Date of birth:

February 21st, 1914 (Lieksa, Finland)

Date of death:

February 21st, 1999 (Tuusula, Finland)

Nationality:

Finnish

Eino Juutilainen was born on the 21 February 1914 at Lieksa, Finland, Eino "Illu" Juutilainen read the book by Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Fighter Pilot" which made him dream about becoming a pilot. He did his military service as an assistant mechanic in the 1st Separate Maritime Squadron from 1932 to 1933, then got a pilot's license in a civilian course and joined the Finnish Air Force
On 1 May 1935, Juutilainen was promoted to sergeant. He was transferred to LeLv 24 on March 3, 1939. During the Winter War, he flew the Fokker D.XXI.
During the Continuation War, he flew Brewster B239s, shooting down 28 enemy planes. In 1943, he was transferred to LeLv 34, which used new Messerschmitt Bf 109s. With the Bf 109, he shot down a further 58 enemy planes. On June 30th, 1944, he shot down 6 Soviet planes.
He refused an officer commission, fearing it would keep him from flying.
After the war, he served in the air force until 1949. He worked as professional pilot until 1956, flying people in his De Havilland Moth. He flew for the last time, a Finnish Air Force F-18 Hornet, in 1997.

Juutilainen died on his 85th birthday on 21 February 1999.

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• - Finnishawards.net 1917-1945
  - WWII Technical Database
  - Aces of WWII