Verner Lehtimäki

Verner Lehtimäki
Verner Lehtimäki as a Soviet pilot
Born	(1890-06-08)8 June 1890 Vahto, Grand Duchy of Finland
Died	5 April 1938(1938-04-05) (aged 47) Soviet Union
Allegiance	Red Finland  Great Britain Soviet Russia  Soviet Union
Service/branch	Red Guards Murmansk Legion Baltic Fleet Soviet Naval Air Force
Years of service	1918–1923
Rank	Colonel (British Royal Navy)
Battles/wars	Finnish Civil War North Russia Intervention Russian Civil War

Verner Lehtimäki (8 June 1890 - 5 April 1938), was a Finnish Socialist, soldier, pilot, aerospace engineer and revolutionary.

Lehtimäki was born as a peasant's son in Vahto, a small rural municipality in the province of Southwest Finland. He had two brothers who were also enthusiastic socialists. Lehtimäki's younger brother Hjalmar (1896–1934) was a Red Guard leader in the Finnish Civil War. The elder brother, Konrad Lehtimäki (1886–1937), was an author, journalist and a member of Finnish Parliament.

Verner Lehtimäki went to the sea at early age and later emigrated to the United States. He worked first in a New Mexico ranch and in the 1910s on a Mississippi riverboat. In 1916 Lehtimäki moved to Russia where he had a job in a local Vauxhall dealer in Saint Petersburg. After the February Revolution in 1917 Lehtimäki lost his job and started smuggling guns for Finnish revolutionaries. Later the same year Lehtimäki returned Finland, which was then an autonomous part of Russia.

During the 1918 Finnish Civil War Lehtimäki was one of the head commanders of the Red Guards. After the Civil War Lehtimäki fought in the Allied North Russia Intervention as the leader of British organized Murmansk Legion which was composed of former Finnish Red Guards. He was promoted as Colonel by the Royal British Navy. In 1920 he became a pilot in Soviet Russia. Lehtimäki served in the Baltic Fleet as a seaplane pilot and took part on the suppression of the Kronstadt Revolt in March 1921. He was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner. Lehtimäki later graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in Moscow and served as an engineer in the Soviet Naval Air Force in Saint Petersburg.