In August 1942, a Finnish AF Fokker C.X was hit by Russian small arms fire. The pilot was killed. The observer, Lt. Paavo Kahla, climbed from the rear cockpit onto the lower wing of the airplane. At some point his parachute ripcord got caught somewhere and the chute started opening. Standing on the wing, Lt. Kahla managed to find his knife, cut the parachute loose before the chute dragged him off the wing, and then climb into the front cockpit. Sitting on the lap of the dead pilot he flew the Fokker home. On landing he could not pull the stick far enough back for a really successful landing, and the plane turned over to its back, being slightly damaged. Paavo Kahla, then Captain, was finally killed on 23 October 1944 in another Fokker C.X, in the so-called Lapland War, against retreating German forces.

Thanks for that story Finny – and unfortunately a very sad and avoidable ending : (

From Acestory.Elknet.PL

Captain of Reserve, Knight of the Mannerhem Cross, Paavo Kahla’s career was ended on 23.10.1944 when the Finnish Armed Forces were fighting against the Wehrmacht in Lapland. Kahla was the commander of the Fokker flight which was a part of the Detachment Sarko, based in Kemi.
On the evening of the 22nd October his pilot, Sgt. Jouko Liinamaa told to is friend, Brewster pilot Lt. Juurikainen that he was likely to die next day when he was going to pilot Capt. Kahla. The Sergeant told that Kahla used to make his pilot fly just above the road to be reconnoitred. The fighter pilot went to talk to Capt. Kahla and warned him about the German AA gunners, which were very proficient. Kahla listened without commenting. Another fighter pilot. Lt. Riekki, confirmed the warning, telling that four days ago two Brewsters had been shot down by the German AA. But Kahla said him that the best method to count traffic was to fly above the road at 300 m.
Kahla had packed his kit before taking off next morning, because it was to be his last mission before demobilisation. But he was not going to shirk from doing his duty to the very end. FK-104 took off at 06.00 hours but it did not return from the mission. They were last seen at 06.22 hours by a Finnis observation post.
He and his pilot were shot down by German AA in Kittila near Aakenustunturi. They were the last casualties of the FAF in the II WW, but their remains were not found until one year later by a reindeer herder