An Air Force with an interesting history during the Cold War is the Finnish Air Force. Finland hat a lot of restrictions after the Nazi years – to still have a working air force it purchased dual use two seater jets as trainers – as the numbers of fighters was limited.
Finland also tried to balance its purchases between east, west and domestic producers. This led to a diverse inventory of Soviet (MiG-15, MiG-21), British, Swedish, French and Finnish aircraft. After unofficial talks with their Sweden, the Swedes began storing surplus Saab 35 Drakens, to be transferred to Finland in the event of a war with the Soviet Union.
The Soviet-built MiG-21bis was operated as long as 1998 – when the F-18 Hornet fleet was ready.
The MiG-15 UTI – as operated by the Finnish Air Force. Photo by Reto Schneeberger
As of today – there are only two flyable MiG-15s left in Europe, while the MiG-21 is still operated by the Croatian and Rumanian Air Forces.
One of the remaining two MiG-15s is the only one that people can actually book flights in. If you are interested – have a look at the MiG-15 flight in Czech Republic. There is also several videos available about the MiG-15 flights at the MiGFlug Youtube channel – below a few:
A bit of history: Finland’s situation was somewhat unique, in that in it’s initial anti-Soviet war, it was an ally of, and being assisted by France and Britain. It was only later, when it was the Soviet’s who switched from being a collaborator with Hitler one fighting against him along side Britain was Finland placed in the position of seeking assistance from Germany. Then postwar it was, like Austria, pushed into a neutral position between east and west. So even earlier than the Cold War, the Finnish Air Force had a rather interesting mixture of Allied and Axis aircraft.
Today – Finland operates a McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F/A-18 Hornet fleet. See below a video from a training with Finish Hornets taking off from normal roads.
https://youtu.be/bNuVCvIGKxE
What do you mean by the Nazi years?
yeah was also wondering about that. Nazi years, Finland had no Nazi years. they were attacked by the Russians and because of the importance of the Russians in fighting the Nazis they were left alone.. and so was Finland. They kept the Russians off for most part but couldn’t get them out anymore.. as no one came to help they asked the Germans to help and paid a huge price for that during and after the war. Read history before you make claims.
Look man, Finland was forced to fight for the Nazis.We did NOT volunteer.
Era of Timo Soini of course.
The “Nazi years” refers to when the Finns and Hitler collaborated in the 1940s, when Finland offered a “back door” to the nazis.
Before war, Stalin also offered to put Soviet bases in Finland.
Correct. There were no “Nazi years” for Finland. It had an uneasy, pragmatic association with Nazi Germany because no other country would help when the Soviets invaded the small country to begin the Winter War, and later the Continuation War. However, Finland kept strict ideological distance from the Nazis. Later, during the Lapland War, Finland drove the Germans out of the country. But because of its loose association with Germany, Finland was heavily penalised by the Soviets with post-war reparations. The desire to pay off the USSR early resulted in hyper-industrialisation and Finland’s quick transformation from a largely rural, agrarian society to a highly developed, technologically advanced nation.
Really? Sweden?
During Winter War Germany and Soviets were allies ( Molotov – Ribbentrop -pact ). During the war nobody helped us — including Germany, western countries spoke a lot but nothing happened. The war ended after 105 days, soviets did not manage to reach their targets.
After the Winter War there was a temporary peace which lasted more than year. During that time it was obvious soviets wanted to finish their game with Finland. Allready during the Winter War gernan high command was planning the operation Barbarossa and they find Finland as a suitable partner. They pushed some pressure on soviets to finish the war who were willing to qoncuer whole Finland.
In June 1941 Germany started operation Barbarossa and Finland soon followed motivated to take back lost territory and after red army airforce bombing of finnish towns in Southern Finland. This time Finland got help from Germany which was actually the only possibility. Sweden was sitting quiet, Estonia was qoncuered by soviets, Denmark and Norway by Germany. There were no connections to other countries who could give help but Germany.
Finnish government , President and other politician hated the nazi -ideology and they showed that out quite clearly time to time. Mr. Ryti who was President of Finland was more interested on relationships with UK and USA than nazi-Germany but he had to tolerate nazi’s because there were no other sources for food, guns and ammunitions.
There were some minor extremist coups though who were fascinated about Hitler and his ideology but they were rare. That same happened also in other western countries. These extremists talked a lot but they didn’t have power in Parlament of Finland or anywhere else.
The first jet fighters of the the finnish air force were not russian. Finland bought british de Havilland Vampires in 1954, Folland Gnats in 1959 and french Fouga Magisters in the same year. The MiG-21 came in the sixties, and the number on MiG-15 was less than ten.
Typical ruSSians THEY ARE like the arsonist playing the fireman….When it comes to most things…
BUT when it comes to WW2 they are the embodiment of the definition of the phrase…. arsonist playing the fireman.!
1. First they start ww2 together with Hitler in 1939
2, Then in 1941 they act like victims when they have a falling out with their old buddy hitler…
3. Then they act and present them selfs as liberators when the allied forces defeated hitler’s evil in 1945 the same evil war together with Hitler the ruSSians them selfs, instigated and helped Hitler to unleashed unto the rest of the world…
4. Then the RuSSians try to hide the historical facts of their evil acts and the facts they was collaborators and was working together with Hitlers nazi germany, And how do they do this they just smokescreen the facts and claim that WW2 started in 1941 and not even calling it WW2 but renaming it to The Great Patriotic War…
THE FACTS
1. Hitler and Stalin together attacks Poland on September 1, 1939 fin September 17, 1939 from the east in accordance with the pact with Stalins Buddy Hitler
2. Stalin attacks Baltic States September 25, 1939
3 Stalin’s secret orders of how to deal with opposition in Baltics
4 The Katyn Massacre September 17, 1939
5 Soviet and Nazi-collaboration 1939
In Moscow in August of 1942, Churchill asked Stalin how he had come to sign the pact with Hitler in 1939. Stalin replied that he thought that England must be bluffing; he knew that Britain had only two divisions that could be mobilized at once, and he thought that Britain must know how bad the French Army was and what little reliance could be placed on it. He could not imagine that Britain would enter the war with such weakness.
On the other hand, he said he knew Germany was certain ultimately to attack Russia. He was not ready to withstand that attack; by attacking Poland with Germany he could make more ground, ground was equal to time, and he would consequently have a longer time to get ready. However, none of this was true. To Stalin himself and most Party functionaries, the pact was not a necessity, but a highly congenial alliance.
Probably Stalin’s most successful propaganda coup of all was the propagation of the myth that Soviet territorial acquisitions in 1939 were designed to establish a forward strategic line in case of a German attack.
This tale has received wide acceptance, but eighteen months later when Hitler launched his invasion, virtually nothing had been accomplished in the way of fortifications, defensive lines or military airfields to exploit ground gained by the nazi-soviet Pact.
In fact, the national armies of Finland, Romania and the Baltic States would have protected Stalin’s flanks. As it was, Finland and Romania were turned into effective allies of the Germans, and the Baltic States provided Hitler with excellent troops.
Hitler gained a great deal from the pact. Soviet Union was supplying him with his raw materials. Provision was made for the supply from Russia of a million tons of grain for cattle, 900,000 tons of mineral oil, 100,000 tons of cotton, 500,000 tons of phosphates, 100,000 tons of chrome ore, 500,000 tons of iron ore, 300,000 tons of scrap iron and pig iron, and numerous other commodities vital to the German war effort. and all this when inside of the ruSSian controlled USSR other nations like Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia people was starving in extreme poverty…
While Hitler was fighting Britain and France, the Soviet Union was supplying him with his raw materials. Not only that, but they were helping Hitler to break Britain’s blockade by supplying rubber and other essential supplies by transporting them on the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is interesting to note that while Stalin was supplying Hitler with thousands of tons of grain, his own people were starving.
It is very clear that what both Hitler and Stalin wanted was the complete dismemberment of Poland. Polish soldiers held captive in the Soviet Union were told that “…by being on good friendly relations with Germany the land would never again be an independent country. Poland is dead forever.” Stalin furnished Germany with military co-operation far beyond that which the United States was giving Britain at that time. The German navy was allowed facilities at Murmansk on a scale which contrasts favorably in many ways with restrictions placed on Allied use of the same port between 1941 and 1945.
AFTER WW2 THE RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA LIKES TO PRESENT ITSELF AS THE LIBERATORS OF EAST EUROPE..
Many Eastern Europeans emigrated to Canada, and when Soviet Union or the Russian language is mentioned, you get a look that says “Hey, we’ve had enough of them. We were forced to learn Russian…My father spent time in Russian POW camps, so and so was sent to Siberia or was shot…” They are just now throwing off the vestiges of this colonial power. However, in the Soviet press, all was rosy, the Russians were “welcome” everywhere, and interviews were made to show how everyone “loved” the Russians and how they just can’t get enough of their wonderful help. Why then so much military activity at the borders? Who is there to shoot at, where is the enemy? The truth was that all the countries would have enjoyed a standard of living close to that of Germany and Finland without this “Soviet assistance,” instead they were thrown into poverty and incarceration within their own country or Siberia, or worse. Like the old saying goes, “with friends like that who needs enemies?»
Russian noe – Stalinist Hypocrites like Putin and most every other Russian spend their lives cheating, betraying, conning, and deceiving. But despite this disgusting pattern of behavior, RuSSians still feel entitled to point out (or invent) the most minor mistakes in others—and they’ll point them out repeatedly, to negate & excuse all of their own horrible actions.
This should not surprise: Russia and Russians are immune to breaking whatever is needed AND TO LEI ABOUT ANY HISTORICAL FACTS to achieve their Machiavellian ends of global expansionism of the Russkiy Mir also know as the russian world .
Russian propaganda convivially overlooks is that Stalin and Hitler started ww2 be invading Poland together and splinting it up between themself’s..
Also let us not forget the fact the it was the Stalin and RuSSia that made it possible for Hitler to build up his naziarmy by giving him iron-ore and other need goods from 1939-1941 the soviet union was the strongest and most important partner of nazigermany ..It was only after June 1941 when Hitler turned on his good buddy Stalin and attacked the USSR that Stalin came running to the wast for help and the west said yes ok we will let you fight with us they did this well knowing that Stalin helped Hitler build his army and also because the west was thinking in terms like my enemy’s enemy is my friend policy and tactic
Russians living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I really think that the Russians aren’t the ones to lecture Ukraine and Ukrainians about fascism, or anytihng ealse for that matter, especially since RuSSians was the ones that signed the pact with the-devil [nazigermany] and started World War II… and even today RuSSia are still glorifying Stalin,”. Hitlers good buddy in 1937-1941 Hitler and Stalin started ww2 together when the invaded Poland.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty. Secret protocols of the treaty defined the territorial spheres of influence Germany and Russia would have after a successful invasion of Poland On September 1,1939 Hitler’s forces invaded Poland from the west. According to plan, Soviet troops invaded Polish territory from the east on September 17. Poland surrendered on September 27. The next day Poland was partitioned according to the treaty’s scheme, ending a brief twenty year period as an independent nation.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty. Secret protocols of the treaty “In fact, the nazisoviet Pact as the kick-off for World War II is probably the most surprising scenario that anyone could have imagined,” “That’s how you have to view it from the perspective of August 1939. The world was absolutely dumbstruck by this deal.”
Those twin agreements did in fact set the stage for the start of World War II. Within days of signing the pacts, now confident that the Soviets would not oppose him, Hitler invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the war was underway.
Hitler gained a great deal from the pact that STALIN AND HITLER made (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact) The Soviet Union was supplying him with his raw materials. Provision was made for the supply from Russia of a million tons of grain for cattle, 900,000 tons of mineral oil, 100,000 tons of cotton, 500,000 tons of phosphates, 100,000 tons of chrome ore, 500,000 tons of iron ore, 300,000 tons of scrap iron and pig iron, and numerous other commodities vital to the German war effort. and all this when inside of the ruSSian controlled USSR other nations like Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia people were starving in extreme poverty…
The agreements continued Nazi–Soviet economic relations and resulted in the delivery of large amounts of raw materials to Germany, including over 900,000 tons of oil, 1,600,000 tons of grain and 140,000 tons of manganese ore.
During both the first period of the 1940 agreement (February 11, 1940 to February 11, 1941) and the second (February 11, 1941 until the Pact was broken), Germany received massive quantities of raw materials, including over-
1,600,000 tons of grains
900,000 tons of oil
200,000 tons of cotton
140,000 tons of manganese
200,000 tons of phosphates
20,000 tons of chrome ore
18,000 tons of rubber
100,000 tons of soybeans
500,000 tons of iron ores
300,000 tons of scrap metal and pig iron
2,000 kilograms of platinum
In August 1940, Soviet imports comprised over 50% of Germany’s total overseas imports, which declined at this time to 20.4 thousands of tons..
The trade relations ended when Germany began Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The various items that the USSR has sent to Germany from 1939 to 1941 in a significant amount, can be substituted or obtained by increased imports from other countries. –
Without Soviet deliveries of these major items, Germany could barely have attacked the Soviet Union, let alone come close to victory, even with more intense rationing