Lentolaivue 24

Illustrated throughout with photographs and detailed aircraft profiles, this book tells the story of the Finnish air force's most successful fighter unit.

The Finns produced some of World War II's best fighter pilots. This title lists aces and unit strengths, bases flown from, COs, combat losses and award winners and focuses on LLv 24 - the fighter unit that claimed 877 kills.Finland's premier fighter squadron during World War 2, Lentolaivue 24 (Flying Squadron 24) first saw action during the bloody Winter War of 1939-40, when the Soviet Red Army launched a surprise attack on the small Scandinavian country - the squadron enjoyed great success against numerically superior opposition. LLv 24 was once again in the thick of the action following the outbreak of the Continuation War in June 1941. Easily the air force's most successful fighter unit, LLv 24 claimed 877 kills, and its pilots won five direct and two indirect Mannerheim Crosses (Finland's highest military award) out of a total of 19 presented to all Finnish soldiers. Most top aces also scored the bulk of their kills flying with this unit.