Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo!

As mentioned previously, Pink and I have spent this past June and July traveling through Estonia, Finland and Iceland. The people of Finland seem to retain a lot of national pride in their military undertakings, and this can be seen in the large volume of museums dedicated to various conflicts and military units in Finnish history. The Aviation Museum of Central Finland, or Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo, is one such place we were able to visit toward the end of our trip.

Above: Swedish Saab 35 Draken formerly serving in the Finnish military . 

The museum itself has many examples of military aircraft and equipment on display. Finland has utilized an interesting variety of machines from such places as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Sweden. Thus Finnish armed forces have always been equipped with a variety of material. Most of the cold war material on display seemed to be of Soviet design.

 Above: Radar platforms outside the museum. They are quite tall.

In addition to the many aircraft on site at the museum, there is also an impressive collection of World War Two and Cold War era munitions on display.  There is also an entire section dedicated to signal units and communications/detection technology utilized by the Finnish armed forces. Outside the museum are a number of radar and detection arrays, some of which tower above the museum buildings.

Above: A selection of German aircraft bombs and weapons canisters from the 1940s. The large green bomb in the back (which you can only see the tip of) is of Russian manufacture and of the same era. For its massive size, it actually carries half the payload of the blue German bomb behind it and the same as the blue German bomb in front of it.

Above: Assorted Cold War era Soviet aircraft munitions and ECM equipment. The silver cylinder cut off in the lower left of the photograph is a rocket pod, note the rocket below it with stabilizing fins extended.
 

Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo has an impressive collection of models as well. Not just of machines serving in the Finnish Air Force, but of many different aircraft from many nations. A variety of time periods are represented and many of the models are placed within a greater scene of events. A diorama of men and machines tending to a bomber on a snowy field for example.  Hundreds are on display from builders around the world, including a healthy contribution from a Japanese modeling club.

Above: Diorama and models on display. Notice the oil stains and weathering on the wood (apologies for the glare).

 Above: Display in the signals section of the museum.

The most exciting attraction at Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo for me was the Messerschmitt Bf 109 they have on display, and this is actually the main reason we visited. During the Continuation War The Finnish Air Force, or Ilmavoimat, was equipped with Bf 109 aircraft from Germany. Finnish pilots used these to assist in the German war effort along the northern end of the infamous Eastern Front. Finnish pilots in German built Bf 109 fighters scored an impressive 667 Soviet aircraft shot down during this period, with only 35 aircraft of their own lost to enemy fire. These planes would stay in service with the Ilmavoimat well into the 1950s.

 Above: Bf 109 formerly serving with the Ilmavoimat.

 Above: Bf 109 formerly serving with the Ilmavoimat, rear view.

Above: Bf 109 formerly serving with the Ilmavoimat, note the 20mm auto-canon running through the nose of the aircraft.

Finland has a lot of museums for the military history enthusiast, many more than we had time to visit while we were there. The Aviation Museum of Central Finland, or Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo, has a lot to offer for a military history enthusiast, and I am grateful we were able to drop in. The Bf 109 was a real treat. There are many planes from a variety of nations and eras, hundreds of models, munitions, lots of communication and detection equipment, and of course the obligatory cafe and tourist shop. There is much to see and read, certainly more than I am covering in this post, and it is worth recommending for a visit if you find yourself in the area.

As a reminder, I now have a tumblr account which I update multiple times throughout the week. Here I re-post and upload both color and B/W images, mostly from the early part of the 20th century, and other content as well. Take a few minutes to visit Mr. Boot's tumblr, and take a look at the interesting photographs I have been sharing.
 

Mr. Boot Returns!

It has been a few months since my last post.  I have been on an extended hiatus while I take care of academic responsibilities and travel.  Pink and I have recently returned from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and prior to that we visited Ireland, and took an extended stay in New Zealand as well!  It almost goes without saying that I have had less time than usual to blog.

Above:  Small map of Ireland.  We landed in Dublin and spent most of the trip just south of Galway, and to the east of the Aran Islands.  Great country to bicycle in.

Today I have responded to a few comments from visitors and followers, and fixed a couple links that were not working in previous posts.  Although I have not been writing here lately, I have been keeping an eye out for unusual topics to write articles about, and I am hoping to have some very interesting blog pieces for this year.  Whenever I travel I try to find people, places, or things that are relevant to Mr. Boot's Axis blog.  Sometimes this is relatively easy (visiting Fjell Festning in Bergen Norway for example), other times this can be very challenging (for example: try finding NSDAP artifacts in New Zealand!).

 Above:  A small map of New Zealand.  We landed in Aukland (North Island) and spent most of our time traveling around the South Island.  New Zealand is about the size of the state of California, but the rugged terrain can take a lot of time to traverse.

Despite the example given above I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon some Axis memorabilia in Christchurch New Zealand.  The Air Force Museum of New Zealand had a lot of exhibits on R.A.F. bomber missions over Europe, but they also had a few nice display stands full of Japanese and German military gear.

Above:  Some items on display at the Air Force Museum in Christchurch.  To the left can be seen a Luftwaffe officers cap.  Below this is a (Wehrmacht?) backpack, and belt.  In the middle we can see a Luftwaffe dress dagger, below this is a Luger pistol, a Japanese bayonet, an aircraft control column,  and a Japanese officer's sword.  To the far right and above is a Japanese airman's head piece and binoculars.  Lying along the bottom of the display are various pins and pennants, as well as a Luftwaffe MG15.

Above:  A closeup of the Luftwaffe dagger.

Many of the items on display have seen better days, and I would love for the curators to do some restoration here.  Nonetheless I was pleased to find another case of artifacts near the one displayed above.  It is interesting to consider that some of these items have come a very long way from Europe, to be resting on an island in the south pacific ocean.

Above:  To the left a German Stahlhelm, helmet liner, boots and K98 rifle. To the right a Japanese helmet and Arisaka rifle.  In the middle and on the floor are various first aid packages, religious artifacts, pipes and silverware.

It's good to be back home for now, but the travel bug is starting to bite me again already.  In the meantime expect regular updates again from Mr. Boot's Axis blog, and let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to hear about as a reader.  Happy holidays, and haben Sie einen schönen Tag!