Renault for the French Air Force just prior to the start of World War II. One version, the C.714, saw limited production, and were assigned to Polish pilots flying in France a ...
fighters from France, which never entered service in Finnish Fighter Squadrons because of their bad performance and unsuitability to operate from the short landing strips in Finland. Also there was a Swedish volunteer squadron named Flight Regiment 19, Finnish Air Force taking care of the air defence of Northern Finland. It was equipped with 12
Gloster Gladiator II The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed privat ...
biplane fighters and 5 Hawker Hart biplane bombers. Owing to this reinforcement, the Finnish Air Force had a greater strength at the end of the conflict than at the beginning; however they were seldom able to field more than 100 aircraft at any one time against an expanding VVS commitment. Finnish fighters shot down 240 confirmed Soviet aircraft, against the Finnish loss of 26. A Finnish forward air base often consisted of only a frozen lake, a windsock, a telephone set and some tents.Engle, Paananen pp. 56–62 Air-raid warnings were given by Finnish women organized by the Lotta Svärd. Finnish antiaircraft gunners shot down between 314 and 444 Soviet aircraft.


Finnish aces

The following Finnish pilots became aces (achieving five confirmed victories) during the war


See also

* List of units of the Finnish Air Force during the Winter War


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Engle, Eloise/ Paananen, Lauri (1973) ''The Winter War'' Sidgewick&Jackson * Hardesty, Von (1982) ''Red Phoenix: the rise of Soviet air power 1941–1945'' Arms and Armour Press * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aerial Warfare In The Winter War Winter War 1939 in Finland 1940 in Finland Aerial operations and battles Soviet Air Force Finnish Air Force