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Sgt Maj
Ilmari Juutilainen (1914–1999), Finnish Air Force. He scored a total of 94 victories on 437 missions 1939–1944. The reason why I selected him as the best was that a) he was never shot down himself b) he never received a single bullet hole in his aircraft in air combat and c) he never lost a wingman in combat.
Ilmari Juutilainen was born in Lieksa, Finland. He joined the Finnish Air Force as a conscript mechanic in 1932. After his tour of duty, he applied to aviator training, and gained his fighter pilot’s wings in 1935 as Sergeant, flying Gloster Gamecocks (GA). He was promoted as Senior Sergeant in 1937, now flying Fokker D.XXI (FR), his unit being Lentolaivue 24 (LeLv 24).
He began scoring in December 1939, Winter War, and he scored 2.1666 victories on FR. He remained in service during the Interim Peace, and when the hostilities erupted again in June 1941, he began to score again, this time on Brewster 239 (BW). He became an ace in late June 1941.
SSGT Juutilainen and BW-364 in winter 1941–1942. BW-364 is possibly the highest scoring airframe (41 victories) ever. The white bars on fin are “scalps”, victory markings.
He scored a total of 36 victories on BW. When the FinnAF began to receive Messerschmitt Bf 109G (MT) in 1943, Juutilainen was one of the aviators selected to a newly-founded “ace squadron”, LeLv 34.
Juutilainen quickly found MT as an able mount, and his scores increased rapidly. His initial personal mount was MT-222, on which he scored 16 victories.
In March 1944, the Bf 109 G-2 gear was transferred to Juutilainen’s old unit, LeLv 24, and LeLv 34 received new Bf 109G-6 equipment. He scored a total of 30 victories during the Soviet Summer Offensive May to July 1944, most on MT-457.
His great day was 30 July 1944, when he scored six victories on one single flight. He scored his last victory on 3 September 1944, a day before the armistice. It was also the last victory in the Continuation War.
He resigned the Air Force service after the war, but kept his pilot’s skills honed, and flew for the last time in 1997. He received the Mannerheim Cross, the highest Finnish military decoration, twice; in 1942 and 1944.
What were makings of the highest scoring non-German ace?
Juutilainen bore high intelligence and an uncanny ability on decision-making. It is said there are old fighter pilots and bold fighter pilots, but no old bold fighter pilots - but he was an exception. He was incredibly courageous - willing to take risks, but never reckless risks.
Having served as a mechanic, he had excellent knowledge of various aircraft, what they could do, and what they couldn’t do. He used this knowledge as his asset, and used this knowledge on fighting the Soviet aircraft. He was an excellent aerobatic, and would often do uncanny manoeuvres (skids, snap rolls, falling leaves and like) in the combat. He was also an excellent huntsman, and knew how to take lead with his gunsight.
But most of all, he was a leader of humans. He often tutored younger pilots, and he never lost a wingman.
I have had the honour to meet him in person. He was a true gentleman.
