VL Kotka crash landing

Copied these from Finnish Military Archives and though you might want to seem them. Even in Finland these kind of photos are rare to see. 🙂

KA-144 was the first plane from I-series of VL Kotka. Test flight was flown on 1th October 1930. The crash took place on 17th May 1938. Pilot ltn. P. Berg and mechanic V. Lankinen were unharmed. Berg flew later Curtiss Hawks during 1941 and died later that year when his plane was shot down by a I-16 over Hanko peninsula.

The cause of the accident was a pilot error. Berg landed in crosswind and because of that the plane hit on phone wires. A total of 638 hours and 20 minutes were flown with KA-144 before the accident.

Source: Keskinen-Stenman-Niska, SIH 16, Meritoimintakoneet.

Martti