Eino Luukkanen

Eino Luukkanen (4 June 1909 - 10 April 1961) was a Finnish fighter ace in World War II. Luukkanen scored 56 confirmed victories, becoming Finland's third highest ranking ace. He flew the Fokker D-21, Brewster B-239 Buffalo, and Bf 109G.

Biography
Luukkanen was born in Jaakkima, Finnish Carelia into the family of a railway employee and grew up in Sortavala on Lake Ladoga.

Having completed compulsory military training he started he became a Pilot Officer in a Cadet School course in 1931, graduating in 1933, and receiving a commission. Luukkanen was posted as an Ensign to the 1st Maritime Squadron in Viipuri. He flew both as a pilot and as an observer.

In 1935 he was transferred to fighter squadron LeLv 26, equipped with the Bristol Bulldog Mk.IV A biplane fighter. In 1939 he completed a course of studies in the Military Academy and promoted to Captain. He was then posted as the commander of the 3rd flight of Fighter Squadron 24 (LeLv24), recently equipped with the Fokker D.XXI fighter.

On 30 November 1939, the Winter war started against the Soviet Union. The next day Luukkanen scored his first victory, a SB-2 bomber.

On 18 December Luukkanen's Fokker was damaged by friendly fire and he was forced to land on a rough field, damaging his plane. On Christmas Eve he shared a R-5 with another pilot over Summa.

On 24 December the 3rd flight was ordered to Värtsilä to provide air cover. During the six weeks at Värtsilä Luukkanen shot down one SB-2 on the 6 January 1940 - his last victory in the Winter War. On 4 March Luukkanen led his flight in a ground strafing attack against Red Army columns on the ice of the Gulf of Finland. The attack was a success, and such ground attacks against enemy columns were the main activity for the Squadron 24 up to the end of the war on the 13 March 1940.

After the Winter War Luukkanen had the task of ferrying the newly arrived Brewster 239 fighters from Trollhättan, Sweden to Finland. Squadron 24 was re-equipped with this fighter and training was started immediately.

The air war started again on 25 June 1941. Luukkanen saw combat again on 8 July 1941. Four BWs under Luukkanen's command had taken off from Rantasalmi and were at 1500 m over Parikkala when they attacked six I-153s flying at low altitude over the front line. They claimed a total of five victories, but Luukkanen could only confirm one. During 1941 Luukkanen scored 5.5 victories and during 1942 claimed 9 more. On 11 January 1942 Luukkanen was promoted to the rank of Major and posted as the CO of Reconnaissance Squadron 30, flying a mix of Fokker D.XXIs and captured I-153s. The task of the unit was to monitor enemy shipping movements on the eastern Gulf of Finland and the enemy aircraft on the islands of Seiskari and Lavansaari.

On 27 March 1943 he was posted as the commander of the recently created Fighter Squadron 34 and equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 fighters. By the end of the war he had logged 441 missions.Luukkanen scored his last victory on 5 August 1944 as he and his wingman each shot down a Yak-9. Major Luukkanen unit had claimed 345 victories from 29 March 1943 - 4 September 1944. for 30 Messerschmitts lost, 18 of which in combat and 12 pilots were killed, with one taken prisoner of war.

He wrote his memoirs (published in 1956) and proved a success, with three print runs. His book was translated in English and published in Britain in 1961 and reprinted in the US in 1992 entitled "Fighter over Finland".

Luukkanen died in 1961, survived by his widow and his son Risto, who also entered the military as a career.

After the war
The President of Finland, Field Marshal Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim died on 28 January 1951. Eino Luukkanen was among his pall bearers. Luukkanen entered retirement in November 1951 after being convicted of espionage after having handed over some aerial photographs to a man who worked for the Swedish intelligence service.