Fighter Squadron 21 history, Page 10

10. Tampere-Pirkkala 1981 - 1998

The new Tampere-Pirkkala airfield was activated on the 1st of October 1979. In the same year the liaison flight moved from Härmälä to the new base. By spring 1984 new buildings were ready for the squadron headquarters, the main guard post, two hangars and a SAR vehicle building. Fighter Squadron 21 moved to Pirkkala in 1985.

Hawks at Pori 1985 (25612 bytes)

Fighter Squadron 21 Hawks at Pori in early spring 1985.

Satakunta Wing was from the beginning responsible for the Hawk pilot training of the Satakunta Wing and also for training the other wings and the Air Force Academy pilots. Fighter Squadron 21 trained at Pori five instructors for the other Wings each; Lapland Wing pilots in spring 1982 and Karelian Wing in winter 1983. The last phase of the fleet introduction program was in spring 1986, when the Air Academy started the Hawk training of the first students straight from the Vinka primary trainers to the Hawks. The conversion to Hawks laid the basis for the genuine fighter lead in training. On the right a Hawk close to Pori in 1985.

See Hawk photo

The UK-trained maintainers activated the Hawk turnarounds and fault inspections at Fighter Squadron 21. Maintenance personnel from other Wings were trained for the turnarounds in the squadron. An I-level maintenance capability was created for Satakunta Wing. The first major scheduled overhauls took place at Pori from 1982 on.

Aircraft types operated by Fighter Squadron 21 in summer 1982. From the front Hawk, Fouga, Vinka, Safir and Piper.

Satakunta Wing was left without fighters after the Vampires were transferred to Luonetjärvi. The Wing was responsible for the air defence of the country's capital, Helsinki and major parts of the Finnish economy. The area of responsibility bordered the international airspace over the Baltic. In these circumstances the fact that Satakunta Wing didn't have fighters created a significant hole in the air defence system. The fighter purchase was delayed year after year because of shortage of funds. As late as 1981 the third Parliamentary Defence Committee recommended the fighter purchase and a decision was made to get the fighters for Satakunta Wing.

The decision led to the additional order for Swedish Saab 35 Drakens in March 1984. 18 used single-seat Saab 35 FS "Filips" were bought for Satakunta Wing and two Saab 35 CS "Cesar" trainer versions for the Air Force fighter training activities.

The Saab 35 Drakens operated from Pirkkala AB from the 1st of August 1985 to the 30th of October 1997. Select the image to see the large Draken DK-271 image.

The first F-models for the Wing were delivered to Rovaniemi in June 1985 and the first three fighters were flown to the new Pirkkala base on the 1st of August 1985. This marked the end of trainer period (dating back to the 1950's) in the Wing.

Drakens to Pirkkala 1 Aug 1985 (19442 bytes)

The first "own" Drakens arrived at Pirkkala on the 1st of August 1985. Pilots S. Kohtala, J. Grönmark and N. Erkinheimo reporting to the wing commander. On the right Maj J. Opas and Col H. Nikunen.

Since Lapland Wing had operated the Drakens for several years (see Draken history), it was natural that Draken pilots and maintainers were transferred from Rovaniemi to Pirkkala to activate the Draken operations. Key personnel from the Wing were trained for the Drakens at Rovaniemi during 1984 - 1985.

The first Draken type conversion course was started at Pirkkala in late October 1985. Six pilots took part in the course. Training was scheduled so that the Drakens would take the alert responsibilities from the Hawks during 1988. The first two classes flew their simulator flights at Lapland Wing, Rovaniemi since the Wing didn't have a Draken simulator. Satakunta Wing received a Draken simulator on the 8th of December 1986. The device was operational, but it was a Swedish Air Force version, which made training more difficult. A Finnish version was made during 1987 and it represented the FS-version.

German Air Force Breguet Atlantic (9193 bytes)

Draken intercepted a German Air Force Brequet Atlantic over the Baltic on the 27th of April 1995, 13.30 hrs local time.

There weren't enough two-seat CS-versions from the beginning. To ease the training pressures the Wings synchronized the type conversion training so that only one fighter squadron was running a conversion course at a time. During type courses the one with the active class got the first priority for the trainer versions. Satakunta Wing started operational alert duties with the Drakens in early 1987 and reached operational capability in 1988. Ten years later the same took place with the F-18 Hornets.

The number of Draken aircraft in the squadron was really low compared with the flight hours required for fighter training. The aircraft arrived from Sweden in small batches and they were modified at the Valmet Aviation Industries factory in Kuorevesi. A type conversion course for the Satakunta Wing civilian and uniformed maintainers was arranged at Lapland Wing. In the same time some maintainers were transferred from Lapland Wing to Pirkkala. The maintainers had a rough time with the few new aircraft, but handled the challenge as real professionals.