Wall of Steel - A Finnish AAA timeline 1920-

Interesting developments. So, some new(ish) fighter aircraft find their way into Finnish hands, and while B-534 could hardly be called top of the line fighter aircraft, the Soviet aircraft they will be flying against, are not overwhelmingly superior to them, with only I-153s and I-16 having substantialy better performance then them. When we consider that it is very likely that Finnish Pilots will be better then their Soviet counterparts as IOTL, and the fact that we are talking about 48 aircraft availlable on hand, when compared to 20-30 Gladiators, then situation may not seem so dire in the air as it may have seemed at first.

They are however rather sparsely equipped with more modern, monoplane fighters, with only 4 MS-406s availlable, and that may force them into pressing their two-engined fighters into roles they may not be particulary suited for. However, Morko Morane may make a much earlier appearance ITTL, and in substantialy larger numbers, which will make a lot of difference during the TTL Continuation War, giving the Finns a fighter capable of standing up to most of the Soviet designs of the time. With different decisions made, we could easily see original order of 50 M-Ms increased, provided that the Finns manage to either buy or produce Hispano engines.

Other purchases are also interesting, though it is a shame that they did not manage to get any Fokker T.VIIIs, they could have really used some maritime patrol aircraft and torpedo bombers. As for other aircraft purchased, I do like what they went with, but I do doubt the roles they have planned for these aircraft. I mean, Lockheed Electra is a purpose made passager/cargo aircraft, and I do not know how well suited it would be for bombing purposes, even modified. Perhaps they could be used as such due to lack of any other suitable craft, bit I would still consider them more useful in their original, intended role, then used as half-baked bomber. In regards to the Dragon Rapide, it does seem to be a little too much of a plane to be used for liason purposes, would not some smaller, lighter aircraft be more suitable for the role, while they are used as cargo/passager carriers, or even as Air Ambulances, a role where their impact would be much better felt.

Lastly, have we had any info in regards to the training aircraft Finns have in service? They are often overlooked, but extremely important part of an airforce, and they could also be pressed in other roles as well, due to their relative simplicity, often good STOVL capabilities and nice handling characteristics, like Night Harrasment Bombers (U-2/Po-2) or Ground Forces Liason aircraft, used to relay reconaissance to troops on the ground and performing artillery spotting. They are not lacking for choice in regards to training aircraft, ot seems that everyone built them during the Interwar period, and they are a very wise investment, allowing the (much reduced from OTL) Finnish military aviation to slowly build up its capabilities. As for the liason aircraft, they can use these same training aircraft in these roles at first, but a dedicated design would be preferable, something along the lines of Fi-156, Piper Cub, Taylorcraft Auster...
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Lastly, and I know that it is not the focus for this TL, and that I have been harping on about this for some time, but I do still think that some larger changes are in store for the Finnish ground forces. Not only because of the greater amount of funding made availlable to the Finnish Armed Forces, but also as a butterfly effect of sorts, where other changes and decisions have been made due to different choices made in the past.
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Keep up the good work @Jukra.
 
Jukra, I'm hoping you are going to explain who will be building the licensed a/c. Finland didn't make parts nor engines for their a/c in 1939/1940, they were provided the unbuilt parts/airframe by the foreign country manufacturer and then put them together. There needs to be a much larger infrastructure for these a/c as well as an ability to get the unbuilt parts to Finland during the war. Not trying to be a Debbie-downer...

Regarding the Lockheed Model 12 Electra (read Hudson), great idea to expand on the UK's Purchasing Commission plan to buy them. The biggest issue here is the manufacturing line in California would have to be interrupted to provide the Finnish order vs. the UK order...you've got to come up with some serious cash to outspend the UK or else buy un-militarized Model 12's from maybe the airlines and have the Finnish Air Force Factory (VL) in Tampere convert them but they really would be a less capable a/c.

One option you could do is have the FAF buy Northrop A-17 for ground attack. In 1938-1939 the USAAF was reverting to twin-engine a/c for ground attack and would have sold these I'm betting. There were well over 100 available to buy. Not great but when you could have 4 MG's in the wings and bombs/bomblets and the Russian fighter a/c in 1939/1940 were not that great, then you take what you can get.
 
Jukra, I'm hoping you are going to explain who will be building the licensed a/c. Finland didn't make parts nor engines for their a/c in 1939/1940, they were provided the unbuilt parts/airframe by the foreign country manufacturer and then put them together. There needs to be a much larger infrastructure for these a/c as well as an ability to get the unbuilt parts to Finland during the war. Not trying to be a Debbie-downer...

Finland of OTL did have domestic aircraft building capabilities of both indigenous and license designs by VL (Valtion Lentokonetehdas). They did also produce Bristol Mercurys from ground up. Many aircraft deliverered during the Winter War were delivered as kits and assembled in Sweden. ITTL the aircraft manufacturing is started only in late 1930's, so it's less ambitious and focusing strictly on license production. As for engine production, it will receive a change of focus as it will turn from manufacturing of engines to reconditioning of them.

Regarding the Lockheed Model 12 Electra (read Hudson), great idea to expand on the UK's Purchasing Commission plan to buy them. The biggest issue here is the manufacturing line in California would have to be interrupted to provide the Finnish order vs. the UK order...you've got to come up with some serious cash to outspend the UK or else buy un-militarized Model 12's from maybe the airlines and have the Finnish Air Force Factory (VL) in Tampere convert them but they really would be a less capable a/c.

Finnish planes are Super Electras, not Electras, and in their civilianized form they were sold world wide. As I mentioned, the idea of using them as auxiliary bombers is old fashioned and could be only reached by using bomb rails.

One option you could do is have the FAF buy Northrop A-17 for ground attack. In 1938-1939 the USAAF was reverting to twin-engine a/c for ground attack and would have sold these I'm betting. There were well over 100 available to buy. Not great but when you could have 4 MG's in the wings and bombs/bomblets and the Russian fighter a/c in 1939/1940 were not that great, then you take what you can get.

Seemingly the US did not sell them, although it might be possibility during the Winter War, thanks for the idea!
 
They are however rather sparsely equipped with more modern, monoplane fighters, with only 4 MS-406s availlable, and that may force them into pressing their two-engined fighters into roles they may not be particulary suited for. However, Morko Morane may make a much earlier appearance ITTL, and in substantialy larger numbers, which will make a lot of difference during the TTL Continuation War, giving the Finns a fighter capable of standing up to most of the Soviet designs of the time. With different decisions made, we could easily see original order of 50 M-Ms increased, provided that the Finns manage to either buy or produce Hispano engines.

I would foresee large scale foreign donations of Hispano-Suiza derived engines...

Lastly, have we had any info in regards to the training aircraft Finns have in service? They are often overlooked, but extremely important part of an airforce, and they could also be pressed in other roles as well, due to their relative simplicity, often good STOVL capabilities and nice handling characteristics, like Night Harrasment Bombers (U-2/Po-2) or Ground Forces Liason aircraft, used to relay reconaissance to troops on the ground and performing artillery spotting.

FAF historically used training aircraft for training and liaison aircraft for liaison duties, as they were scare in number too, as the casualties in said roles against an enemy with proper AA etc. capabilities were high. I decided to leave trainers out of this TL to keep the focus on combat aircraft.

Lastly, and I know that it is not the focus for this TL, and that I have been harping on about this for some time, but I do still think that some larger changes are in store for the Finnish ground forces. Not only because of the greater amount of funding made availlable to the Finnish Armed Forces, but also as a butterfly effect of sorts, where other changes and decisions have been made due to different choices made in the past.

I will deal with Army too, but there's no increased amount of funding, just internal reshuffling of air defense funds which will also lead to some effects on Army (and some in the Navy, too) purchases. Particularly as the Artillery production is started in 1920's instead of late 1930's...
 
Slightly better equipped, the Army and Navy will be quite largely have the equipment of OTL. As for Vickers, the purchase has gotten through despite criticism- I won't have Finland roll all sixes, but there's still a twist!

What, they are actually armed? :winkytongue:

Particularly as the Artillery production is started in 1920's instead of late 1930's...

Excellent, there are great opportunities here.

A great beginning for this timeline, now I'm waiting for the war to start with an AAA bang! (instead of Helsinki being bombed).
 
Chapter 21
21. Army equipment orders 1936-Sep 1939

21.1. Tanks, tanks, tanks!

Despite some criticism from Inspector of Artillery General Nenonen the Army decided to buy 32 Vickers 6-ton tanks with a total sum of some 35 million marks in 1936, roughly cost of guns for 5 field artillery battalions or 200 anti-tank guns. To save funds, the said tanks were ordered without armament and radios. In the end, when the Winter War started only 26 tanks had arrived from Britain with none of them armed. As an emergency measure, they were equipped with 20mm Madsen guns with total of 13 of them reaching front by March 1940.

21.2. Field artillery pieces

As Finnish Army had field artillery for 8 of it's 9 field divisions artillery equipment was crucial, but was delayed as the funds were directed toward others, some more and some less important issues. By 1938-1939 there was enough funds for not just equipping all the divisions but qualitative improvement as well.

Swedish Bofors 10,5cm Fälthaubits L/24 was a sound piece of equipment and 128 were ordered from VTT and Tampella in May 1939 as 105 H/37. The order was redirected to Tampella due to VTT capacity problems. 36 guns arrived by the start of the Winter War, enabling all the divisions to be equipped with a Field Artilllery regiment.

Furthermore, 24 Bofors 105mm field guns (10,5cm Feltkanon m/34) were ordered as 105 K/34 from VTT in 1939 but they were delivered after the Winter War.

Production of Bofors 15 cm haubits m/39 was studied but never taken upon due to deliveries of suitable field pieces from other directions.

1.3. Anti-tank rifles, AA/AT-guns and AT-guns

Roughly 800 out of the initial requirement of 800 13.2 PstKiv/38's were produced by the start of the Winter War. Additional production was made to increase amount of rifles in TO&E and to replace casualties. As for AA/AT 20mm Madsen guns roughly 150 were available before the Winter War out of requirement of 250, including some 40 turned from Anti-Aircraft Artillery to the Army. The new 57 PstK/39 had a difficult start in production and thus only some 40 were delivered before start of the war.

VAE_fin5_img082.jpg

Finnish Vickers 6ton tank in 1939. They were initially equipped with 37mm Puteaux-guns from FT-17's, which could only fire blanks.


(Note, I've included only the orders which are different from OTL. In OTL Vickers tanks had delayed delivery too, and were equipped with 37mm Bofors. 105mm field howitzer deliveries started only in 1943 as the factory was not ready, materials and tooling were lacking and the priority was put upon repairing war booty to operational condition. I'm assuming that with a VTT of 10 years of experience with artillery production is able to do the job quicker.)
 
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Roughly 800 out of the initial requirement of 800 13.2 PstKiv/38's were produced by the start of the Winter War. Additional production was made to increase amount of rifles in TO&E and to replace casualties. As for AA/AT 20mm Madsen guns roughly 150 were available before the Winter War out of requirement of 250, including some 40 turned from Anti-Aircraft Artillery to the Army. The new 57 PstK/39 had a difficult start in production and thus only some 40 were delivered before start of the war.

Now THIS is a great improvement, and will make a huge difference. No more moving guns between divisions!
 
Chapter 22
22. Air Defense field regulations for war are formed - 1938-1939

In 1938-1939 the air defense methods were put into more refined form as new weapons, tactics, techniques, equipment and personnel were introduced, with Ilmapuolustusohjesääntö (Field Regulations for Air Defense) and further, more exact, documents.

Based on experiences of the Spanish Civil War the Soviet air threat was seen to be able to reach whole of Finland with it's capable SB-2, DB-3 and TB-3 bombers. Their targets would include population centers to break the morale, factories, depots and ports to break ability to generate supply resources, railway infrastructure to hinder logistics, field army depots, artillery units, headquarters and troops. They would use

The air defense would be divided to two categories 1.) Air defense of Home Area 2.) Air defense of the Field Army and Fleet

22.1. Home Area

The main combat arm of the Air Defense Forces would be the Anti-Aircraft Artillery, supported by Aviation Branch. The task of Anti-Aircraft Artillery would be to defend designated areas with anti-aircraft fires by deterring enemy bombing effort and by causing casualties upon enemy.

To combat this threat the task of Anti-Aircraft Artillery would be to defend important areas with anti-aircraft artillery units. Primary task would be to prevent bombing of the target, not shooting down the enemy. In addition to shooting down planes, anti-aircraft artillery would prevent bombing from optimal altitudes as well as cause psychological effects to prevent accurate bombing. Thus even small number of heavy anti-aircraft pieces would have an effect upon enemy. At the same time, lighter pieces would prevent use of lower altitudes. During the World War, the air defense of Paris had had 95% success rate of preventing bombing, which was used as a reference figure.

The task of Aviation Branch would be to cause maximum bomber casualties and by mere existence divert bombers against it's bases and force the enemy bombers to use larger formations.

Heavy fighters (1 squadron G-I SF) would fight enemy bombers primarily on their way back to bases, as their route would be predictable, they would be already damaged by anti-aircraft artillery and their crews would be more tired and formations possibly broken. Long endurance and high speed of heavy fighters would allow their unpredictable use and would allow avoiding fights with possible escort fighters. The basic unit would be a four-ship formation divided to two pairs.

Light fighters (1 squadron Avia B-534) would fight enemy bombers in south-east Finland west of Viipuri, preferably while bombers would be on their way towards target, as the enemy bombers would be flying slower. The basic unit would be a four-ship formation divided to two pairs.

Early warning of enemy air operations would be provided by radio intelligence. Enemy location, speed and altitude would be provided by air observation post networked and plotted by air defense system.

22.2. Field Army and Fleet

The main responsibility for protection of the Field Army and the Fleet would be put upon the Anti-Aircraft Artillery and the troops / ships themselves. The task would be to distrupt enemy bombing and strafing attempts by wide anti-aircraft coverage. Heavy units would distrupt attempt of level bombing, while lighter units would distrupt use of lower altitudes.

Aviation Branch light fighters (1 squadron Avia B-534) would be used to support air defense by occasional interception tasks, support of own reconnaissance and shooting down enemy reconnaissance planes. The basic unit would be a four-ship formation divided to two pairs, with as many four-ship formations as possible.

Radio Intelligence could provide limited warning on impending air operations, but primarily warning would be visual, as noise of the battlefield would prevent acoustic warning.
...

Like any other doctrine, the Field Regulations for Air Defense had something old, something new, something blue and something stolen. Like any other prewar ideas, it had elements which were basically right and useful in a test of war, and other elements which were failures. Like any plan, it did not survive contact with the enemy.


105087_r500.jpg

Gas mask trial during winter.


(Note: The above is mix of OTL and ATL)
 
Interesting, but honestly just waiting for the soviets to invade and seeing how a stronger Finish defence alters the course of ww2
 
Interesting, but honestly just waiting for the soviets to invade and seeing how a stronger Finish defence alters the course of ww2

Patience, the season after autumn is coming... As far as international implications, they may be initially less than dramatic, but will grow in time.
 
Just as a note, just received "Flak; German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945" by Edward B. Westermann (University Press of Kansas) and loving it. Have to devour it before updates! I hope someone will write a good history of North Korean and Vietnamese air defenses from their perspectives. If someone could recommend a book, I'd be grateful!
 
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