Aimo Lahti

Aimo Lahti
Aimo Lahti during the Interim Peace in 1940
Born	Aimo Lahti April 28, 1896 Viiala
Died	April 19, 1970 (1970-04-20) (aged 73) Jyväskylä
Nationality	Finland
Occupation	gunsmith, weapons designer
Known for	Lahti-Saloranta M/26 machine gun, Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, Lahti L-35 pistol, Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle
Spouse(s)	Ida Lahti

Aimo Johannes Lahti (April 28, 1896 – April 19, 1970) was a self-taught Finnish weapons designer. Of the 50 weapons he designed, the best known is the Suomi M-31 SMG. Other well-known weapon designs of his include the Lahti-Saloranta M/26 LMG, Lahti L-35 pistol, and Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle. Lahti also designed the 7,62 ITKK 31 VKT anti-aircraft machine gun and the 20 ITK 40 VKT anti-aircraft cannon.

His work is considered decisive in defending Finnish independence and increasing trust in the reliability of domestic weapons produced there.

Aimo Johannes Lahti was born in Viiala on 28 April 1896, to Evert Williamson Lahti and Ida Sophia Carlsdaughter née Viitanen, the oldest of five boys. He had a safe and somewhat wild childhood. Lahti did not enjoy school and left after the sixth year of elementary school. He started working in the Viiala glass factory when he was 13 years old. In the same year, he bought his first weapon, a Berdan rifle, with five marks he had earned in the factory. Lahti was fascinated by the rifle’s mechanism and visited local gunsmith Säteri with whom he examined the weapon closely. Aimo Lahti visited him several times, becoming familiar with weapon mechanisms. Lahti served his conscription in central Finland’s regiment during 1918 and 1919. On October 20, 1919, he married Ida Dagmar Lassila (1 December 1890 – 27 October 1968) with whom he had a son, Olavi Johannes Lahti. Olavi was later a pilot in the Finnish Air Force and died in 1944.

After working for the railway Aimo Lahti joined the Finnish Army as a Master Armorer in 1921. He was influenced in this decision by Captain Rosenholm. In 1922, he started to design the Suomi M-31 SMG after examining the Bergmann MP18, which had many design problems and was expensive. The new design was revolutionary because the reliability, accuracy, and rate of fire were excellent. The first 200 Suomi SMGs were produced in 1922. After the prototypes were made, he was ordered to work under the control of the Ministry of Defence and to design a light machine gun, which eventually would be the Lahti-Saloranta M/26. He then improved the Mosin–Nagant rifle by designing the M/27 "Pystykorva" "Spitz", named for its foresight guards' resemblance to the dog breed's ears. This rifle was later issued to the Finnish Army as their service rifle.