[bobbysocks]

"Illu" Juutilanen - the Top Ace. (Finnish)

Born on the 21 February 1914 at Lieksa, Finnish Carelia. Later the family moved to Sortavala. The father was a railway worker who lost both legs in an accident.

As a boy Juutilainen read the book by Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Fighter Pilot" which made him dream about becoming a pilot. (the book in English: http://www.wtj.com/pl/pages/greatwar.htm). Also the vicinity of the Kasinhanta Air Base with its seaplanes and pilots added to the appeal of aviation.

Juutilainen did his military service in Signal Corpsduring 1932-1933 and was trained as a telegraphist.

After having fulfilled his compulsory service Juutilainen acquired a private pilote's licence from the Karhumaki Brothers' Flying School. Then, in 1935, he became an enlisted NCO in the Armed Forces.

Finally, in 1936 he applied for an Air Force NCO pilot course. He was accepted and due to his pilot's licence and telegraphist's skill he was made the elder of the course. Juutilainen did very well, but he spent a lot of time in custody - 27 days in a four-month course. The reason was that as the elder he was responsible for the misdeeds of his course - mostly excessive drinking. Personally he earned only one week for flying too low. After the course was completed, "Illu" had to sit in the "jug" for another week to serve the custody ordered to him.

Juutilainen started his career as a NCO pilot in a Reconnaisance Squadron in Suur-Merijoki in May 1937. He was considered a good and reliable pilot, much liked by the officer-observers. He was married in the same year with Miss Anni Nurmi, and their first son was born in 1938.

Sgt. Juutilainen was transferred to Sqn.24 to fly the Fokker D XXI's in March 1939. In a few weeks he became a good fighter pilot: his shooting skill was excellent. No wonder, hunting with dog and shotgun was his favourite hobby when the season was in. Juutilainen was fit as a professional athlete, he was also a teetotaller and non-smoker, staying like that during the whole of the war and also afterwards.

In the Winter War he flew as the wingman of the 3rd flight commander, Lt. Eino Luukkanen. He scored two proven victories. However, he fired his first angry shots with a pole-mounted Lewis gun from the ground against SB-2 bombers attacking the Immola Air Base on the 1st of December 1939.

The 3rd Flight was commanded to defend the area NE of the lake Ladoga. There, at the front section Kollaa, was fighting "Illu"'s brother, res. Lt.Aarne Juutilainen as a distinghuised infantry company commander. (This other Juutilainen was nationally known as the "Terror of Morocco" because he had served in the French Foreign Legion in N. Africa.)

The Fokker squadron carried out ground strafing raids on the ice covering the Bay of Viipuri against the Red Army columns the 1. to 12. March 1940. Those missions were hard for the Finnish fighter pilots because they really saw the lethal effect of their bullets. The enemy columns were initially without white camouflage clothing, and always marching in tight file formations. Shooting at aircraft was in a sense symbolic, a fighter pilot mostly did not see what happens to the crew of the victim aircraft. Illu did not feel good to see in his sighting scope how defenseless Red Army infantrymen flopped in the snow upon impact of his bullets. But he had to do his duty, the pilots knew that every enemy soldier left on the ice as casualty would relieve the pressure of the Finnish infantrymen defending the coastline. He flew eleven ground attack sorties.

In the Winter War Juutilainen scored two confirmed victories.

When the war against Soviet Union started again on 25 June 1941, Juutilainen was flying a Brewster in the 3st flight of LeLv 24 (Sqn.24). The 3rd Flight became later known as the "Knight Flight" because of the three holders of the Mannerheim Cross serving in it.

In 1941 he scored 13 confirmed victories and in 1942 next 21 victories.

In March 1943 Juutilainen was transferred to a new unit, Fighter Squadron 34, which was equipped with new Messerschmitt 109 G2 fighters. The Me with its 20 mm gun became his efficient tool and now he really began to excel. Less experienced or careless Soviet pilots had little chance when engaged by "Illu". The Soviet intelligence knew him well enough to once contact him via radio...

Finally in 1943 he scored 'only' 19 victories, but the 1944 was most successful recording additional 40 kills!

Illu shared von Richthofen's view: the task of a fighter pilot is to take his guns to an advantageous position in relation to the enemy and shoot him down. For Illu a fighter plane was a flying gun platform, nothing else. If Hasse Wind could be compared with Réné Fonck, so Illu Juutilainen was Georges Guynemer - the calculating tactician. A good example of this is what happened on early March 1944 (the story is in the second file). He attacked alone four La-5 led by Soviet Hero Medvetyev above Suulajarvi AB, despite low fuel.

He always looked back before opening fire, and if the enemy was approaching, he abandoned the target and prepared to meet the new challenge. Never was Juutilainen's fighter hit by enemy fighter fire during his 437 missions. (Once, flying a crucially important reconnaisance mission in June 1944, he was very nearly shot down as the oil tank of his Me was holed by the enemy AA. ) Yet he was an aggressive pilot, but never foolhardy. He had good luck, too. In his memoirs he conveys the impression that he really enjoyed aerial dogfights when flying a BW or a MT, sometimes he even was dissatisfied as an unskillful enemy succumbed too easily.

Illu Juutilainen had a matter-of-factly and professional attitude to war and fighting. He did not hate the enemy. For example on 14th March 1942 he shot up the engine of a MiG-3 at Karkijarvi, Eastern Carelia. The enemy pilot belly-landed on a bush-covered marsh. Juutilainen flew over to check, and saw the Soviet pilot standing at his MiG, waving his hand. The Finnish pilot made another pass and rocked his wings in salute before retreating.

Another time, on 23 September 1943 there was a hard battle over the Sepeleva Lighthouse, 10 Me's against a number of Yak-1, LaGG-3 and La-5. Juutilainen had shot down one of each kind and his 20mm ammo was spent as he was attacked by another La-5 at a low altitude. The Finnish pilot did his standard trick: he pulled his fighter into a tight climbing turn, and kept climbing and waiting until the over-eager enemy pilot would stall his fighter in an futile attept to pull the correct deflection. When the La-5 had stalled and dived to recover manouverability, Juutilainen was already 20 m behind his tail. Both fighters recovered from the dive at wavetops. Juutilainen fired at the enemy, saw holes appear in the fuselage of the La-5 but the 7.9 mm bullets had no other effect. Suddenly the La-5 pulled up, the Me followed but the pilot blacked out. As he recovered, he found himself wingtip to wingtip with the enemy. The two pilots looked each other in the eye. Juutilainen found the situation amusing, he smiled and waved his hand. The Soviet pilot responded and rocked his wings as a sign of truce. The Finnish pilot responed. Again the Soviet pilot waved his hand and flew his fighter below the Me toward Kronstadt. Juutilainen also turned toward Suulajarvi.

In July 1941 he saw his house in the Soviet-occupied town of Sortavala from the air, but as the Finnish troops took the town 24 hours later the retreating Soviets had burnt the house down, among many others. But Illu was not bitter. He told, chuckling, in an televised interview in 1997 : "It is war: if the enemy burns your house down, you go and burn one of the enemy's houses!" He did not burn down any houses, but shot down enemy aircraft. His official score is 94 confirmed victories, but he believes he shot down a total of 120 enemies.

He was decorated with the Mannerheim Cross twice, on 26 April 1942 and on 28 June 1944. He is one of the two pilots thus honoured. (Hans Wind was the other one). Citation in 1942: "Flight Master Juutilainen has displayed exemplary bravery and indomitable battle spirit with excellent skill and resourcefulness in several air battles." In 1944 the citation was " Flight Master Juutilainen's offensive spirit and skill has earned him 73 victories, 15 of which during the present enemy offensive. This is in our circumstances a brilliant military achievement, taking into account that most of the victories have been gained in battle against numerically great enemy superiority".

Juutilainen was promoted as Sr. Sgt. on 31 December 1939 and less than one month later to the rank of Sergeant-Major. He reached the top of his military career on the 1 March 1941, as he became Flight Master (the rank is also known as Air Master Sergeant or Warrant Officer.)

Juutilainen concentrated on flying instead of career. He was offered a chance to study in the Cadet School and become a commissioned officer, but he declined, explaining that during the year spent in studies he would lose his touch in flying. Then any enemy could shoot him down before he would have relearned his skill. Juutilainen loved flying and air battles, and being a husband and father of three sons did not slow him down the least. He was also an outdoorsman, his favourite hobbies were hunting and fishing. His character was extroverted and he was popular with the other pilots due to his witty humour and willingness to give advice. He was radiating vitality and self-confidence, which also rubbed on other pilots thus improving the general feeling in the unit. When "Illu" was asked after the war whether he ever feared, he said that he never felt fear, just urge for action.

For his squadron leader and flight commander he was an exemplary soldier with his good behaviour and high fighting spirit. However, there was one thing that Maj. Luukkanen had to turn a blind eye to: Juutilainen did not obey the standing order to avoid battle during a reconnaisance mission. "Illu" rationalized this by maintaining that the delay in providing the recce data was small (less than half an hour) and the "dual mission" made better use of the limited number of fighters... It did not occur to him that he could have been shot down and the data would be totally lost ! For example...

In the afternoon of the 1st July 1944 as Juutilainen was preparing for a recce mission on the Western side of the Carelian Isthmus with Sgt.-Maj. Antti Tani, they decided that they would meet the enemy during the sortie. Juutilainen flew his trusted MT-457, but Tani's fighter was the new MT-453 that still retained her 20mm wing cannons, and the pilot was most eager to test the triple-cannon firepower.

They carried out their mission, Juutilainen observed the ground and made notes about road and rail traffic and tank, artillery and troop concentrations while Tani covered him. They saw enemy aircraft but Juutilainen ignored them. In the return leg of the mission they flew towards Tali, where heavy ground battle was being fought. To their great satisfaction they found about 40 Il-2's - unescorted! Juutilainen told his wingman to roll his battery in position, and they attacked the rearmost wave of the Stormovik formation. Juutilainen shot down one near Juustila, and Tani wrecked two thanks to his firepower. Then they attacked the following wave ahead, the Stormoviks behind fired at them with their wing guns, but without result. Both pilots shot down one enemy more each at Pakkainen, then they were out of ammo and short on fuel after 10 minutes of engagement. They landed at Lappeenranta and gave their raport to the intelligence officer.

What kind of a man becomes a good fighter pilot? "Eikka" Luukkanen has listed some characteristics:
- Physical: good eyesight, good physical condition, rapid reactions
- Mental: excellent situational awareness, adventurousness

He may have had his top ace Illu Juutilainen in mind when making that list. A good fighter pilot never really grows up, Luukkanen wrote. Illu was one of these happy men. Consider the following incidents:

As Juutilainen was decorated with the Mannerheim Cross in April 1942, the reporter of the Aunus (Olonez) radio came to interview him in the base. The natinonally famous reporter, Pekka Tiilikainen asked in a magnificent voice vibrant with patriotism:

- Tell us, Illu, about your feelings at this great moment?

Juutilainen answered - in a live transmission:

- Well, at the moment I am thinking about the delicious cabbage casserole that my mother used to make.

Humour and practical jokes had a serious purpose. The major part of a fighter pilot's life consisted of waiting for a scramble alarm - life in constant nervous tension. In addition to chatting, reading or card playing practical jokes (for example rigging a tripping wire across the path to the canteen or booby-trapping a toilet door) were a way to relieve stress and think of something else than the next sortie.

Whenever there was a special mission for Juutilainen, the young replacement pilots would literally crowd around him, each one begging: "Illu, take me with you!" They knew: when flying as his wingman they would find action. Moreover, they were sure that the enemy was not able to surprise Illu, and in a dogfight he would save you in case you got in trouble. Consider the following:

On the 1st of June 1944 the 1st flight of Squadron 34 led by Lt. Pokela was scrambled to Teikari Island to intercept enemy ground attack planes. Juutilainen's wingman was Lt. "Saku" Heiskanen, a young pilot. At Teikari the first division (4 Me's) attacked the Stormoviks, and as the escorting six Yak-9's intervened, Pokela ordered the 2nd division at them. The Yak's dispersed, some dived on, others pulled up. Lt. Heiskanen was careless and got one Yak behind his tail. Juutilainen came to rescue, but another Yak was just closing on him. Fortunately for Heiskanen, Sgt. Leino engaged the Yak, allowing Juutilainen to continue his rescue operation. Heiskanen kept climbing and curving, seeing that "white zero"(MT-457) was approaching the enemy. When in close range, Juutilainen fired a burst, and the Yak dived, trailing heavy smoke from her engine...

After the war

In late September 1944 a rare visitor, Soviet Air Force Col.Lt. V.F. Golubev, the commander of 4.GIAP (Guards' Fighter Regiment) came to see the pilots of the Squadron 34 at Utti Air Base.

According to the conditions of the ceasefire treaty Golubev's unit had been stationed for a while at Malmi, the airport of Helsinki. He decided to make use of the opportunity and meet the men he had fought against - with a risk to himself.

When Illu Juutilainen was introduced to Golubev, the Soviet officer said nothing, just shook his hand longer than anybody elses. 60 years later "Illu" said in an interview that the greatest decoration a soldier can get is an acknowlegment given by his enemy.

In May 1947 Juutilainen resigned from the FAF service and bought an old DH Moth from the Air Force surplus stock. Then he had the plane repaired and entered in civilian register. Finally he hired a mechanic and became a self-employed pilot. He toured with his Moth and mechanic around Finland, offering ten-minute flights at rural fairs and small towns. There always were people who wanted to be flown around by the famous ex-fighter pilot, a double holder of the Mannerheim Cross, providing Illu and his family with income.

Juutilainen was selected as one of the six pall-bearers at Marshal Mannerheim's burial on the 4th February 1951. (Four of the men were generals, Juutilainen represented the NCO's and the rank and file were represented by L.-Cpl. Seppanen, a "tank killer". All men were holders of the Mannerheim Cross.) In 1956 Juutilainen's war memoirs were published. The publisher was a small company, and nowadays the original edition is a rarity, but a reprint has been published recently. The author chose to name his opus "As a Nuisance to Red Pilots" which in those days was not p.c. The book was translated in English by a FAF General and a USN Admiral, then published as "Double Fighter Knight" in 1997. (You can check the book review at this site: http://www.hkkk.fi/~yrjola/war/refs/refs.htm/#faf)

Illu Juutilainen is now living on pension in his home, in reasonable good health so far.

Trivia

Winter War planes: FR-106 and FR-108 (one victory with each)
1941-1943 he flew mostly the BW-364 (29 victories)
1943-1944 he flew first mostly the MT-222 (16 victories), then MT-426 (9 victories) and finally MT-457 (18 victories). He did not allow his ground crew paint any "personal emblems" on his fighter, except the victory bars on the BW-364 vertical stabilizer

Victim list:
I-153 -13; I-16 -11; SB-2 -2; DB-3/-3F -5; MiG-1/-3 -5; Hurricane -4; Spitfire -2; LaGG-3 -5; Tomahawk P-40 -1; Lightning P-38 -1; Pe-2 -4; Airacobra P-39 -4; La-5 -11; La-7 -1; Yak-1/-7 -2; Yak-9 -12; IL-2 -7; Mustang P-51 -2; He-111 -1; Li-2 -1.

Sad epilouge...
In end of February 1999, almost at the same moment, when his story landed in Ace Stories, "Illu" Juutilainen 'took off for his last flight' without return... He shall be buried on the 13th March 1999. It's strange, but it's the anniversary of the day the Winter War ended in 1940...

1. Opening of Score

The 3rd Flight of Fighter Squdron 24 was scrambled about 08.00 on the 19th Dec.1939 at the Immola Air Base. Sgt. Juutilainen, flying the FR-108, took off after the others had gone, due to a minor problem in starting his engine. When he was at Antrea he heard a radio report: Three enemy bombers flying from Heinjoki to Antrea. The Finnish pilot looked around, and 30 seconds later he saw three DB-3 bombers with red stars on the wings and fuselage sides flying 500 m below, unescorted as they used to be in the early war.

Juutilainen was in an ideal starting position as he dived to attack. Having seen the Fokker the bombers released their bomb loads in the forest below and turned to South, further enabling the attacker to gain on them.

Juutilainen acted methodically as he had been trained to do. He opened fire at a range of 100 m, killing the gunner of the left wing bomber, then he elimininated the gunner of the leading bomber and finally the one of the right wing bomber. Now he did not have to worry about being shot at anymore.

He approached the leading bomber and fired at the left engine at a range of 20 m. The bomber's engine began to trail smoke, then he fired at the right engine of the same bomber. Next he dealt with each engine of the wing bombers.

But the three DB-3's continued flying, though with slow speed, engines trailing smoke, and Juutilainen had spent all his 2200 cartridges. He followed his targets up to front line, where the leading bomber suddenly went in nosedive and crashed. The wing bombers continued their flight, slowly losing altitude...

Juutilainen had to return, there was nothing more to be done. Thinking about the battle he did not feel anything special, except frustration that he felt seeing another bomber formation while returning to the base... Everything had been like another aerial shooting training mission.

2. Chasing, being chased...

28th Sept. 1941. The 1st Flight of Squadron 24 took off at 0800hrs from the Mantsi Temporary Air Base on the coastline of Lake Ladoga with six Brewsters. Their mission was to cover five Blenheims on their raid against the Suoju river railway bridge. The mission was uneventful until the bombers turned back after dropping their bombs.

Illu Juutilainen saw a MiG-1 approach from below, turned at the attacker and gave her a brief chase. He disengaged having seen that the Soviet fighter was faster. He began to climb to join the rest of the convoy.

Suddenly he felt that something was wrong - he looked back and there the MiG was just behind his tail! The enemy opened fire, Juutilainen dived to the treetops to shake the enemy off. But the enemy pilot was very good at low level flying, carefully avoiding every obstacle.

The engine of the BW-364 began to warn about overstrain. The pilot pulled his fighter gradually to 600m and then took a risk. He pulled a tight curve that the less manouverable MiG could not follow. When the MiG pilot saw that the BW was getting behind his tail, he panicked and committed the error of his life. Instead of using his superior speed he continued to turn.

Now the Finnish pilot had the upper hand. He was flying so close to the enemy that he could actually throttle back, making use of the "draught" of the MiG. Juutilainen checked first his instruments, all the temperatures and pressures of the Wright Cyclone were within normal. The two fighters kept circling a small village at a speed of 240 kmh at treetops. The pursuer fired but the MiG's armour admirably withstood the 0.5" projectiles.

The enemy tightened his curve until he was in the verge of stalling, then he in turn resorted to low-level flight at 400 kmh . Juutilainen followed easily, only at times the backwash of the enemy hit his wingtips, making the BW bank involuntarily. He had no chance to shoot, however, jumping trees, houses and other obstacles, twice even flying under power lines. He had his next chance to fire as they flew over the enemy base at Viitana, but again it was as if the BW's guns had been loaded with wooden bullets.

Now a water tower made of bricks was ahead. The MiG passed it, the BW pulled up. The Soviet pilot lost his pursuer from his view, but the Finnish pilot kept observing his target.

The MiG turned back to the base, banking in the curve. Juutilainen made use of his chance to fire in the cockpit of the enemy from the inside of the curve at a range of 50 m. The pilot was hit and the enemy fighter crashed in the middle of the airfield, disintegrating totally. The victorious Finnish pilot continued over the enemy base in low level flight and took a shot at the enemy personnell before departing.

It was not until he was back in the base, describing the incident to his ground crew, that Juutilainen found that his arms and legs were shaking. His victory was confirmed.

3. Calculated Risk-taking

March 1944, date 7th , 8th or 9th , exactly not mentioned. Flt.Mstr. Juutilainen was on a recce mission in the middle of the day with his wingman Sr.Sgt. Peltola. Their task was to count the number of the enemy aircraft in the airbases of Gorskaya, Levachovo and Kasimovo plus monitor the road and railway traffic North of Leningrad. At Levachovo the enemy had put the fighters in covered bunkers. Defying the enemy AA Juutilainen flew across the base at such a low altitude that he could look inside the bunkers. The aircraft were La-5 fighters.

The two pilots were returning to the base as they heard a report: Four enemy fighters over Perkjarvi at 4500 m - that meant next door to the Suulajarvi base, deep behind Finnish lines. Peltola landed due to engine problem... Juutilainen pulled the stick and let his MT-222 climb. He was not ordered to engage the enemy, actually he should have landed to delivered the reconnaisance data. But his battle spirit, egged by the buzzing of the enemy base, was too strong.

At 5500 m, about six minutes later, he saw four La-5 fighters 500 m below. He dived to approach them from behind.

He just had the enemy leader in his gunsight as the enemy formation dispersed and each La-5 began to climb and turn to get behind the Me. So they had seen him coming all the time! The enemy fighters had white rudders, meaning they belonged to the 10. Gv.IAP, and now Juutilainen heard from his headphones that the enemy leader was Squadron Leader Medvetjev, a double Soviet Hero. - As if that piece of information had helped the lone Finnish pilot!

Now Juutilainen decided to keep the enemy engaged until some Me's would arrive to deal with them. Quckly he considered his chances: His fuel was low, down to 20 mins at cruise speed, but he was above his own base. Whatever would happen, he would not be taken prisoner.

The MT-222 still had more speed than the enemy, and she was able to out-climb the La-5's. Only now, at 6500 m, Juutilainen put on his oxygen mask, but he could only bite the rib to hold it on his face. The result was that the humidity of his breathing escaped, condensed and began to frost the cockpit canopy matt white. Meanwhile Comrade Medvetjev called for reinforcements.

The Soviet pilots knew their job. One of them was always behind the Me, and if the Finnish pilot turned to attack, another La would be in a position to shoot. Juutilainen kept dodging, soaking wet of sweat despite the cold air.

As the dogfight had climbed to 8700 m, one more La-5 arrived to the scene, shooting at an hopelessy long range. Juutilainen saw her tracers, turned and dived under the new enemy, then pulled a tight climbing curve. He scraped frantically a peephole in the frost covering the cockpit canopy to see the enemy, now only his windshield was clear.

Juutilainen had a hard time in keeping all his five enemies in sight, but he saw snow swirling about 9 km below: some Me's were just taking off. It would take them ten minutes to climb to his altitude... Now he was told that the 6th La-5 was about to arrive in the scene. The battle had lasted almost 15 minutes now.

He dodged a La-5 attacking at a high speed from above, pushing under her nose, then he dodged another and had a third nearly in his gunsight !

At the same moment his engine coughed and stopped. He was out of fuel. Tracers flew past - one of the enemies was shooting at the "glider".

With is remaining speed Juutilainen dodged and pushed the Me in vertical dive. It was the only thing to do. He hoped that the enemy would not follow him if he exceeded the 950kmh limit - neither the Me nor the La were designed to withstand higher speed. He let the MT-222 fall vertically for 6500 m. The pilot's ears were buzzing like telephone wires, the speed was over 1000 kmh at 2000m altitude. The Me flew rock-steady.

He pulled the stick, which was nearly immobile and used the trim wheel. The Me returned to level flight at the altitude of 150 m, the speed was 900 kmh. No enemies were in sight. The pilot pulled the stick and converted his speed to altitude, then proceeded to make a "normal" landing without power.

The Me had not been damaged, neither in the battle nor in the dive. The enemy retreated before the other Finnish pilots had any chance to engage them.

4. Six-Victory Morning

30 June 1944, Carelian Isthmus, Ihantala Front Section. Finnish Army was fighting a heavy defensive battle against attacking Red Army. The 1st Flight of Fighter Squadron 34 (eight Me 109 G6 led by Maj. Luukkanen) arrived over the battlefield and met an equal number of Soviet P-39 Airacobras. The fighters engaged each other at 10.15 hrs and the Soviet AA stopped firing as a "furball" developed at 3000 m.

Flight Master "Illu" Juutilainen's MT-457 slipped behind a pair of P-39's, which immediately tried to escape by a steep dive. Juutilainen followed and fired in dive at the enemy leader. The taill control surfaces of the P-39 were ripped off and almost hit the Me. The P-39 crashed in the marketplace of Viipuri. The wingman tried to escape towards his base with the MT-457 in hot pursuit. As the Soviet pilot saw that he was in the shooting range of the gray Me behind his tail, he tried to make a tight turn. But Juutilainen's very first salvo turned the enemy plane into a flaming torch which crashed at Sainio.

Juutilainen took altitude and watched how his wingman Sgt. Frantila shot down another P-39, then he saw in the eastern sky something like a black cloud. It was not a cloud but an enemy formation of 100 Pe-2 bombers escorted by at least 100 La-5 and Yak-9. Juutilainen sent a radio message to the combat control center and asked for reinforcements, promising ample targets for everyone.

Five Me's regrouped and began to climb. At 6000 m they were attacked by Yak-9s which prevented them from getting at the bombers. Soviet aircraft could be seen in great numbers in every altitude.

Juutilainen and Frantila engaged the nearest 2 Yaks. The enemies turned toward the Me's, then dived. The Finnish pilots followed 50 m behind the enemy tails. They dived at a speed of 800 kmh, consequently Juutilainen did not fire for fear of colliding with eventual debris. As the Yaks began to pull out of the dive, exposing the vulnerable fuel tank, engine and cockpit, was the ideal moment to shoot. Juutilainen fired at the leader. The Yak-9 took hits and under the strain of the G force her right wing broke off. The enemy dived in a wild spin and crashed at Juustila. His wingman escaped.

The two Me's were climbing to rejoin the battle as a burning Yak passed them in her last dive, then they were attacked by four Yak-9. Due to their lower speed the Me pilots easily manouvered themselves behind the enemy. Again the enemy tried to break off by diving, and the same thing happened as some minutes before. Juutilainen fired at his target as it was pulling out of dive, this time the Yak caught fire before crashing near the previous victim.

Again the MT-457 climbed, this time alone. The Soviet bombers had released their loads at the Finnish positions, nothing could be done about it anymore. The air battle was over for now, but the pilots of the 1st flight saw 12 FAF Ju-88 bombers arrive, escorted by a Messerschmitt flight. The bombers penetrated the AA fire and dive-bombed the Red Army troop and material concentration with 1000 and 500 kg bombs. No Soviet fighters were there to stop the Junkerses, which retreated unpunished. This raid also illustrated the difference of the resources of the two adversaries... But the Soviet Air Force was not able to control the airspace totally.

The smoke and dust of the dual bombardment was still hanging in the air as another hundred -plane Soviet formation arrived over the battlefield. This time the enemies were Pe-2's and IL-2m's escorted by La-5's.

Juutilainen was flying at 5000 m as he saw 5 Pe-2 below. He dived at them, but a La-5 approached him at high speed . firing wildly. Juutilainen pulled a steep climbing curve, the enemy fighter swished past and disappeared. The bombers had escaped, but there was now an escadrille of 9 IL-2M below, busy strafing the Juustila-Tali road with guns and rockets.

Juutilainen attacked the enemy from side and fired at the nearest Il-2 , hitting the cockpit area. The Stormovik crashed in the forest. Again a La-5 attacked the Me. The Finnish pilot evaded the enemy fire by pulling into a tight climbing left-hand turn, well knowing that his MT-457 would out-climb the La-5. The enemy fighter followed, trying to get enough deflection to hit the Me. But the best the Soviet pilot could achieve was to make the nose of his fighter point at the Me. He fired anyway, and saw the Finnish pilot wave his hand. "You missed!"

The two fighters continued climbing, the Me gaining steadily. About four minutes later at 4000 m Juutilainen found himself 100m above the La-5. He half-rolled, flying upside down above the La-5. The Soviet pilot panicked and turned his fighter to a vertical dive to retreat. The Me followed less than 100m behind. After diving 2000 m the enemy pulled up so hard that Juutilainen did not get any chance to aim, then he blacked out. As he regained vision, he found his fighter in a vertical climb behind the La-5 which immediately half-rolled and dived again.

This manouver was repeated several times. Finally Juutilainen took a risk and at the final phase of a pull-up nearly stalled his fighter to shoot at the La-5. His 20mm shells must have hit the enemy fuel tank, because the Soviet fighter dived in flames, trailing black smoke, soon crashing on the coastline N of Viipuri.

The low fuel warning light of the MT-457 was blinking. Juutilainen again took the initiative and called the other pilots of the flight reminding them of the impending fuel shortage. Fortunately seven Me's of the Squadron 24 led by Lt. Karhila just arrived, enabling the 1st flight to disengage the enemy. It was about 11.00 hours.

It was only now that Juutilainen realised he had gained six victories. He landed at Taipalsaari with empty fuel tank and ammunition magazine. He had spent in average about 22 pcs of 20mm shells at each of his victims. He could prove each kill.

In this battle the Finnish pilots scored 17 victories without losses. (Maj.Luukkanen shot down one P-39 and one La-5, so he was busy and not neglecting his duties.)

5. Good shots

31st August 1943. Three Me's of the 1st Flight of Squadron 34 had been alerted to Koivisto to support the Brewsters of Squadron 24 in an air battle. By the time Lt. Pekuri, Ft.Mstr. Juutilainen and Sr.Sgt. Lehto arrived on the scene, the battle was over. Only oil slicks were seen on the surface of the Gulf of Finland.

The enemy sent two speedboats to search for survivors. Juutilainen suggested that they should take altitude and check whether the boats had any air cover. The Me's turned South and began to climb.

Indeed, at 4500 m the Finnish pilots spotted two La-5 below. Pekuri and Lehto attacked, Juutilainen covered them. But Lehto hesitated a second before diving. Pekuri bounced the enemy leader and shot up his engine, then pulled up. Now the enemy wingman got behind his tail. Juutilainen had dived immediately having realised the situation, but due to his high speed he could not shoot the La-5 threatening Pekuri, 50 m behind his tail and gaining. "Illu" pulled a tight curve to decelerate, then approached the enemy again. The Soviet pilot saw the threatening-looking "Messer" as she was 100 m away. Immediately the La-5 pulled up and rolled into a steep dive, in a very quick manouver.

Juutilainen fired a brief burst "off the hip" at the very same moment. The first tracer passed ahead of the spinner of the La-5 but the rest of the projectiles were hits. The enemy continued his dive and crashed in the sea. Pekuri's victim had belly landed in the sea, and the Finnish pilots saw how one of the speedboats picked up the pilot.

Back in the base the armourers found six pieces 20mm cases and 23 pieces 7,9mm cases in the spent case container of the MT-207. It was not worthwhile to reload the magazines...

4th November 1943. Three Me's intercepted a formation of three IL-2m escorted by five La-5 on a Southeastern course over the Gulf of Finland between Seiskari Island and Sepeleva Lighthouse. Juutilainen told the other pilots - Lt. Valli and Sr.Sgt. Lonnfors - to attack the Stormoviks while he would tie the escort fighters.

As Juutilainen approached in climb the five enemy fighters, they retreated by a steep dive. He looked down - the two Finnish pilots had not attacked. They wanted to see whether "Illu" would need help against the La-5's. Illu dived after the Stormoviks, passing his friends in a high speed. The enemy was about to get within the cover of the Soviet AA guns.

Juutilainen approached the three Il-2 from the side at a speed of 600 kmh, which was too much for accurate shooting. He passed them, then pulled a 180 degree turn at wavetops and then began to close in for a firing run. The Finnish pilot approached his targets at a 90 degree angle. He aimed at the wing plane, the range was less than 100m. He also had to bank hard to keep the enemy in his gunsight, and as he pulled the stick for deflection, the engine of his fighter blocked his line of sight to the target completely. Yet he fired.

Valli and Lonnfors saw how the Il-2 dived and crashed on the shoreline, catching fire. With the target out of sight, " Illu" had estimated correctly the deflection and the moment of shooting - the Me109G did not have a gyroscopic gunsight. Moreover, he had hit the vulnerable spot of the IL-2M , which was two square meters in size seen from above. He had spent 10 pcs of his 20mm ammunition.


The Fokker D.XXI fighter of 3./LLv 24, flown by Sgt. Juutilainen in March of 1940.