Dance in Äänislinna (Petroskoi). 1941-1944

Dancing

Finnish Airforce fighter ace (32 victories) Kyösti "Kössi" Karhila (1921–2009) photographed infront of his Curtiss P-36 Hawk after his first kill in august 1941. 

He flew the Curtiss Hawk in LeLv 32 until April 20, 1943, when he was moved to LeLv 34 along with some other aces, to fly the just arrived Messerschmitts. During the Continuation War (1941-1944) Karhila, scored 13 confirmed kills with the P-36 Hawk and 19 with Bf 109 G, flying 556 hours (304 missions) and also reached the rank of captain. Karhila wasn't part of the "active" Airforce Personnel and was therefor the top scoring reservist pilot.

After the war he flew airliners for Finnair, Aero O/Y and Spearair gathering 24 000 flying hours before his retirement in 1986. Kyösti Karhila died in Helsinki on September 16, 2009, at the age of 88. He died as last one of the Finnish fighter aces.

Today as the Finnish and Soviet files can be compared, 11 of Karhila's unconfirmed kills have been confirmed, meaning the number of his aerial victories should actually be 43.

Future ace after his first kill

This special patrol of 100 men was led by Lt. Ilmari Honkanen and it consisted of 7 officers, 37 NCO's and 56 privates. 52 of them were from long range patrol detachments (Kuismanen & Marttina) and 48 were jaegers and combat engineers from Detachment Lagus.

The raid to Petrovskij Jam took place on the night of February 13, 1942.(00:45-02:50)

35 cars and trucks were destroyed and 50 disabled. 300 horses were killed, 5000 kilos of hay and 6000 liters of fuel was burned. 70 buildings were destroyed including all food and ammunition storages and a storage full of winter clothing, tents etc. During the raid the patrol also freed prisoners from local labor camp.

Finnish casualties were 5 dead and 6 wounded.

The Soviet casualties were estimated atleast 500 KIA and 5 POW.

After the raid the Soviet troops in the whole region barely had any supply for 2 weeks, in the middle of cold winter, forcing them to cancel a planned offensive.