The Temporary Peace

THE FINNISH FIGHTER TACTICS AND TRAINING BEFORE AND DURING THE WW II

By Heikki Nikunen

THE TEMPORARY PEACE 14 March 1940 - 24 June 1941

Air Academy

The war pilot courses continued even after the war until July 1940. The Air Academy started the inspection of the training programs to get the full use of the war experiences. Those indicated that the training principles were right. The flight program was extended with more instrument flying, aerobatics and aiming exercises. The combat maneuvers would include hammerhead turn, tight turns, vertical pull up, battle immelman and split-s. The total number of flight hours was increased from 50 to 60.

The combat wings gave their feedback to the Air Academy in the spring of 1941. These supported the already started modification of the training program. The most important demands were (5):

the minimum number of flight hours in the elementary training was 60 hours and that should include the transition training to the older fighters

the advanced training should be concentrated totally on the combat airplanes

the students should be selected to the proper wings as early as possible

the special emphasis should be in the instrument, combat and night flying and in the air gunnery

These needs were taken in the consideration as far as the aircraft selection made possible.

Training units

The principles of the Finnish fighter training, as mentioned before, were found correct in the Winter War. After the war a special training program was prepared for the training units. Captain Eino A. Rahka, who was a fighter flight commander during the war, and was nominated as the commander of the 35 Training Squadron in March 1940, made the basic work for the new training program (15).

The theoretical subjects of the program were:

the organization and operation principles of a fighter squadron

fighter tactics in various missions against various targets

the air surveillance and anti aircraft artillery systems

radio traffic and equipment

air gunnery and weapon systems

The theory included 43 hours with 11 subjects. The air combat tactics had most hours, 13, containing:

operations against non-escorted bombers; search, approach, formation, attack and cooperation, shooting, break and reattack

operations against escorted bombers; like before

operations against surveillance aircraft over the front line area

fighter combat; formation, search, approach, attack, evasive maneuvers, cooperation, regrouping

operations against observation balloons, protection of own aircraft and ground attacks

Fokker DXXI armed with a 20mm gun

The air gunnery and weapon systems had 5 hours. The enemy tactics; bombers, fighters, reconnaissance aircraft and the comparison with own airplanes was lectured in 4 hours. The own and enemy tactics were illustrated with war examples and these lessons were the most interesting among the students (13).

The flight program was divided in the four phases. The first phase included:

check flight 30 minutes

landing and turn exercise 30 minutes; 3 landings, climb to 1500 feet, medium and tight turns, the student had to observe the speeds, angles and turning times

climb, turn and dive exercise 30 minutes; climbs to 3 000 and 4 500 feet, tight climb turns, glide turns, dives after split-s, tight dive turns, the student had to observe the speeds, angles, times and the minimum height loss

tight 180 degrees turns on various power settings 30 minutes; the student had to observe the times of the turns, the initial and end speeds and the quickest way to reverse the heading

climb, slide turn and vertical pull up exercises 2 x 30 minutes; climb to 3 000 feet, slide turns with 20 degrees bank and full rudder, pull ups to 60 and 90 degrees nose up attitudes at various initial speeds, the student had to observe the angles, times, extra height and end speeds

The total number of the flight hours in the first phase was 3.

The second phase included the initial exercises in fighters:

take off and landing exercise 30 minutes

climb and turn exercises 2 x 30 minutes; climb to 3 000 feet, 180 degrees medium and tight turns at various speeds, glide turns, the student had to observe the times, speeds, best initial speed, power settings, quickest way to turn, best glide speed and the loss of height

climb and climb turn exercises 2 x 30 minutes; climb to 6 000 feet, battle immelmans at various initial speeds, the student had to observe the times, speeds, angles and the extra height

aerobatics 7 x 30 minutes; climb to 6 000 feet, loops at various initial speeds; climb to 12 000 feet, spins with various control techniques; climb to 4 500 feet, immelmans at various initial speeds; climb to 4 500 feet, slow rolls at various initial speeds, inverted flight; climb to 6 000 feet, climb rolls at 30 - 60 degrees; climb to 6 000 feet, hammerhead turns at various initial speeds; climb to 6 000 feet, vertical rolls; the student had to observe the times, angles, speeds, control technique and the characteristics of the fighter

After the aerobatics phase every exercise, shooting at the ground targets excluded, contained 5 minutes free choice aerobatics over 3 000 feet before landing.

acceleration and deceleration tests 2 x 30 minutes; altitudes 3 000 feet and 600 feet, times from minimum level speed to max speed and vice versa

climb and dive exercise 30 minutes; climb to 10 000 feet, dives to 3 000 feet at 45 degrees angle, the student had to observe the times, speeds and the RPM

aiming exercises 6 x 20 minutes; dive angle 30 - 45 degrees, initial height 2 000 - 1 500 feet, recovery height 300 - 150 feet

3 shootings at the ground targets; target 4 yards x 6 yards, dive angle 10 - 30 degrees, initial height 1 500 - 900 feet, shooting range 200 - 50 yards, recovery height 150 feet; first shooting 10 dives, 200 bullets, demanded result 10%; second shooting 8 dives, demanded result 20 %; third shooting 6 dives, 600 bullets, demanded result 40%

The total number of the flight hours in the second phase was 12.5.

The third phase included the advanced exercises in the fighters:

climb and dive exercises at higher altitudes 30 minutes plus 2 x 45 minutes; climb to 15 000 feet, dives at 45 - 60 degrees angles to 3 000 - 6 000 feet; climb to 20 000 feet, dives at over 60 degrees angles to 3 000 feet - 6 000 feet; climb to 25 000 feet, vertical dives to 3 000 feet via push, hammerhead turn and split-s; the student had to observe the times, speeds, angles, quickest control techniques, possible differences in the right and left side maneuvers and the Max RPM

aiming exercises at the air target 3 x 30 minutes; first, target altitude 3 000 feet, approach directly from the side 1 500 feet higher, attack from behind and above, break to the side and below and then back to the approach position; second, target altitude 4 500 feet, approach from the front sector ( 30 - 45 degrees ) 2 500 - 3 000 feet higher, split-s and attack from behind and above, break to the side and below; third, target altitude 3 000 feet, approach directly from the side 2 000 - 2 500 feet higher, attack from the rear sector and above, "shooting" in the tight turn with 45 degrees difference in headings; "shooting" with gun camera, both eyes open, short bursts, estimation of the deflection

5 shootings at the air target; sleeve or plate target, approach directly from the side 1 500 feet higher, shooting from behind and above at range of 200 - 20 yards; first, 8 dives, 200 bullets, 10%; second, like before but 20%; third, like before but 600 bullets and 30 %; fourth, like before but shooting in a tight turn, 400 bullets, 30%; fifth, like before but shooting in a tight turn from below, 600 bullets, 35 %

formation flight exercises 2 hours plus 30 minutes plus 1.5 hours; section flight at 3 000 - 10 000 feet, instructor in the leading fighter, lateral distance 100 - 150 yards, battle immelmans, steep dives and tight turns, wing changes, signals; section flight on the route; section maneuvering at 15 000 - 25 000 feet

The total number of the flight hours in the third phase was 12.5.

The fourth phase in the flight program contained the combat training in the fighters:

attack exercises in section 4 x 1 hour; first, the target section flies along a route in the area of 6 miles x 13 miles at 3 000 feet, the attacking section flies 1 500 - 2 500 feet lower in searching and attacks as quick as possible, "shoots" from behind at 150 - 20 yards, break to the side and a new attack as soon as possible; second, as before but the attacking section flies 2 500 - 3 000 feet higher than the target section; third, as before but the target section flies along a random route; fourth, the target is a single fighter which flies random route in the area of 3 miles x 6 miles at 6 000 - 10 000 feet, the attacking section`s mission is to search and attack one by one so that the number two comes to the firing range when the target has done its first evasive maneuver, instructor in the target plane; the students had to observe the search ( the use of the hand, wing or fuselage to cover the sun), look out to the rear sector, the position of the fighters in the attack, use of the engine power, look out during the break, regrouping and time for the new attack

attack exercises, single fighter, 3 x 1 hour; first, the target fighter flies random route in the area of 3 miles x 6 miles at 12 000 - 15 000 feet, the attacking fighter performs the search, approaches and attacks from the rear sector and from above, the target fighter makes the most effective evasive movement at the horizontal level when the attacker is at the range of 100 - 50 yards; second, like before but the target makes the evasive maneuver downwards; third, like before but the target makes the evasive maneuver upwards; the gun camera is used in the both fighters, however, the dog fight is not the goal of the training but to strike quickly and shoot from the angle which is not covered by the seat armour

The total amount of the flight hours in the fourth phase was 7 hours.

The responsibility for the phases of the program was usually divided among the various flights.

In addition to the theory and the flight training there were 4 hours per week for physical training like traditional individual sports, ball games and pistol shooting.

Both the theory and the flight training were emphasized by the war experiences. The most important fighter training air base during the temporary peace was Parola Air Base. In addition to that Pori and Siikakangas Air Bases and Tyrväntö Temporary Air Base were used.

There were in Parola in the beginning of May 1940 6 Gloster Gauntlets, 3 Bristol Bulldogs, 2 Tuisku trainers, 1 Pyry advanced trainer, 1 war booty I-153, 1 Gamecock, 1 Kotka liaison plane and 1 Jaktfalk. The number of the aircraft was small in relation to the amount of the students and therefore the training time was lengthened in a frustrating way. However, the detailed analyzing of the sorties kept the quality of the training high. The students, while observing and registering the various performance details, got good training both in the observation ability and in the control skill. Also, the shooting results could be quite good in spite of the short experience like the next examples show (13):

" There were shootings at the ground target in the afternoon. From the first 50 bullets I put 39 hits on the target and from the second 50 bullets 36 hits. From the last 100 bullets I got 96 hits on the target and because I lost 3 bullets due to a malfunction I actually missed only one bullet, so, altogether 171 hits from 200 bullets."

From the last 100 bullets I got 96 hits on the target and because I lost 3 bullets due to a malfunction I actually missed only one bullet

"There was air gunnery in the morning and the first sortie was with 200 bullets. The trigger was a little tricky, so, it didn`t go very well. I made 48 holes in the sleeve and that meant 24 hits (two guns) and 12 %, which actually was excellent! I had been thinking that I had missed the whole sortie! The second sortie also was with 200 bullets, now I made 119 holes meaning 60 hits and 30 % which gives excellent."

The fighter squadrons gave in the late spring of 1941 a rehearsal training for about 50 reserve pilots concentrating on the air gunnery and combat training. The flight hours per pilot were only about 10 hours.

The fighter tactical principles developed in the middle of 1930s had proved to be right in the test of the war. The pilot losses during the Winter War remained small both relatively and absolutely. Therefore there was an experienced instructor cadre in the Air Academy and in the squadrons to teach the new students. The direct feedback from the air battles gave the training a good realism and motivation. The shortages in the training resources could be very much compensated by the well prioritized theory and flight programs.

The second highest scoring Finnish ace Hans Wind with 75 victories

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Revised: tammikuu 01, 2006.