This will be my (first) entry to the Hawker groupbuild and as I've mentioned before, I plan on starting it sometime early next year. I admit - I am in love with Finland. I love its nature, its people, their sisu and admitelly their resilient nature. Maybe because I am of a small nation myself and see the connection but nevertheless. Not surprisingly, I have a big fascination about their history and most importantly the WW2 history with infamous Winter War and followed by Continuation War fighting the Soviets and ending the WW2 fighting against the Nazis. A nation of around 3.7million by the time of WW2 that defended their country against the might of Red Army is nothing but astonishing. And from the modellers perspective a true treasure trove of different types that were used by Finns during the war. I have been collecting kits, decals and what not for a few years now, but haven't started any yet, so this group build is as good as an excuse as any to start building the collection.
This is the kit and the main reference I'll be using
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A brief history of Hurricanes in Finnish Air Force
Winter War broke out on 30.11.1939 and Finnish Air Force was in a dire need of new equippment, especially fighters to defend against Soviet attacks. Negotiations with the British were concluded in early February for the acquisition of 12 RAF Hurricanes to be delivered in two batches. The aircraft were flown via Scotland and Norway in March 1940 and two aircraft were lost enroute. They arrived too late to see action in the Winter War but they soldiered on into Continuation War and were credited with the destruction of 4 I-153 fighters, 1 SB bomber and shared a kill of I-15bis fighter. Despite being obsolete at the beginning of Continuation war, due to the fighters shortage, they soldiered on until 1943. In 1942, a Soviet land-lease Hurricane Mk.IIa crash landed in Finnish territory and was repaired and brought to service with the help of spare parts from other crashed Soviet Hurricanes as a 13th aircraft. All but one were scrapped by 1950, the sole survivor being on the display at Central Aviation museum at Tikkakoski near Jyväskylä. Through the career one of the Hurricanes was lost with the pilot to enemy fire, three were lost to fatal crashes and two more were damaged by enemy fire but landed safely.
And an even briefer history of blue swastika (hakaristi)
The blue and white swastika of the Finnish military was used by the Air Force from January 1918, when they received their first aircraft, a Thulin typ D as a gift from Swedish count Eric von Rosen. His symbol of good luck was a blue swastika on a white background (symbol from Norse mythology), and he had it painted on the gift aircraft. The Finnish Air Force adopted the symbol as their insignia. The use of the symbol predates the National Socialist party by years, and is in no way affiliated with the Nazis.
