Forty-four Brewster Model 239s were delivered between 1 March and 1 May 1940. 38 of these were ex-US Navy F2A-1s and six were taken from the Belgian order for Model 339Bs, but all were stripped of government property, including the engines, and converted to B-239s with engines identical to those used on the DC-3. Initially armed with 3x .50 caliber and 1x .30 caliber machineguns, but later upgraded to a .50. Upon arrival they were assigned to LeLv 22 which actually attempted to make one interception during the Winter War, but was unsuccessful. In April they were transferred to LeLv 24, the highest-scoring unit of the Winter War. Two were lost in accidents before the Continuation War began.

On June 25 , 1941 the Soviets attempted to neutralize the Finnish Air Force with airfield attacks by 150 unescorted bombers. This didn't go well as the Finns intercepted them with 24 fighters which shot down 26 bombers. Seven Brewsters accounted for 10 of the Soviet aircraft. This incident caused the Finns to declare war.

The Brewsters were deployed to cover the Finnish advance in Karelia and claimed 135 victories for the loss of only two aircraft, one that crashed on take-off and the other shot down by flak. The first loss in air to air combat came on 26 Feb. 26 th, 1942 when eight Brewsters mixed it up with 17 MiG-3s. Six MiGs were shot down for the loss of one Brewster.

Attrition forced LeLv 24 to consolidate from four flights of eight aircraft to three flights of eight on Feb. 11th, 1943. It also changed its tactics to emphasize mass formations to counter ever larger Soviet numbers of aircraft. Operations picked up in the spring of '43 with 81 victories for the loss of three Brewsters in aerial combat and one to flak in April and May. After this the Finns limited the Brewsters to the quieter area east of a line drawn from Viipuri to the Oranienbaum Bridgehead to preserve the dwindling numbers of Brewsters. At the beginning of 1944 LeLv 24 had only 18 left. Opportunities for combat were few in the early part of the year and LeLv 24 only claimed three aircraft before converting to the Me 109G beginning in April. It claimed 468 victories for the loss of 12 Brewsters in aerial combat, a ratio of 38 to I! Three others were lost to flak, four to accidents and two by bombing.

The survivors were handed over to HLeLv 26 that remained on the quieter side of the Karelian Isthmus. By the time of the truce with the Soviets HLeLv 26 claimed 18 kills for the loss of four Brewsters in aerial combat and another three bombed out. The terms of the truce dictated that the Finns expel all remaining German forces from Finland and the long range of the Brewsters made them ideal for missions d over Lapland. HleLv 26 mustered 10 Brewsters on Oct. 2 when it was deployed to Lapland. Opportunities for aerial combat were scarce and only two Stukas and a Ju 88 were shot down. The main opposition was radar-directed flak that accounted for four Brewsters with another pair being lost in accidents. Only 7 survived to go into storage at war's end.

The phenomenal success of the Brewster in Finnish service, in contrast to its miserable showing in British and American hands, is readily explained. This first model had the lowest wing loading of the series as it lacked the extra armor and extra "refinements" of the later models that increased empty weight by nearly 50% over the first model. This severely degraded maneuverability and rate of climb. These weaknesses were magnified ten-fold when pitted against that poster child for maneuverability, the Japanese A6M2 Zero. Probably even a greater reason for its vile performance in the Pacific lay directly in the hands of its pilots who played to the strengths of the Japanese aircraft rather than to those of their own. This may have been a result of overconfidence and racism, but often it was simply that the pilots didn't know any better. The reports from the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) in China were ignored by the high command and the standard aerial combat tactics taught in the West were totally unsuitable for the war they were fighting in the Pacific. The Brewster was no match for the Zero in most conditions, but the proper tactics and respect for their opponents would have helped to even the odds somewhat. However the situation after Pearl Harbor prevented an honest assessment of its worth and it was blamed for the shortcomings of its pilots.

On the other side of the world, the shoe was on the other foot as the Finnish pilots had recent combat experience, much like the Japanese, and were facing inexperienced Soviet pilots in aircraft roughly comparable to their own. They knew how to maximize their own advantages and weren't facing qualitatively superior fighters in numbers until the Summer '44 offensive. Remember that the Finnish theater was treated as a backwater by the Soviets with a very low priority for modern fighters and experienced pilots. Had the Finns faced a serious effort by the Soviets earlier in the war it is extremely unlikely that the exchange ratio would have been so lopsided.

More WWII Aircraft of the Finnish Air Force

Brewster B-239 (Buffalo)
Bristol Blenheim and Bulldog
Curtis H-75A Hawk
Dornier Do17Z and Do22K
Fiat G.50
Fokker C.Ve and D.XXI
Gloster Gauntlet and Gladiator
Hawker Hurricane I
Ilyushin DB-3M and IL-4
Junkers Ju88A
Messerschmidt Bf109G
Morane-Saulnier MS406/410
Polikarpov I-153
Tupolev SB-2
VL Myrsky II
Europa Reinforcement/Replacement Charts