Americans launch search for Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva shot down in 1940

print this

A United States navy vessel is to commence the search for the wreckage of the Finnish passenger aircraft Kaleva shot down in the coastal waters of Estonia during the Interim Peace in 1940. The US navy oceanographic survey ship PathFinder anchored in Tallinn on Monday.
      The search is likely to commence on Saturday and is estimated to last for just under a week. Estonian Navy command vessel Admiral Pitka is to assist by providing protection to the American ship.
     
On June 14th, 1940, two Soviet bombers shot Kaleva down near the islet of Keri, about 30 kilometres from Tallinn. One of the seven passengers onboard the aircraft was an American courier Henry W. Antheil, who worked for the US Embassy in Helsinki.
      Sonar is being used to locate the wreck.
      “It is up to the Finnish and Estonian governments, whether to salvage the wreck”, explains Eric Johnson, spokesman for the US Embassy in Tallinn.
      According to Estonian Ministry of Defence spokesman Madis Mikko the search about to start was inspired by a documentary film.
      In January, the Estonian Defence Minister Jaak Aaviksoo sent a letter to his American counterpart Robert Gates requesting help in searching for the wreck.
      Kaleva was shot down by over-enthusiastic Soviet pilots, believes Risto Niku, who has published a book called Kalevan kuolemanlento (Kaleva’s Death Flight) on the incident.
     
The Soviet Union's Baltic Sea Fleet had been ordered to prevent all air and sea traffic out of Estonia, as the Soviet leaders were preparing for the occupation of Estonia and the other Baltic States in the summer of 1940, Niku explains.
      Finnish radio surveillance picked up requests for further instructions from Soviet ships and aircraft after Kaleva had been shot down.
      On the day after the Aero Oy [the predecessor of Finnair] plane had been downed, a Soviet submarine fired shots against an Estonian passenger plane.
     
”Finland was extremely hard pressed in the summer of 1940”, Niku says.
      No investigation demands were presented to the Soviet authorities. The Soviets, in turn, announced that they had shot down a spy plane, but stated the time of shooting incorrectly.
      “President Risto Ryti was meant to use the shooting-down of Kaleva as part of his defence in a war-responsibility trial, but he skipped that part of his speech”, Niku adds.
      It is widely believed that the aircraft was carrying sensitive documents being brought out of Tallinn in the final days before the Soviet occupation forces moved in.


Links:
  American Foreign Service Association "The Last Flight from Tallinn"
  Risto Ryti (Wikipedia)
  Kaleva (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat