HELSINKI (AP) — The World War II mystery of what happened to a Finnish airliner after it was shot down over the Baltic Sea by Soviet bombers finally appears to be solved more than eight decades later late.
The plane was carrying American and French diplomatic couriers in June 1940 when it was shot down just days before Moscow’s annexation of the Baltic states. All nine people on board the plane were killed, including the two Finnish crew members and seven passengers – an American diplomat, two Frenchmen, two Germans, a Swede and a dual Estonian-Finnish national.
A diving and salvage team in Estonia said this week it had located well-preserved parts and debris of the Junkers Ju 52 aircraft operated by Finnish airline Aero, now Finnair. It was found off the small island of Keri, near the Estonian capital, Tallinn, at a depth of around 70 meters (230 feet).
“Basically, we started from scratch. We took a completely different approach in the search,” said Kaido Peremees, spokesperson for the Estonian diving and underwater survey company Tuukritoode OU, explaining the group’s success in discovering the plane’s remains. .
The civilian plane Kaleva was shot down en route from Tallinn to Helsinki on June 14, 1940, just three months after Finland signed a peace treaty with Moscow following the 1939-40 Winter War.
News of the plane’s fate sparked disbelief and anger among Helsinki authorities, who were informed that it had been shot down by two Soviet DB-3 bombers 10 minutes after taking off from Ulemiste Airport in Tallinn.
“It is unique that an airliner was shot down in peacetime while on a regular flight,” said Finnish aviation historian Carl-Fredrik Geust, who investigated Kaleva’s case since the 1980s.
Finland officially kept silent for years about the details of the plane’s destruction, only publicly saying that a “mysterious crash” had taken place over the Baltic Sea, because it did not want to provoke Moscow.
Although well documented in books, research and television documentaries, the 84-year-old mystery has intrigued Finns. The case forms a key part of the Nordic country’s complex history during World War II and highlights its troubled ties with Moscow.
But perhaps more importantly, the plane’s destruction occurred at a critical time, just days before Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union prepared to annex the three Baltic states, thus sealing the fate of the Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for the next half century before they finally took their countries back. independence in 1991.
Moscow occupied Estonia on June 17, 1940, and Kaleva’s doomed trip was the last flight out of Tallinn, even though the Soviets had already begun imposing a strict embargo on transportation around the Estonian capital.
American diplomat Henry W. Antheil Jr., considered today one of the first American casualties of World War II, was on board the plane when it crashed.
The 27 year old Antheilthe younger brother of the famous composer and pianist George Antheil, was on a rushed government mission to evacuate sensitive diplomatic bags from American missions in Tallinn and Riga, Latvia, as it became clear that Moscow was preparing to gobble up the small Baltic nations.
An Associated Press article dated June 15, 1940 stated that “Henry W. Antheil Jr. of Trenton, N.J., attached to the United States Legation in Helsinki, was killed yesterday in the mysterious explosion of a plane Finnish line. » In the American media, Antheil’s death was overshadowed by much more important news coming out of Europe at the time: the Nazi occupation of Paris.
The US Embassy in Tallinn has carefully documented and studied this case over the years.
Embassy spokesman Mike Snyder told the AP that “news of the possible location of the wreckage of the Kaleva airliner is of great interest to the United States, especially since one of the first American casualties of World War II, diplomat Henry Antheil, occurred. following the destruction of the plane.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Ambassador to Estonia, George P. Kent, shared a post on which included photos of Antheil, Kaleva and a memorial plaque from the American Foreign Service Association in Washington with Antheil’s name engraved on it.
Kaleva was carrying 227 kilograms (500 pounds) of diplomatic mail, including Antheil’s suitcases and equipment from two French diplomatic couriers – identified as Paul Longuet and Frédéric Marty.
Estonian fishermen and the Keri lighthouse operator told Finnish media, decades after the plane was destroyed, that a Soviet submarine surfaced near the Kaleva crash site and picked up floating debris , in particular pockets of documents, which had been recovered by the fishermen on the site.
This gave rise to conspiracy theories regarding the contents of the pouches and Moscow’s decision to shoot down the plane. It remains unclear exactly why the Soviet Union decided to shoot down a Finnish civilian aircraft in peacetime.
“Much speculation about the plane’s cargo has been heard over the years,” Geust said. “What was the plane carrying? Many suggest that Moscow wanted to prevent sensitive materials and documents from leaving Estonia.”
But he added that it could simply have been “a mistake” on the part of Soviet bomber pilots.
Various attempts to find Kaleva have been recorded since Estonia regained its independence more than three decades ago. However, none of them were successful.
Even the U.S. Navy’s oceanographic survey ship, Pathfinder, was unable to locate the plane’s remains during a 2008 search around the island of Keri as part of an enterprise commissioned by the Estonian government at the Pentagon.
“The wreck is in pieces and the seabed is quite difficult with rock formations, valleys and hills. It’s very easy to miss small parts and debris from the plane, Peremees said. “The techniques have of course evolved a lot over time. As always, you can have good technology but be unlucky.
A new video taken by underwater robots from the Peremees company shows clear images of the landing gear of the Junkers trimotor, one of the engines and parts of the wings.
Peremees and his group are “absolutely” convinced that the parts belong to Kaleva due to the distinctive and recognizable design of the German-made Junkers Ju 52, one of the most popular European passenger and war planes of the 1930s and in the early 1940s.
The aircraft was operated by the predecessor of the Finnish national airline Finnair.
Jaakko Schildt, Finnair’s chief operating officer, described the Kaleva disaster as “a tragic and deeply sad event for the young airline” that was Finnair, then named Aero, in 1940.
“Finding the wreck of the Kaleva kind of brings closure to this matter, even if it doesn’t bring back the lives of our customers and crew who were lost,” Schildt said. “The interest in the location of Kaleva in the Baltic Sea testifies to the importance of this tragic event in the aviation history of our region.”
Peremees said his company would now focus on creating 3D images of the Kaleva’s debris and would discuss with Estonian authorities the possibility of recovering some of the objects and, if discovered, the ship’s cargo and human remains. ‘plane.
Snyder, of the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, said Washington was closely monitoring the dive group’s efforts.
“We are following the investigation at the site and will be happy to discuss with our Finnish and Estonian (NATO) allies any developments resulting from the recovery efforts,” Snyder said.
A stone memorial erected in the early 1990s to the victims of the Kaleva crash is located in Keri, and the preserved old terminal of Helsinki’s Malmi Airport, where Kaleva was supposed to arrive, has a plaque memorial erected in 2020 with the names of the victims.
