[Carl-Fredrik Geust]

Over the years some interesting information about Soviet AF defectors has been found in the Finnish National Archive.

At least four Soviet pilots defected to Finland in 1943 with their aircraft:

- starshina Ilya Savkin (691 SAP) defected and belly-landed with his I-16 (tactical ¨31¨) at Finnish-occupied Aunus (Olonets) on 24 January 1943. In spring 1943 he volunteered to join Luftwaffe in Germany, where he served in 3.Staffel/Gruppe Süd des Flugzeugüberführungsgeschwader 1, which was responsible for ferrying new fighters from aircraft factories to LW frontal unites. This unit seems to have been loosly attached to Vlasov´s air force (VVS ROA). Savkin was killed 18 August 1944 when ferrying Bf 109 G-14 (W.Nr. 780698) in a mid-air collision at Darmstadt-Griesheim with another ex-Soviet fighter pilot, Lt. Aleksandr Yakovlev in Bf 109 G-14 (W.Nr. 780807) who was also killed.

- Lt. Konstantin Marchenko (1 GvIAP) defected 9 February 1943, belly-landing his Yak-7B (tactical ¨37¨) on the ice of Lake Ladoga SW Olonets. Marchenko spent the rest of the war in Finnish POW camp. After the Finnish-Soviet preminary peace treaty signed 19 September 1944 he was repatriated to USSR on 21 October 1944.

- Sn.Lt. Ivan Panchekhin (872 ShAP) defected with his Il-2, and bellylanded in the Olonets region on 23 July 1943. His MG-gunner starshina Aleksandr Bondarchuk did not agree to defect, but could not resist, and was also taken prisoner. Panchekhin was also repatriated to USSR on 21 October 1944.

- Jn.Lt. Gusman Faizhulin (pilot) and private Gabdurakhman Kamakayev (gunner, both tatars, 943 ShAP) attempted to defect with their Il-2 near the Finnish AF base Suulajärvi on the Karelian isthmus on 26 July 1943. As the Finns were no aware of their intention to defect, the Finnish Bf 109-pilot Flight Master Yrjö Turkka intercepted the Il-2 which crashed killing Faizhulin, while only lightly wounded Kamakayev became POW. Kamakayev was also repatriated to USSR on 21 October 1944.

After these four defections a special leaflet with maps of "safe belly-landing sites" was spread over Soviet AF bases, but there are so far no information of further aviator defections on the Finnish front.

Furthermore Jn.Lt. Aleksei Chasovnikov (piloting Pe-2 c/n 16/141, 121 BAP) was shot down by a German fighter (apparently from JG 5) on 29 March 1943 near Petsamo. The gunner Sgt Ivan Matveyev was killed in the air, while the navigator Sn.Lt. Nikolai Teterin was killed at arrest on 4 April 1943. Chasovnikov was transported via Finland to Germany, where he also joined 3./FlÜG 1/4 Süd as ferry pilot. He was killed on 3 September 1944, when piloting Bf 109 G-14 (W.Nr. 782159), which crashed in bad weather near Bodenmais.

Carl