Remnants of Detachment Kuhlmey's FW-190A "Black 12" found at Helsinki-Malmi Airport

[ssipila]

Remnants of Heribert Koller's FW-190A "Black 12" (Detachment Kuhlmey / JG54) have been found at Malmi Airport in Helsinki, Finland. A bulletin with some images (in Finnish) is at http://www.pelastamalmi.org/fi/tiedo...w-kuhlmey.html .

Here is the text translated to English.

A fragment from a dire moment in Finnish history unearthed at Helsinki-Malmi Airport

In an excavation by the Civil Aviation Administration and Finnish Aviation Museum on the fringes of Helsinki-Malmi Airport, well-preserved fragments of a German military aircraft have been unearthed. The spot for the dig was pinpointed by Eino Eloranta, who in his youth digged around at the fresh crash site with the local boys.

The excavation has revealed, among other things, pieces of landing gear and wing, a 20-mm cannon and ammunition. They belong to a Focke-Wulf fighter of Luftwaffe's Detachment Kuhlmey. The aircraft was en route to Malmi Airport but crashed nearby on 18 June 1944 after the pilot had to bail out in bad weather. Detachment Kuhlmey played a crucial role in the defense of Finland in summer 1944.

In the 1941-1944 Continuation War against the Soviet Union, Malmi Airport was a Finnish Air Force base and an important maintenance and transit airfield for the Lufwaffe units in Finland. The exposed remnants from more than 60 years ago are a tangible reminder of the important role of Malmi Airport in the recent history of Finland.

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The last flight of "Black 12"

In June 1944 Finland was in the middle of a dire moment in its history. The mass offensive of the Soviet Union on the Karelian Isthmus had begun on 9 June. To aid the Finnish military in bringing the offensive to a halt, Detachment Kuhlmey of the Luftwaffe arrived on 12 June (see http://www.pelastamalmi.org/en/news/mass_offensive.html). Its pinpoint bombings were a decisive factor in stopping the Red Army. Detachment Kuhlmey flew thousands of sorties and dropped hundreds of tons of bombs. It destroyed more than 100 enemy aircraft, around 200 tanks, and tens of bridges and maintenance convoys while suffering notable losses itself.

Unteroffizier Herbert Koller of Detachment Kuhlmey took off on 18 June 1944 at 8:45am from Immola in order to fly the battle-damaged Focke- Wulf 190A "Black 12" to Petseri, Estonia, for repairs. An intermediate landing in Helsinki was intended. On the way Koller noticed an Il-2 attack aircraft harassing a ship in the Gulf of Finland and turned from his route to shoot it down. The remaining leg to Helsinki proved difficult as the weather was getting bad and the clouds were hanging close to the ground. Near Malmi Airport Koller lost ground visibility and due to a faulty flight attitude instrument nearly lost control of the aircraft twice. Koller described the events:

"...this time something dark came towards me. I recognized it as a cliff and at the same instant I brushed through a treetop. I'll never know how I managed to gain altitude again and as this time there was no water below, I bailed out at 300 m and opened my parachute immediately.

I was happy when I heard the FW 190 hit solid ground. Right after that, there was more light and I saw that I was drifting towards some high-tension cables. By pulling hard on the braids I managed to change direction and landed on a field next to the cables.

The aircraft was burning about 100 m away. The fire brigade of Malmi Airport or the German detachment there had observed my wandering around the airspace with great concern, and the fire brigade arrived in just a few minutes - the distance to the Airport was only 200 m."