Osprey - Aviation Elite Units 04 - Lentolaivue 24.pdf

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OSPREY AVIATION
ELITE • 4
Kari Stenman and Kalevi Keskinen
r = :osPREY
AVIATION
ELITE.
4
Le, tolaivue 24
n
SERIES EDITOR:
TONY HOLMES
OSPREY AVIATION
ELITE•
4
Lentolaivue
24
Ka{ Stenman
&
Kalevi Keski nen
Front
cover
On 24 January 1943 at 1440
hrs, Capt
Jorma Sarvanto
took
o,ff from
Suulajarvi w
ith
five
other Brewster
Model
239s from
1/LeLv 24 and
headed
east
for a
'free
hunt' over the
Gulf
of Fln1and
.
The
Soviets
had
a
huge
naval and
air
base
on
the
island
of
Kronstadt,
just
east of Leningrad,
and the
Fin
nish pilots
knew
their
sortie
would
be opposed.
As the
aircraft
approached Kronstadt,
1Lt
Hans Wind (leading the
second
pair
of
Brewsters) observed
six 11-2s.
escorted by two
-16
'
Ratas' and
seven
'S
pitfires'
(actually
LaG:G-3s)
below the
Finnish
fighters. Moments
later
he
spotted five
Pe-2s and
a
further
13
l-16s.
All
these
aircraH
were heading
in
an
easterly
direction, slowly
descending
towards the
Soviet airfields
at
Kronstadt and
Oranienbaum. With
the
sun
behind
them, Wind
(in
BW-
393)
and
his
wingman attacked
the
two
'
Ratas'
closest
to
them,
the
former
jumping
his
foe at an altitude
of
less
than 100
metres above
the
ground. The
1
was
mortally
·16
damaged by
a
short
burst
of
fire
from Wind's
Brewster, and
it
crashed
into
a
forest just
west
of the runway
at Kro nstedt.
Its
demise (Wind's
15th
kill
of
the
war) was witnessed both
by
his wingman, WO Viktor Pyiitsia,
and
the Finnish
ground post
at
Seivasto. Both pilots then climbed
back
up to
altitude
and joined
the
battle
raging
overhead with the
1-16·escorted
Pe-2
formation.
Wind
duly fired at two
other
'
Ratas'
and'
two
Pe-2s before his
guns
jammed
and he
was forced
to head
for
home.
The
Finnish pilots
reported
that their
Russian
opponents
were
flying
aircraft painted in
green
summer
camouflage. despite it being the
m
iddle
of winterl
(Cover
Painting
by
Jim
Laurier'/
hr
1
pubfohc<l
in
Greac Bri
tain
in
2001 by 0 p
rey
Publishing
~lms ~ou
rt
,
hapd
Way,
Barley,
Oxford,
OX.2 9LP
-m
ii:
info@ospreypub
li,
hing. om
©
2001
Osprey
Publ
i
hi11g
LimiceJ
ll righcs
reserved.
Ap;m
from any fair dealing for
chc
purpose
of p
ri
var
Par1:nLs
t,
1988.
no
pan
rudy,
earch,
criticism
or revi
w,
as
permi
tted
under
rhc
Copyrigh
r,
Design and
or
rhis
publicacion
may
be reprodu
ed.
rored in a
retrieval
sysrem,
or
rran
miuc<l
in
any form
or
by
any
means.
ele
rroni
,
dcccrical,
ch
mical,
mechanical,
opcical, phomcopying,
record
ing
o oth
rwi~t',
withour p
rior
wrine
n
pe
rmi
ion. All enquirie
hould
be
add re sed to
tl1e
publisher.
I
B
r
1
84176 262
8
Edited
by
Tony
Holmes
Page
design
by
Mark
Hoh
Cover
Artwork
hy
Jin1
Lauder
Aircraft Profiles
by
John
WcaJ
Origination by
Grasmer
DigicaJ
Imaging,
Leecl~.
K
Primed
rhrough
Bookbuildt:rs,
Hong
Kong
0I
02 03
0
l0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
2
C
KNO\X'LEDGFJv1
FNT<;
The
Authors
wish co
rhank
from
original
docume
ncacio n
arl-Frcdrik
Grnst for provid
ing
det<1il
of ovier
und in
Russian
arch
ive
kepc near
Moscow
and
uni
cs
and
operations
on
rh Finni
h
Front,
rhis
info
rma
rio n
having
been ourced
c
Petersburg
For
a cacalogue of' II
Ospre Dire
r
o~pr
:y
Publish
ing
dde
pleas
co111,1c
t
l
lS
.1t;
K
P.O.
Bo
1
0,
Wellingborough,
orthants
NS ZA,
UK
E-mail:
info o
·prcydire
t.oo.uk
0
pre
Die-eel
SA,
d
o
Motorbool
Totem
tionaJ,
7
29 JProspecr A enue,
PO
Bo. I,
Osceola, Wascoo in WI 54020
E-mail:
info@ospreydirectusa.com
r
\'J
it
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bsice:
www.osprcypublishing.com
Back cover
On 1 June 1943
Lentolaivue
24's
3rd
Flight leader, Capt
Joppe
Ka
rhunen,
was ppointed commander of the
whole unit.
Marking, th
is
occasio
n,
he
poses on the tailplane
of his
Brewster Model
239
~
BW-366)
at
Suulajarvi.
The fighter's fin
shows
the Mannerheim Cross-w
inne r's
full
tally
of 31 aerial
victories,
the
last
of
which was scored on
4 May 1943
ISA
-kuva)
Previous
pages
A pair of Bf
109G-6s
from 3/Hlelv 24
are seen between sorties at
Lappeenrant:a
on
3 July 1944.
MT-441/'Yellow 1'
(left)
was flown
by
1Lt Ahti
Laitinen
until he was
captured
on
29 June 1944 after
bailing
out
of
battle-damaged
Bf 109G-6 MT-439. Laitinen had, up
to that point,
flown just 75
sorties
and
claimed
ten kills
-
six
of t
hem
in
MT-441
.
The second
Gustav
is
MT-476/'Yellow 7', which was
assigned
to
MSgt Nils Katajainen for
a mere48
hours!
On 5
July
1944 he
used
it
to down a Vak-9. but was in
turn wounded and forced
to
crash-
land at
500 km/h
-
miraculously, he
survived
this inciden t. Nils
Katajainen
scored
35.5 kills
during
the
course of
196
sorties. and
received
the Mannerheim Cross
(Fin
land's hig hest military medall on
21 December 1944
ISA
-kuva)

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