Sortavala 1918 - 1924 Kasinhäntä 1925 - 1939 Turkinsaari 1927 - 1939 Suur-Merijoki 1929 - 1939 Winter War 1939 - 1940

Temporary Peace 1940 - 1941 Continuation War 1941 - 44 Lapland War 1944 - 1945 Pori Air Base 1945 - 1980 Tampere-Pirkkala 1981 - 1998

4. Suur-Merijoki 1929 - 1939, Page 2 The three Aeros that the Separate Land-based Squadron operated were transferred to Squadron 12. The last Aero AEj-62 was given away in 1936. Squadron 26 flew with the beaten Gamecocks along with the Bulldogs. The first VL Tuisku aircraft were received at the end of July 1937. This can happen: Moth and Aero "get a feel for each other" on the 20th of September 1934 at Käkisalmi airfield - luckily with minor damage. One proof of the importance of the liaison squadrons during the thirties for the Finnish Air Force was that they received new aircraft only three years after the purchase of the Fokker C.V.E planes. In 1936 it was decided to acquire the Fokker C.X which was one of the liaison aircraft of its time. The four new aircraft were transferred to Squadron 10 at Utti in June 1937. The squadron had operated the old Jupiter-Aeros previously. The rest of the Fokkers Squadron 10 received when they transferred to Suur-Merijoki. After Squadron 10 had received new aircraft the conversion could be started at Squadron 12. The last aircraft was delivered in January 1939. Now the squadrons had modern aircraft but the aircraft were poorly equipped. The old Fokker C.V.E planes Squadron 12 transferred to Squadron 14 which had moved from Turkinsaari to Suur-Merijoki. In addition to the Fokker C.X and C.V.E aircraft the Squadrons 10, 12 and 14 that were based at Suur-Merijoki in the late thirties also operated Moths and Sääskis that were used in the liaison and trainer duties and also Tuiskus for instrument training. Reserve pilot course during inspection on the 20th of June 1934. The aircraft: Smolik, Moths and Aero. Flight operations at Suur-Merijoki can be divided into two periods; years 1930 - 1934 when the air station had only one Separate Maritime Squadron with few aircraft and years 1935 - 1939 when several squadrons operated from the base using adequate equipment judged by qualitative and quantitative basis. The limits in the air force aviation fuel quotas were felt also at Suur-Merijoki. Flight operations at Suur-Merijoki were diverse. In addition to spotting missions where the pilots and navigators had to have knowledge about the enemy and tactics of different services they had to be able to take part in the ground warfare with bombs and machine guns, perform bombing missions and in addition to that survive the enemy counteractions from ground and air. In the beginning of the decade Separate Maritime Squadron emphasized  strafing surface targets in their aerial gunnery training just as in other Finnish Air Force units. During the latter part of the decade more attention was paid to shooting airborne targets. In the end of the decade bombing was practiced both in formal training and in tactical exercises. Dive bombing experiments were started at Suur-Merijoki in 1935. Squadron 26 focused in interception missions based on the fighter mission that the squadron had. The squadron started tactical training in 1936. After studies and theoretical lectures students proceeded to flight training which was started with two-ship formations and later larger formations were used. Machine gun, gun camera and attack profile training programs were developed based on the experiences. Two syllabi were developed for air combat training: P-program which consisted of four attack profiles against TB-bombers and H-program which consisted of three attack profiles against fighters. In both syllabi the attack was performed using two- or three-ship formations. More pre-war fighter training at: Finnish Fighter Tactics. Aviation technology and tactics were followed by making reports from magazines and books so that special issues concerning different units had to be lectured once a month. From the beginning of the 1930's tactical map exercised were held for the officers. During the latter part of the decade teaching focused in studying the wartime missions of the squadrons. In the last years of the 1930's most of the training in the country was given in the squadrons. Flight crew focused in studying different tactical questions. Soviet air force was studied and also the army tactics and organization to a certain extent. When poor weather and fuel quotas limited flight training especially Squadron 26 used a lot of time to discuss e.g. fighter tactics and analysis from the exercises. Maintenance personnel training was conducted as lectures and TDYs. The lectures in the squadrons focused in observations from the maintenance work, modifications, working procedures and also reports from other units sent by the regiment staff. Mechanics - mainly supervisors, but also some aircraft mechanics - were sent to other regiments, Aircraft Factory, Tampella and the Air Force Depot to study maintenance and new procedures. Suur-Merijoki mansion was one of the finest officers clubs in Europe in its time. Some items from the club are still at Pirkkala air base in the Fighter Squadron 21 premises. Because the geographic location of Suur-Merijoki was considered to be very favourable the development of the air station continued. A new fighter squadron, Squadron 26, was stationed at the base in 1934. Only in spring 1935 did the operations improve markedly when the squadrons received the long awaited new aircraft. After that there were problems in arming the aircraft which limited the operational readiness and training in the squadrons. When operational preferences called for regiments with similar type of aircraft Squadron 26 was transferred in the beginning of 1938 to Utti, where Flight Regiment 2 was formed. Squadron 10 moved from Utti to Suur-Merijoki, where a Flight Regiment 1 was formed for co-operation with other services. Only then was the original idea of basing several liaison squadrons at Suur-Merijoki finalized. During the 1930's co-operation with the army was regarded as the most important mission for the Finnish Air Force during wartime. This was evident in the squadron structure of the air force: out of nine squadrons four were liaison squadrons and one was a maritime liaison squadron. As the main base for the liaison regiment Suur-Merijoki was probably the most important base in the Finnish Air Force during the 1930's. Back to Suur-Merijoki 1929 - 1939 page   Go to Winter War 1939 - 1940 page Back to Fighter Squadron 21 History page

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