And touched the face of God
- Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
- And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings
- Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
- Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things
- You have not dreamed of --- wheeled and soared and swung
- High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
- I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
- My eager craft through footless halls of air.
- Up, up the long delirious burning blue
- I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
- Where never lark, or even eagle flew
- And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
- The high untrespassed sanctity of space
- Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
- .
- . .
- Pilot Officer John McGee
- The author of this sonnet was killed at age 19 flying a Spitfire
in the Second World War. He was one of 17,000 RCAF war dead, one of Canada's
total of 104,000 victims of all wars.
-
-
-
"Clearly, the best fighter arriving during the
temporary peace [between the Russian invasion of Finland in 1939 and the
German invasion of Russia in 1941] was the American designed Brewster 239
Buffalo. These were acquired during the Winter War despite the U.S. law
which prohibited the sale of war material to the combatant countries. The
loophole which permitted the acquisition of the Brewster 239s was a clause
in the law which permitted the sale of 'rejected' equipment. It was 'arranged'
that the U.S. Navy rejected 44 Brewster Buffaloes which were then sold
to Finland at a 'nominal price.'" (Only 43 F2As were released; Brewster
shipped one additional aircraft from parts on hand. - from the prolog
by Gen. Nikunen)
"Our Brewsters, contemporary fighters, were fat hustlers, just
like bees. They had speed, agility and good weaponry too. In addition to
that they also had protective amor behind the pilot's back and under his
seat [installed by Finnish mechanics]. We were happy to take them anywhere
to take on any opponent."
- Finland bought 44 Brewster B-239s on 16th, December 1939, but they
were received too late to see any combat during the Winter War. Unit price
was 54 000 USD plus packing and delivery costs, also 10 spare engines,
20 propellers and other spare parts were purchased for a total sale price
of 3.4 million dollars (168 million Finnish Marks). To the purchasers surprise
all US Navy "property" were removed at the factory from the Brewsters
bought by Finland: guns, sights, instruments and carrier equipment. Initially
separately purchased Aldis-optical (binocular) sights were used, but in
the spring of 1941 before reflector sights (Finnish Väisäla T.h.m.
40 sights which were based on Revi 3c) were installed in the Finnish Brewsters.
Metric instruments were installed in Finnish Brewsters. The Finnish B-239
"export"- models were equipped with refurbished R-1820 G-5 engines
taken from DC-3 airliners. The B-239s were designated from BW-351 to BW-394.
During the war the single 0.30" machine gun was replaced with a 0.50"
(12.7mm) and in 1943 all except one Finnish B-239s had four 0.50"
machine guns. The wing guns had 400 rounds and fuselage guns 200 rounds
each (0.30" had 600 rounds). Pilot seat armor was installed to Finnish
Brewsters (important difference for pilot safety compared to F2A-1 and
dictated by the Winter War experience). There were a lot of other little
fixes, changes and improvements to the B-239 that were made locally in
Finland during it's career. .
- "The Last Flight of BW-372 " (from Russian Karelian
page)
Finnish
Air Force Stories |
- The Sorry Saga of the Brewster Buffalo: The Americans thought it was a lemon. Good Story!
- Russian Information from Onega.
- Finnish
Aces of World War 2 (Aircraft of the Aces Series , No 23) book by Kari
Stenman
