Finnish PZL P.11C

[comrade harps]

PZL P.11C
White 6, LLv 26, Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), Utti, Finland, winter 1942-43
Personal amount of Warrant Officer Matti Peltola



The First and Second Russian Civil Wars left eastern and western Europe hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees. Many remained in border areas adjacent to the Moscow Pact nations and were seen by members of the Cordon Sanitaire as bulwarks against Red incursions. Whilst the most prominent political leaders of these so-called White Russians cooperated with their host states to maintain a peaceful coexistence with the Reds, others were more action oriented. Campaigns of propaganda, sabotage, terrorism and guerilla warfare were waged against the Reds from these border areas throughout the 1920s and 30s.




Finland was a major source of ongoing cross-border intrigue and conflict. Red attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement went on for several years, but the Finns had a powerful irredentist movement that sought to regain land currently within Red control. The ongoing undermining of Red authority in these areas appeared to strengthen their expansionist claims. A final Red offer was placed in October 1939. It made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons; primarily the protection of Petrogad, 32 km from the Finnish border. Finland refused and, amidst continued terrorist acts, the Red Army invaded on 30 November 1939.




The first morning of the war was a bad one for the Finnish Air Force (Ilmavoimat). Despite growing evidence of a Red Army build up along the border, an inspection was held at Tampere that morning. A large selection of the Ilmavoimat's bombers and fighters were neatly lined up, waiting for review, when Red fighters strafed the airfield. They were followed soon after by bombers. It was carnage and the Finns had suddenly lost over a third of their combat aviation.




The Illmavoimat was desperate for replacement aircraft. Amongst those who offered a deal was Romania. Romania had in its inventory 36 PZL P.11C fighters, flown in by retreating Polish pilots as their nation collapsed in the face of the Nazi Blitzkrieg. Judged obsolescent, they were unwanted by the Romanian Air Force, and were made available to Finland at a token price. The Nazi authorities cooperated by allowing Romanian and Finnish pilots to ferry the planes through Poland, onto Sweden and finally Finland. Britain facilitated the transit by sea of a cadre of Polish PZL P.11C pilots to train the Finns on the type.




7 of the 12 Bristol Bulldogs assigned to LLv 26 ( Fighter Squadron 26) were destroyed in the attack on Tampere. It became operational on the P.11C in February 1940. Flying armed reconnaissance, the Squadron lost 2 P.11Cs but claimed 6 Red aircraft by the time the war ended on 13 March 1940. Although the P.11C was outclassed in terms of speed and armament, it was small, agile and had a good climb rate. Flown with discipline and to its strengths, it proved to be both useful in its assigned duties and a worthy opponent.



Finland declared war on the Moscow Pact nations on 25 June 1941. This brought the Finnish P.11Cs back into action. It also brought LLv 26 a fresh supply of P.11C spares, the Nazis selling their new ally stocks seized in September 1939. Although it has been reported the Finnish engineers built additional P.11C airframes from this windfall, this is inaccurate. Instead, it allowed the Finns to repair existing airframes, thereby helping them maintain the type in service until after the September 1944 truce with the Reds. The last P.11C was retired in December 1946. Nevertheless, a combination of attrition and basic obsolescence had seen the Illmavoimat acquire Bf 109G-6s for LLv 26, these arriving in April 1944. The unit flew its last P.11C sorties in May.



Finnish pilots flying the P.11C claimed 88 kills for 11 losses. Most of the victories (63) were made in the first year of the war, after which improved Red training, aircraft and tactics put the Illmavoimat on the defensive. However, post war analysis of Red records can only match 37 of the claimed 88 kills. Aerial fighting, though, was not LLv 26's raison d'etre, armed reconnaissance was.



White 6 (originally Blue 6) was flown for some time by Warrant Officer Matti Peltola. He claimed 8 victories in the Winter War flying Dewoitine D.510Fs with LLv 11. Early action during the Continuation War with LLv 11 in Fiat G.50s saw W/O Peltola credited with a further 23 enemy aircraft. Surprisingly, he was transferred to LLv 26 in April 1942 (allegedly as punishment due to an indiscretion with a senior officer's wife). Peltola's scoring rate fell, but by April 1944 he had added 6 more kills to his tally (4 of which were Po-2 biplanes). Due to a change in tactical coding, the Warrant Officer's personal mount Blue 6 became White 6 in June 1942. He scored 7 more victories in the final months of the war whilst flying the Bf 109G-6. Peltola died of natural causes in 1976.

[Dizzyfugu]

Uh, nice! 

[PR19_Kit]

That works very well in that Finnish scheme. 

[jcf]

Interesting story.
My understanding is that the conflict between Finland and the "Reds" was more an extension of the very old Finns vs. Russians relationship than it was a conflict between the differing political systems. The Reds were just the latest collection of arrogant, land greedy Russians in control in Moscow.

[comrade harps]

Interesting story.
My understanding is that the conflict between Finland and the "Reds" was more an extension of the very old Finns vs. Russians relationship than it was a conflict between the differing political systems. The Reds were just the latest collection of arrogant, land greedy Russians in control in Moscow.

In the real world, yes. My alternative universe throws in a few more twists.

[zenrat]

Good job comrade.

DId they ever operate these on skis IRL?

[perttime]

Did who operate them on skis? IRL, Finland never had any.
During the Winter War, skis would have been a real possibility, just like with Fokker D.XXI.
----------

This does look good. A serial code would be a good addition. Something like PZ-(two or three numbers).

[Dizzyfugu]

Good job comrade.

DId they ever operate these on skis IRL?

Romania operated PZL.11s on skis, and Poland most probably, too. There are even aftermarket sets, but only in 1:48..

[zenrat]

Did who operate them on skis?...

Anyone.

Romania operated PZL.11s on skis, and Poland most probably, too. There are even aftermarket sets, but only in 1:48..

Thanks Dizz.  Skis from the Airfix Gladiator would be about the right size.

[NARSES2]

That looks so right. Lovely job   

[Weaver]

Yeah that's very credible and it looks good in that cammo. 

The PZL P.11 family, and it's P.24 export version (enclosed canopy, Gnome Rhone engine*) were quite the export product for Poland before the war. All sorts of interesting places you could claim they ended up and it would be totally credible.


*The licence which Poland had to make the Bristol Mercury engine precluded them from exporting any, so they either had to sell airframes with British made engines, or fit an alternative.

[buzzbomb]

Like that one. Colour scheme works very well on that aircraft

[Hotte]

Nice "finnish" bird 

Hotte

[Captain Canada]

Nice one ! The camo pattern and colours look great on her !  I'm curious to see a pic of the Warrant Officer's wife, see if it was worth it 

[Raptor341]

She looks right beautiful in those colours - a very plausible and accurate looking whatif!