ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 193031
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| Date: | Tuesday 23 January 1940 |
| Time: | 13:10 |
| Type: | Gloster Gladiator |
| Owner/operator: | Swedish volunteer unit F19 Suomen ilmavoimat |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | west of Märkäjärvi -
 Finland
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
Between 12:05 and 13:25 hrs four Gladiators of the Swedish volunteer unit F19 under command of fänrik (Pilot Officer) Ian Iacobi flew a fighter-sweep over Märkäjarvi-Salmijärvi. The mission was to protect ground-forces in the area against enemy aircraft. The Finnish front and supply troops had been under a hard and constant pressure by Soviet rotes and flights, which attacked every twenty minutes.
During the first hour of the sweep there were no enemy contacts. Around 1310 hrs a group of I-15bis’ of 145 IAP under the command of Lieutenant Konkin was sighted on a westerly course and a dogfight begun. The Soviet pilots’ reported one “enemy reconnaissance” biplane shot down at Mjattijärvi. The aircraft started to burn and crashed 3-4 km south of Mjattijärvi. The pilot was killed. Three Soviet aircraft were also hit. One of them returned with fourteen bullet-holes, another with one and the third with twenty-five bullet-holes. The Swedish pilot fänrik John Sjöqvist (born 14 March 1918) was killed when his Gladiator “B” crashed burning, west of Märkäjärvi, inside enemy lines.
After this dogfight three Soviet I-16s were sighted at high altitude and since the Swedish pilots now started to get low on ammunition and fuel they retreated back to base at minimal altitude.
Sources:
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sweden_f19.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salla_Phase2.png
https://mapcarta.com/13638852
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Jan-2017 20:48 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 02-Dec-2017 19:29 | Anon. | Updated [Country] |
| 16-Feb-2021 18:08 | Lelek | Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator] |
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