Finnish Air Force
| Finnish Air Force Ilmavoimat Flygvapnet |
|
|---|---|
 Finnish Air Force emblem |
|
| Active | from 6 March 1918 (Army Corps of Aviation established) 4 May 1928 (independent service) |
| Country | Finland |
| Role | Air defence |
| Size | 3,100 active personnel, 38,000 reserve personnel |
| Motto(s) |
Qualitas Potentia Nostra Quality is our Strength |
| Engagements |
Finnish Civil War Winter War Continuation War Lapland War |
| Website | ilmavoimat |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Major General |
| Insignia | |
| Roundel |  |
The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF) (Finnish: Ilmavoimat ("Air Forces"), Swedish: Flygvapnet) ("Air Arm"), is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. As a separate branch of the military, the Finnish Air Force was founded on 4 May 1928, having existed officially since 6 March 1918 as the Army Corps of Aviation.
The first steps in the history of Finnish aviation were taken with Russian aircraft. The Russian military had a number of early designs stationed in the country, which until the Russian Revolution of 1917 had been part of the Russian Empire. Soon after the declaration of independence the Finnish Civil War erupted, in which the Soviets/Russians sided with the Reds – the leftist rebels. Finland's White Guard, the Whites, managed to seize a few aircraft from the Russians, but were forced to rely on foreign pilots and aircraft. Sweden refused to send men and material, but individual Swedish citizens came to the aid of the Whites. The editor of the Swedish daily magazine Aftonbladet, Waldemar Langlet, bought a N.A.B. Albatros aircraft from the Nordiska Aviatik A.B. factory with funds gathered by the Finlands vänner ("Friends of Finland") organization. This aircraft, the first to arrive from Sweden, was flown via Haparanda on 25 February 1918 by Swedish pilots John-Allan Hygerth (who on March 10 became the first commander of the Finnish Air Force) and Per Svanbäck. The aircraft made a stop at Kokkola and had to make a forced landing in Jakobstad when its engine broke down. It was later given the Finnish Air Force designation F.2 ("F" coming from the Swedish word "Flygmaskin", meaning "aircraft").
Swedish count Eric von Rosen gave the Finnish White government its second aircraft, a Thulin Typ D. Its pilot, Lieutenant Nils Kindberg, flew the aircraft to Vaasa on 6 March 1918, carrying von Rosen as a passenger. As this gift ran counter to the will of the Swedish government, and no flight permit had been given, it resulted in Kindberg receiving a fine of 100 Swedish crowns for leaving the country without permission. This aircraft is considered by some to be the first aircraft of the Finnish Air Force, since the Finnish Air Force did not officially exist during the Civil War, and it was only the Red side who flew a few aircraft with the help of some Russian pilots. The von Rosen aircraft was given the designation F.1. The Finnish Air Force is one of the oldest air forces of the world – the RAF was founded as the first independent branch on 1 April 1918 and the Swedish Flygvapnet in 1925.
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Wikipedia