The Satakunta Air Command ( fi, Satakunnan Lennosto, abbr. ''SatLsto''; sv, Satakunta flygflottilj) is a peace-time

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; fi, Ilmavoimat, , Air forces; sv, Flygvapnet, , Air weapon) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of Finnis ...

unit. Its headquarters is not located in the present-day province of Satakunta, but in historical Satakunta and in the present-day province of

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme and Sou ...

, at the Tampere-Pirkkala Airport in

Pirkkala Pirkkala (; sv, Birkala) is a municipality of Finland. It is located some south-west from Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , which makes ...

. It is responsible for maintaining the prerequisites for operation in Southern Finland for the Finnish Air Force. It studied and developed air combat procedures and equipment. It operated from bases in Southern Finland, also supporting

Finnish Army The Finnish Army (Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft ...

troops.

History

The Satakunta Wing was founded on 26 June 1918 in

Sortavala Sortavala (russian: Сортавала; Finnish and krl, Sortavala; sv, Sordavala); till 1918 Serdobol (russian: Сердоболь) is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish bord ...

and was moved to Suur-Merijoki, near

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...

in 1938. The unit was disbanded after the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, but restated in Aunus in 1942. In 1944 the unit was moved to

Pori Airport Pori Airport ( fi, Porin lentoasema) is an airport in Pori, Finland. The airport is located south of the Pori town centre. It has two check-in desks, and a cafeteria service. During 2011 Pori Airport served 54,056 passengers, an increase of 25.2 ...

and it was equipped with

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

s. It was the first unit of the Finnish Air Force to be equipped with jet aircraft, when it received its

De Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

s. It was later to receive

Folland Gnat The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical combat aircraft, it wa ...

s and

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickna ...

s. The unit was renamed into the "Satakunta Wing" in 1957 and the headquarters was moved to Tampere in 1965. The

21st Fighter Squadron The 21st Fighter Squadron is part of the 56th Operations Group at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It is a United States Air Force squadron that operates Taiwanese-owned General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting fighter and mainten ...

was moved to the Pirkkala Airport in 1985 and it was the first unit to be equipped with

F-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...

fighters in 1995. The

was the operational unit of the wing. It was disbanded in summer 2014, with fighters relocated to Karelian Air Command and Lapland Air Command. At the same time, Satakunta Air Command was given new tasks: transport flights and flight research. The former flight research center in Halli was amalgamated into Satakunta Air Command's air combat center.

Organization

*Headquarters *Supporting Air Operations Squadron *Air Combat Centre *Aircraft Maintenance Squadron *Communications Flight *Logistics Flight *Force Protection Squadron

References

External links

About us - Ilmavoimat - The Finnish Air Force
{{Finnish Air Force structure Finnish Air Force Pirkkala