ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 202394
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| Date: | Friday 1 December 1939 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Tupolev SB 2 |
| Owner/operator: | 41 SBAP Soviet Air Force |
| Registration: | 20/101 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Imatra -
 Finland
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
On 1 December 1939 aviation units of the Leningrad Military District carried out air strikes against Finnish airfields at Utti, Suur Merijoki, and Immola. The 2nd Aviation Squadron of the 41st SBAP, comprising twelve SBs, bombed the Immola airfield in low cloud conditions from an altitude of 250 m (820 ft). The bomber pilots, confident of their invincibility, took no evasive action and did not close up their formation against the fighters that they saw scrambling for a counterattack. As a result, the Finnish D-XXI fighters of LLv 24 managed to shoot down four SBs of this unit. This Finnish unit claimed a total of eleven SB downed during the day (in battles against 24 and 41 SBAP).
Here is the story of the battle seen from the Finnish side:
The next day, the 1st Dec 1939 Karhunen fought his first battle flying the FR-112. His two-fighter section was scrambled in the afternoon to intercept enemy bombers approaching Imatra from the direction of Lappeenranta. Karhunen deduced that the enemy would attack the Imatra hydroelectric power plant and in that case the enemy pilots would follow the power line to find their target. The two fighters flew above the same line at 600 m to meet the enemy. After a few minutes the Finnish pilots saw nine SB-2 at 500 m approaching from the West, Karhunen could not help admiring the fine nine plane formation, he had never seen one in the air. The Fokkers attacked, the bomber gunners opened fire against them, Karhunen and his wingman fired back - but without result. The bombers kept their direction. Above the town of Imatra Karhunen managed to damage the left wing SB so that it left formation. They were flying so low that the pilots could see how people came out of their houses to watch the battle. Karhunen realised that the bombers were going to raid the Immola Air Base, fortunately now more Fokkers joined the battle. At the target the SBs released their bombs, but with meager results, then dispersed, pursued by Fokkers. One of the attackers dived in flames, shot down by Capt. Magnusson. Karhunen and his wingman, Sgt. Heikinaro, chased a lone SB. When in range, Karhunen fired. The bomber decelerated, the fighter pilot had to break off to avoid collision. Heikinaro had now his chance, and he shot down the SB, which crashed on a small island of the lake Saimaa and burned. Both fighters returned to base. One prisoner of war was taken, he told their unit was 41.SBAP.
One of the bombers lost by 41 SBAP was the Tupolev SB 2M-100 20/101 "Yellow 9" that was downed by 1Lt Jussi Räty of 4/LLv 24 in FR-115 at Imatra. Two crew, Lt Zhorka Tanklayev (pilot) and 1Lt Vikto Demchinsckiy (navigator), were captured, while the third, Cpl Sergei Korotkov, was killed.
Sources:
"Tupolev SB: Soviet high speed bomber", by Mikhail Maslov
http://web.archive.org/web/20130801070555/http://www.elknet.pl:80/acestory/karhu/karhu.htm
“Osprey Aviation Elite 4: Lentolaivue 24”, by Kari Stenman, John Weal, Kalevi Keskinen, ISBN 1-84176-262-8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imatra
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=202394
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 01-Dec-2017 10:52 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 02-Jul-2021 09:56 | JF | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 11-Aug-2023 09:54 | JF | Updated [[Aircraft type, Operator]] |
| 14-Aug-2023 14:54 | JF | Updated [[[Aircraft type, Operator]]] |
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