Kaleva (airplane)

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Aero Flight 1631
Kaleva at Helsinki-Malmi Airport (1938)
Shootdown
Date14 June 1940
SummaryAirliner shootdown
Sitenear Keri Lighthouse, Gulf of Finland
59°47′1″N 25°01′6″E / 59.78361°N 25.01833°E / 59.78361; 25.01833
Aircraft
Aircraft typeJunkers Ju 52
Aircraft nameKaleva
OperatorAero O/Y
RegistrationOH-ALL
Flight originÜlemiste Airport
DestinationHelsinki-Malmi Airport
Occupants9
Passengers7
Crew2
Fatalities9
Survivors0
People on board by nationality
Nationality Passengers Crew
 Finland 2
 France 2
 Germany 2
 Estonia 1
 Sweden 1
 United States 1
Total 7 2

Kaleva was a Ju 52 civilian passenger airplane belonging to the Finnish carrier Aero O/Y. On 14 June 1940, as Flight 1631 from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland, it was shot down over the Gulf of Finland by two combat aircraft of the Soviet military, killing all nine on board.[1][2]

Kaleva was the second civilian passenger airplane ever to be attacked midair, and the first airliner in history to be shot down in flight, by hostile aircraft.

Its wreck was found on 5 June 2024 by divers at the bottom of the sea in Estonian territorial waters near Keri island, at a depth of 71–76 meters.[3][4]

Shootdown incident[edit]

Kaleva was shot down during the Interim Peace between the Soviet Union and Finland, in the initial stages of the 14–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia during World War II.

A few minutes after taking off from Tallinn as Aero Flight 1631, the passenger airliner was joined at close range by two Soviet Ilyushin DB-3T torpedo bombers. The Soviet aircraft opened fire with their machine guns and lethally damaged Kaleva, causing it to crash into water a few kilometers northeast of the Keri Lighthouse. All nine passengers and crew members on board were killed.

Estonian fishermen had witnessed the attack and crash of the plane. Shortly after the crash a Soviet submarine Shch-301 (Щ-301) surfaced and inspected the fishing boats. The Soviet submariners confiscated items taken from the wreck by the fishermen, and were also able to pick up some items and diplomatic mail from the wreck and the sea. The future top-scoring Finnish pilot Ilmari Juutilainen was sent to inspect the crash site. After the Soviets spotted the Finnish airplane, the submarine hid its flag.

At the time of the incident Finland was not at war with the Soviet Union. The 14 June attack occurred amidst the initial stages of the 1940 military invasion of Estonia by USSR which was completed on 16–17 June 1940 when the Soviet Red Army occupied the entire territory of Estonia in an operation on land (just two days after the Kaleva incident). The full-scale Soviet invasion was preceded on 14–16 June by an undeclared air and naval blockade, and one of its minor objectives may have included preventing diplomatic mail from being sent abroad from Estonia. The passengers on the last flight of Kaleva included two German businessmen, two French embassy couriers, one Swede, an American diplomatic courier, and an Estonian woman. The French diplomats were carrying over 120 kilograms (260 lb) of diplomatic mail in the plane. The American diplomat was also reportedly transporting the U.S. military codes to safety from Estonia.[5][6]

There was 227 kg of diplomatic luggage on the plane.[7] In one of the many theories, it has been suggested that the shootdown orders came straight from Stalin who may have thought that the Estonian president Konstantin Päts was trying to flee the country on it.[8]

The government of Finland did not send any complaints or questions to the Soviets out of fear of hostile Soviet response, and the true reason for the crash was hidden from the Finnish and Estonian public. This was due to the heavy pressure put upon Finland during the Interim Peace by the Soviets. After the outbreak of the Continuation War (1941–1944) between Finland and USSR, the incident was described in detail by the Finnish government.

Soviet reports[edit]

The commander of Shch-301 G. Goldberg's report on the incident held in the Russian State Naval Archives starts with the notice of a Finnish airplane on its way from Tallinn to Helsinki on 14 June 1940 at 15.05 PM. According to the report, the airplane was chased by two Soviet Tupolev SB high-speed bombers. At 15.06 PM, the Finnish airplane caught fire and fell into the sea, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) from the submarine. At 15.09 PM the submarine set course to the crash site and made it to the location by 15.47 PM. The submarine was met by three Estonian fishing boats near the detritus of the airplane. The Estonian fishermen were searched by lieutenants Aladzhanov, Krainov and Shevtshenko. All valuables found from the fishermen and in the sea were brought on board the submarine: the items included about 100 kg (220 lb) of diplomatic post, valuables and foreign currencies. At 15.58 a Finnish fighter plane was noticed on course towards the submarine. The airplane made three circles above the site and then flew towards Helsinki. The exact coordinates of the crash site were determined to be at 59°47′1″N 25°01′6″E / 59.78361°N 25.01833°E / 59.78361; 25.01833.[9]

Soviet Captain A. Matveyev's report states that on board the Shch-301 noticed an airplane crash on 14 June 1940 at 15.06 on 5.8 miles (9.3 km) distance from the submarine. At the crash site three Estonian fishing boats and the remains of the airplane were found. At 15.58 PM a Finnish fighter plane made three circles above the crash site. By 16.10 PM all items found from the sea and from the hands of the fishermen were brought on board the submarine. The items included about 100 kg (220 lb) of diplomatic mail, and valuables and currencies including: 1) Two golden medals, 2) Finnish mark 2,000, 3) 10,000 Romanian leu, 4) 13,500 French franc, 5) 100 Yugoslav dinar, 6) Italian lira 90, 7) United States dollar 75, 8) 521 Soviet roubles, 9) 10 Estonian kroons. All items were put on board of patrol boat Sneg and sent to Kronstadt.[10]

Victims[edit]

Henry W. Antheil Jr. (1912–1940), American diplomat killed in the Kaleva shootdown
Memorial for Kaleva victims on Keri island (erected by Finnair in 1993)
  • Bo von Willebrand (age 33) captain
  • Tauno Launis (33) co-pilot
  • Henry W. Antheil Jr. (27) American diplomat
  • Frédéric Marty (28) French diplomatic courier
  • Paul Longuet (41) French diplomatic courier
  • Rudolf Cöllen (44) citizen of Germany
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Offermann (39) citizen of Germany
  • Max Hettinger (42) citizen of Sweden
  • Gunvor Maria Luts (née Ek, 24) Finnish-born citizen of Estonia

The plane was piloted by Captain Bo von Willebrand, and Tauno Launis was the wireless operator. The American victim was Henry W. Antheil Jr., younger brother of noted composer George Antheil. Antheil worked as a clerk at the U.S. Legation in Helsinki. In 2007, he was honored for his service in a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. His name was inscribed on the U.S. Department of State's Wall of Honor.[11] The French victim was mathematician Frédéric Marty, who worked for the French embassy in Tallinn.[12]

In arts and culture[edit]

Henry Antheil's grandnephew Neal McTighe dedicated a poem titled "Kaleva" to Antheil and his fiancée, Greta Lindberg, in 2008.[13]

The shootdown of Kaleva is a central event in the fiction novel trilogy Litsid ("The Whores", 2015-2018) by Estonian author Mart Sander and in the TV series of the same name (2018).[14]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Virtualpilots - Tapauskaleva. Retrieved on 30-1-2007.
  2. ^ Niku, Risto (2007). Kalevan kuolemanlento (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: Edita. p. 11. ISBN 978-951-37-4965-1.
  3. ^ "Itämeri | Matkustajalentokone Kaleva on löytynyt – oli kateissa yli 80 vuotta". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 5 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  4. ^ Matias Laitinen, curator of the Finnish Aviation Museum, has confirmed the wreck discovery.
  5. ^ FoMa - The wreck of Kaleva possibly found. Retrieved 30-1-2007.
  6. ^ The Last Flight from Tallinn Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine at American Foreign Service Association
  7. ^ Vahter, Tarmo (11 October 2007). "67 aasta tagune õhumõrv lahendatud" (in Estonian). Eesti Ekspress. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  8. ^ Vahter, Tarmo (25 June 2015). "Stalin käskis Pätsi tappa! Tuntud Soome ajaloolase versioon" (in Estonian). Eesti Ekspress. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  9. ^ Pavel Petrov, p. 168
  10. ^ Pavel Petrov, p. 167
  11. ^ Henry W. Antheil Archived 2010-05-27 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  12. ^ http://fly.historicwings.com/2013/06/the-kaleva-shootdown/
  13. ^ "Kaleva" (PDF). West End Poets Newsletter 15. 2006. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012.
  14. ^ [1] Litsid: The Whores on IMDB

References[edit]

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