Ilmari Juutilainen Biography
Eino Ilmari Juutilainen (21 February 1914–21 February 1999 (aged 85)) was a fighter pilot of the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. This makes him the top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force, leading all Finnish pilots in score against Soviet aircraft in World War II (1939–40 and 1941–1944), with 94 confirmed aerial combat victories in 437 sorties. According to himself he achieved a total of 126 victories. He achieved 34 of his victories while flying the Brewster Buffalo fighter.
Summary
Juutilainen is the top scoring Finnish fighter pilot. He flew Fokker D.XXI, Brewster Buffalo and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes. He was one of the four people who twice received the highest Finnish military decoration, the Mannerheim Cross, and is considered the highest scoring non-German ace of all time. Juutilainen finished the war without a single hit to his plane from enemy fighter airplanes (once he was forced to land after a friendly anti-aircraft gun fired at his Bf 109). Like fighter aces Erich Hartmann and Saburo Sakai, Juutilainen never lost a wingman in combat.
Life
Juutilainen entered the Finnish military on 9 September 1932 for his compulsory military service, serving as a pilot in the Finnish Air Force starting from 1935. On 1 May 1935, Juutilainen was promoted to sergeant. He was transferred to LeLv 24 on March 3, 1939. This unit operated from Utti. In October 1939, with the situation worsening, the squadron moved to Immola, closer to the Finnish-Soviet frontier. During the Winter War (that broke on 30 November 1939 ) he flew the Fokker D.XXI.
During that conflict he achieved two individual victories and one shared.
During the Continuation War, he served in
3/LeLv 24 flying Brewster B239s. In his BW-364 "Orange 4" (BW-364), he shot down 28 enemy planes out of his 34 Brewster victories (including three triple kills), between 9 July 1941 and 22 November 1942.
Still a sergeant, Juutilainen scored his first victory on 19 December 1939, shooting down an Ilyushin DB-3 bomber and damaging two more.
He became a Brewster Buffalo "ace" on 21 July 1941 when he destroyed a Polikarpov I-153 'Chaika'. He was flying one of six 3/Llv 24 Buffaloes scrambled to intercept Soviet fighters from 65th ShAP that were strafing Finnish troops near Käkisalmi.
Few days later, on 1 August, Ist Lt Karhunen's seven fighters destroyed six I-16s near Rautjarvi and WO Juutilainen claimed two of them.
On the morning of 6 February, while reconnoitring the Petrovkiy-Jam region with other LLv 24 pilots he intercepted seven SB bombers escorted by 12 MiG-3s.
Juutilainen claimed two SBs.
He later recalled:
I noticed the bombers at 3000 metres, and radioed the boys about them. As we intercepted the Soviet aircraft, I spotted a formation of three SBs heading for a nearby railway line and dived after them. Targeting the aircraft to the left of the formation, my fire set its port wing aflame. The SB crashed next to the railway line. Just as I started after the lead bomber, I observed a MiG fighter closing in on me. In spit of the threat posed by the latter, I managed to hit the bomber in the starboard engine, which poured out smoke and oil. Moments later the aeroplane rolled over to the right and plunged into the forest close to the railway line.
Turning my attention to the MiG, which was above me, I managed to shoot at is as we raced towards each other. My aim was good and the fighter started to trail black moke from the engine. He banked away to the east, losing altitude as it went.
On 27–28 March 1942, 3/LLv 24 moved to Immola in preparation for Finnish Army offensive on Suursaari, in the Gulf of Finland. On 28 March, WO Juutilainen, in patrol with Sgt Huotari, attacked some "Chaikas" of 11 IAP over the Suurkyla shoreline, at Gogland, and shot down two of them. These air victories took Juutilainen's tally to 22, some 20 of which had been scored flying the Brewster, between 9 July 1941 and 28 March 1942. A month later, on 26 April, he became the first recipient of Mannerheim Cross, the highest Finnish award, in his unit.
Although being grossly outnumbered, over the Gulf of Finland, LeLv 24 pilots were more experienced than their Soviet opponents from Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Even when they had advantage of surprise and height, Soviet pilots did not succeed in shooting down Finnish pilots.
Still, on 20 September, he took off with Capt Jorma karhunen and 3/LeLv 24 pilots for a patrol of the Kronstadt-Tolbukhin-Seiskari region. Near the Estonian coast, they were bounced by ten Soviet fighters. But the Finnish quickly reacted and managed to down three of their opponents. WO Juutilainen was credited with two kills in Buffalo BW-364.
In 1943, he was transferred to
LeLv 34, which used new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2s. With the Bf 109, he shot down a further 58 enemy planes.
He refused an officer commission, fearing it would keep him from flying.
His 94th kill was a Li-2, the Russian version of the Douglas C-47, shot down on 3 September 1944 over the Karelian Isthmus.
After the wars, he served in the air force until 1947. He worked as professional pilot until 1956, flying people in his De Havilland Moth. He flew for the last time, a Finnish Air Force F-18 Hornet, in 1997.
Juutilainen died on his 85th birthday on 21 February 1999.
Source: Wikipedia Ilmari Juutilainen page
