Eino Ilmari "Illu" Juutilainen (21 February 1914 – 21 February 1999) was a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

of the ''Ilmavoimat'' ( Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. The top

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

of the Finnish Air Force, he led all Finnish pilots in score against

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

aircraft in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1939–40 and 1941–44), with 94 confirmed

aerial combat Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for contro ...

victories (he himself claimed further kills for a total of 126 victories, but these were unconfirmed) in 437

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...

s. He achieved 58 of his victories while flying a

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...

G and 34 with a

Brewster Buffalo The Brewster F2A Buffalo is an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modification ...

.Stenman and Thomas 2010, p. 85. One of the four double recipients of the Mannerheim Cross 2nd Class, Juutilainen was born in

Lieksa Lieksa () is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The ...

, and died in

Tuusula Tuusula (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Tuusula is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Tuusula is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, ...

. His brother was the Finnish Army Captain

Aarne Juutilainen Aarne Edward Juutilainen (; 18 October 1904 – 28 October 1976), nicknamed "Marokon kauhu" (), was a Finnish army captain who served in the French Foreign Legion in Morocco between 1930 and 1935. After returning to Finland, he served in th ...

, nicknamed "The Terror of Morocco".

Summary

Juutilainen flew

Fokker D.XXI The Fokker D.XXI Fighter aircraft, 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-In ...

, and

fighters. He finished the war without a single hit to his plane from enemy fighter airplanes (once he was forced to land after a friendly

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

gun fired at his Bf 109). Juutilainen never lost a wingman in combat. He also scored the first radar-assisted victory in the Finnish Air Force on 24 March 1943, when he was guided to a Soviet Pe-2 by a German radar operator, who was testing out the freshly delivered radar sets, that officially became operational 3 days later.

Military career

Juutilainen entered the Finnish military on 9 September 1932 for his compulsory military service, serving as a pilot in the Finnish Air Force starting in 1935. On 1 May 1935, Juutilainen was promoted to sergeant. He was transferred to ''LeLv 24'', operating from Utti, on March 3, 1939. In October 1939, with the situation worsening, the squadron moved to Immola, closer to the Finnish-Soviet frontier. Fokker D

During the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

(which broke on 30 November 1939) Juutilainen flew the

. He scored his first victory on 19 December 1939, shooting down an Ilyushin DB-3 bomber and damaging two more.Jackson 2003, p. 47. At the end of the Winter War, Juutilainen had achieved one shared and two individual victories.Stenman and Thomas 2010, p. 94. During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

, Juutilainen served in ''3/LeLv 24'', flying a Brewster B-239 "Buffalo". On 21 July 1941, Juutilainen and five other Buffaloes scrambled to intercept Soviet fighters from 65th ShAP that were strafing Finnish troops near Käkisalmi. During that sortie, he destroyed a Polikarpov I-153 'Chaika', making him an "ace" in the Brewster Buffalo.Stenman and Thomas 2010, p. 14. A few days later, on 1 August, seven fighters under the command of First Lieutenant Karhunen destroyed six I-16s near

Rautjärvi Rautjärvi () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality in the South Karelia regions of Finland, region of Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . More than half of ...

, and Juutilainen (having been promoted to

Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...

in the meantime) claimed two of them.Stenman and Thomas 2010, p. 15. On the morning of 6 February 1942, while reconnoitering the Petrovkiy-Jam region with other LLv 24 pilots, Juutilainen intercepted seven Tupolev SB bombers escorted by 12 MiG-3s. Juutilainen claimed two SBs. Juutilainen later recalled: On 27–28 March 1942, ''3/LLv 24'' moved to Immola in preparation for a Finnish Army offensive on Suursaari, in the Gulf of Finland. Although grossly outnumbered over the Gulf of Finland, ''LeLv 24'' pilots were more experienced than their Soviet opponents from Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Even when they had the advantage of surprise and height, Soviet pilots did not succeed in shooting down Finnish pilots.Stenman and Thomas 2010, p. 30. On 28 March, WO Juutilainen, in patrol with Sgt Huotari, attacked some "Chaikas" of 11 IAP over the Suurkylä shoreline, at Hogland, and shot down two of them. These air victories took Juutilainen's tally to 22. A month later, on 26 April, he became his unit's first recipient of the Mannerheim Cross.Stenman and Thomas 2010, p. 24. On 20 September, he took off with Capt Jorma Karhunen and ''3/LeLv 24'' pilots for a patrol of the

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

-- Seiskari region. Near the Estonian coast, they were bounced by ten Soviet fighters. But the Finnish quickly reacted and managed to down three of their opponents. WO Juutilainen was credited with two kills. All in all, Juutilainen scored 34 victories in Brewster B-239, 28 of them (including three triple kills) between 9 July 1941 and 22 November 1942, in his BW-364 "Orange 4". In 1943, Juutilainen was transferred to ''LeLv 34'', which used new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2s.Jackson 2003, p. 47. With the Bf 109, he shot down a further 58 enemy planes. He shot down six Soviet airplanes on 30 June 1944 (all confirmed on Soviet loss records), becoming an ace in a day and parallelling Jorma Sarvanto's score on 6 January 1940 in the

. Juutilainen refused an officer commission, fearing it would keep him from flying. His 94th and last victory was a Li-2, the Russian version of the

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...

, shot down on 3 September 1944 over the Karelian Isthmus.Jackson 2003, p. 47.

Post-war

After the wars, Juutilainen served in the air force until 1947. He worked as a professional pilot until 1956, flying people in his De Havilland Moth. His last flight was in 1997, at age 83, in a two-seat F-18 Hornet of the Finnish Air Force. Juutilainen died at home in

(Tusby) on his 85th birthday on 21 February 1999.

Victories

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Juutilainen, Eino Ilmari (translated by Nikunen, Heikki). ''Double Fighter Knight''. Tampere, Finland: Apali Oy, 1996. . Juutilainen's memoirs that were published in English in 1996. * Keskinen, Kalevi; Stenman, Kari and Niska, Klaus. ''Hävittäjä-ässät (Finnish Fighter Aces)''. Espoo, Finland: Tietoteas, 1978. . (Finnish) * Jackson, Robert. ''Air Aces Of WWII''. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Airlife, 2003. . * Stenman, Kari and Andrew Thomas. '' Brewster F2A Buffalo Aces of World War 2 (Aircraft of the Aces 91)''. Oxford UK/Long Island City NY, Osprey Publishing, 2010. . * * Stenman, Kari and Keskinen, Kalevi. ''Finnish Aces of World War 2 (Aircraft of the Aces 23)''. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1998. .

External links

Tarrif.net – Interview with Ilmari Juutilainen

* List of World War II aces from Finland {{DEFAULTSORT:Juutilainen, Ilmari 1914 births 1999 deaths Finnish Air Force personnel Finnish World War II flying aces Winter War pilots Knights of the Mannerheim Cross Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 3rd Class People from Lieksa People from Kuopio Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)