Aviation at Malmi and Messuhalli

Messuhalli on 27th September 1941. A captured Soviet barrage balloon, MBR-2 and part of some other plane next to it?

http://www.uusisuomi.fi/artikkelit/mottien-saalista-messuhallissa

One thing puzzles me about the pictures of hordes of cars, though. When I visited your beautiful country back in the 1960s, it seemed that hardly anyone there could afford a car!

If my memory serves me correctly there were only maybe a thousand or so cars at the Helsinki area in the late 1930s and you can see 30% of them on the first photo!

Martti

H and S, what about the chap clinging to the wing strut of the Arado and fending off the branches. The name of the guy to the right of the tractor appears to be Sid. Are there any more pics please.

John

[QUOTE=low’n’slow;1281474]Thanks John.
Turns out VEF was the same company that made the Minox camera.
[QUOTE]

That’ll be why it’s so small and neat, then…:diablo:

I love the pic of the Arado for all sorts of reasons – can you imagine the fuss nowadays if an aircraft was moved like that, for starters? Especially with someone stood on the trailer. And just look at the light in the picture – how big a flashbulb was needed to light up buildings fifty metres away? It must have been like a WW2 photoflash! Then there’s the comedy registration… and the Fordson tractor, Henry even got to Finland it seems.

Seriously, fascinating pics – keep them coming of you can!

Adrian

Thanks John. Thanks Wiesso.

According to Wikipedia, an I-12 participated in in the 1937 Thanet Air Race. It was part of an international tour which also took in Paris and ended with a nine hour non-stop flight from London to Riga.

A nine-hour endurance and a 140mph cruising speed on a 90-hp Blackburn Cirrus engine would make it a pretty desirable light aircraft today!

That’s the bird. And your second shot is another view of the I-12 in the header photos.

Cheers

John

VEF I-12 YL-ABO

Just found this view different from the one already posted
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions//Braas/7420.htm

I have Karl Irbitis’s book “Of Struggle and Flight” and after the war he went to canada and was instrumental in the design of the Tutor and Tilt rotors. I’m sure no VEF a/c survive but I’m sure there was one in UK at some point.

John

It’s a Latvian VEF 1-11 or 1-12 in National guard markings. The plane in front of the Zlin in the photo below the Arado is a I-12

John

Thanks John.

Now, I’ve just lost half an hour searching for more information on VEF and designer Karlis Irbitis.

Turns out VEF was the same company that made the Minox camera.

As they say…not many people know that. 😉

Now, I wonder if there are any VEF aircraft still surviving???

It’s a Latvian VEF 1-11 or 1-12 in National guard markings. The plane in front of the Zlin in the photo below the Arado is a I-12

John

Among the interesting aeroplanes on photo no.4 is G-AEKK, the Miles Falcon Six that was owned by Dunlop and used for touring Europe to promote the sale of their aeroplane tyres.

Can anyone identify the aeroplane wearing crosses, parked in front of it?

Superb black and white photos Martti. I always feel that monochrome suits planes more than colour does.

One thing puzzles me about the pictures of hordes of cars, though. When I visited your beautiful country back in the 1960s, it seemed that hardly anyone there could afford a car!

Bri 🙂

Is that Urho Kekkonen (with glasses) in front of the Sparmann S-1?

It seems so. Kekkonen was the Minister of the Interior in 1938 and the man looking towards the camera is the President of Finland, Kyösti Kallio.

Beautiful images. If you have more, I’m sure many of us 1930s aviation junkies would love to see them.

The newspaper Uusi Suomi has a quite collection of aviation photos so let’s wait for a few weeks… 😉

Very nice photos, Martti!

You wouldn’t have any photo/s of Fw 44J SE-AGY, would you?

Incidentally, DH 60 SE-AGF is currently preserved at the Arlanda Civil Aviation Collection.

Regards,

Jan

Beautiful images. If you have more, I’m sure many of us 1930s aviation junkies would love to see them.

Now I’ve got to get back to work, writing about the exploits of your compatriots, Messrs Kovalainen and Raikkonen! Congratulations!!

What a fabulous collection of photos – thanks for posting. ’tis testing my recognition skills(?) a bit :confused:

Roger Smith,

Is that Urho Kekkonen (with glases) in front of the Sparmann S-1?

Great to see the rare Heston Phoenix G-AESV (only six ever built), later impressed as X2891 and based at Hendon, survived the war until 1952 and the first public demonstration of an Arado Ar95 See V3 seaplane D-ODGY.

Martin

Lovely pictures note the Heston Phoenix and the VEF 1-11 (and a 1-12 I think) and the Weihe is nice too.

John