Defended Finnish airspace and supported the army against the Soviet invasion with just over a hundred aircraft.

The Air Force entered the war with just over a hundred aircraft; the official history counts more than a thousand Soviet combat aircraft facing it, and reference works around 2,500 in all. The fighter force was built around the Fokker D.XXI, licence-built by the State Aircraft Factory, backed by a handful of Bristol Bulldogs, with Blenheims for bombing and reconnaissance. Finnish fighters often met formations ten or even twenty times their size. On 6 January 1940 Lt Jorma Sarvanto, flying from Utti, shot down six of seven DB-3 bombers heading for Kuopio in four to five minutes. Ten pilots became aces. Foreign help arrived late: 30 Gladiators, Fiat G.50s, Moranes and Hurricanes came in February and March 1940, and the Brewsters only by early March. Soviet bombing killed 957 Finnish civilians. The official tally is more than 300 aerial victories for 62 aircraft destroyed and 75 airmen killed or missing.

Výsledek The war ended in March 1940 after 105 days; Finland stayed independent but ceded territory.

Victory figures vary with what is counted: the official history gives more than 300 aerial victories, while reference works credit Finnish fighters with about 200 to 218 and anti-aircraft guns with more than 300. All are wartime claims, not matched one by one to Soviet records.

Létání pro

Finské letectvo

Kde

Finland and the Karelian Isthmus

Vedle

Swedish volunteers

Proti

Sovětský svaz

Letadlo

Fokker D.XXI, Bristol Bulldog, Gloster Gladiator, Fiat G.50, Bristol Blenheim

Výpady

—Not published as a consolidated Air Force figure. Blenheims alone flew 423 missions.

Ztráty

62 aircraft · 75 killed62 aircraft destroyed and 35 damaged; 75 airmen killed or missing (official history). Wikipedia gives 47 lost in air combat, the difference being losses from all causes.

Zdroje

Finské letectvo · Finské letectvo · Suomen Ilmavoimamuseo · Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Wikipedie

Fought the Soviet air forces alongside the German campaign in the east, defended Finnish cities and supported the army through the 1944 Soviet offensive.

Finland went to war again after Soviet air raids on 25 June 1941, with about 550 aircraft of which roughly half were combat types, bought, captured or donated from half a dozen countries. In the first phase the Brewster 239 dominated: the Air Force Museum credits it with a ratio of 1:32 and 480 victories in all. From 1943 the Bf 109G took over, with 663 victories claimed for 34 lost in combat. In February 1944 Helsinki withstood three great Soviet raids of more than 6,000 sorties, helped by decoy fires outside the city. The summer offensive of 1944 was the hardest test; German Detachment Kuhlmey reinforced the Finns at Tali-Ihantala. In all 155 Finnish pilots scored victories, 87 of them five or more, led by Juutilainen with 94 and Wind with 75. The Air Force delivered more than 3,000 tonnes of ordnance, and ground-based air defence claimed another 1,030 aircraft. Bombers came from Germany too: 15 Do 17Zs in January 1942 and 24 Ju 88A-4s in April 1943. By September 1944 the force was down to 384 aircraft.

Výsledek Armistice with the Soviet Union in September 1944; ceasefire from 4 September.

About 1,600 victories in the official history and 1,621 in reference works; ground-based air defence claimed another 1,030 and the Navy 75. Brewster figures range from 459 to 480 victories for 15 to 19 losses in air combat, because sources count different squadrons and periods. All are wartime claims; post-war research has reduced some individual scores.

Létání pro

Finské letectvo

Kde

Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus and the Gulf of Finland

Vedle

Německo

Proti

Sovětský svaz

Letadlo

Brewster 239, Messerschmitt Bf 109G, Curtiss Hawk 75, Fiat G.50, Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, Bristol Blenheim, Junkers Ju 88, Dornier Do 17

Výpady

—Not published as a consolidated figure. More than 3,000 tonnes of ordnance were delivered.

Ztráty

182 aircraft182 aircraft destroyed in action or written off and 160 aircrew casualties per the official history; Wikipedia gives 210 aircraft lost in combat. The official wording does not separate killed from missing.

Zdroje

Finské letectvo · Puolustusvoimat, Historia ja perinteet · Suomen Ilmavoimamuseo · Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Wikipedie · Wikipedie

A special detachment of fighters and bombers supported the army in driving German forces out of Lapland under the armistice terms.

The armistice of September 1944 required Finland to expel the German forces in the north. The Air Force formed a special detachment of fighter and bomber aircraft in northern Finland to support the army’s campaign, which began in October 1944. The aircraft were largely German-built — Bf 109Gs and Ju 88s — now turned against the Luftwaffe, alongside Blenheims. By the time the operation ended in April 1945 the detachment had lost 10 of its 60 aircraft, with 16 aircrew lost and two captured. The last war mission of a Finnish Ju 88, and the Air Force’s last combat sortie of the Second World War, was flown on 4 April 1945. The war also marked the end of the blue swastika as a national marking, replaced by the roundel under the Allied Control Commission. It was a small campaign against a withdrawing enemy, but it cost a sixth of the aircraft committed. The Bf 109Gs that flew in it stayed in service until 1954; the Ju 88s were grounded by the 1947 treaty’s ban on bomb bays.

Výsledek German forces left Finland; the last Finnish combat sortie was flown on 4 April 1945.

The official history does not break down the 16 aircrew casualties into killed and missing.

Létání pro

Finské letectvo

Kde

Northern Finland

Vedle

Žádné spojenecké letectvo

Proti

Německo

Letadlo

Messerschmitt Bf 109G, Bristol Blenheim, Junkers Ju 88

Výpady

—Není zveřejněno jako konsolidovaný údaj.

Ztráty

10 aircraft · 16 killed10 of the detachment’s 60 aircraft lost; 16 aircrew casualties and two taken prisoner.

Zdroje

Finské letectvo · Wikipedie · Wikipedie · The Defense Post · Wikipedie

Since joining NATO the Air Force has flown an Icelandic air-policing rotation and integrates its 24/7 quick reaction alert with Nordic allies.

Finland joined NATO on 4 April 2023 after decades of military non-alignment, though its Air Force had long trained with Western partners: cross-border training with Sweden and Norway almost every week, the Arctic Challenge exercises since 2013, and from 2010 a four-Hornet, 250-airman detachment held ready for international operations and, from 2018, in the NATO Response Force pool. The first NATO air-policing deployment followed in January and February 2025, when four Hornets of Fighter Squadron 11 and about 50 personnel flew from Keflavik in Iceland. At home, on 24 September 2026, Finnish Hornets and Swedish Gripens on QRA identified Russian Tu-134, MiG-31 and Su-30 aircraft over the Gulf of Finland together, the first joint operational identification by the two air forces, led by the Finnish Air Operations Centre. About 15 Finnish personnel are planned for NATO’s air operations centre at Bodø.

Výsledek Continuing.

A Finnish air-policing rotation in Romania in 2024 is reported in secondary sources but was not confirmed from an official source for this page.

Létání pro

Finské letectvo

Kde

Iceland and Finnish airspace

Vedle

NATO, Sweden, Norway and Denmark

Proti

—

Letadlo

F/A-18C/D Hornet

Výpady

—Nezveřejněno.

Ztráty

0 letadel · 0 zabitýchNo losses on operations. HN-409 was lost in a training accident at Rovaniemi on 7 May 2025, not on a mission.

Zdroje

NATO · Wikipedie · Finské letectvo · Finské letectvo · Finnish Defence Forces · Aviation Safety Network wikibase 509322