Finland's Ace of Aces
Eino Ilmari "Illu" Juutilainen
The Highest Scoring non-German of WW2

Born February 21, 1914 in Lieksa
Grew up in Sortavala near an Ilmavoimat base
Mechanic, 1st Separate Maritime Squadron 1932
Learned to fly on his own - then
Joined the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) in 1933
Fighter Pilot school at Utti
Assigned to Lentolaivue 24 (Squadron) in March '39
October '39 - L 24 is deployed to Immola
They were equipped with Dutch Fokker D-21's
the Winter War starts at the end of November '39
He fly's as Eino Luukkanen's wingman
December 19 - First air victory, a  DB-3  bomber
December 31 - First dogfight & 2nd kill, an I-16
March 13, 1940 - Winter war ends

June 25, 1941 - the Continuation War begins
L 24 is now equipped with Brewster Buffalos &
Deployed at Rantasalmi Air Base
July 9 - Illu's 1st combat of WW2, downs two I-153s
August 18 - Downs three I-16s
September 20 - Downs one Spitfire & one MiG-1
April 26, 1942 - He is awarded the Mannerheim Cross

February '43 - a new BF-109 Squadron is formed
& Illu is a founding member of Lentolaivue 34
He, along with other pilots, go to Germany to
familiarize themselves & return with their new 109G-2s
August 31, 1943 - Downs first La-5
June 28, 1944 - Awarded 2nd Mannerheim Cross
       One of only 4 people to have achieved this honor
       Hans Wind being the only another pilot to do so
He celebrated 2 days later by pulling off an "Ace in a Day"
June 30, 1944 - Best day with 6 kills
                      2   P-39 Airacobras
                      2   Yak-9s
                      1   La-5
                      1   IL2 Sturmovic

September 3, 1944 - 94th and last victory, a Lisunov Li-2
September 4, 1944 - the Continuation War ends

In 437 missions he scored:

D-XXI   :  4
Buffalo   : 36
109G-2  : 54
total      = 94

During the war he had turned down officer school
claiming he didn't want to get rusty while away studying.
"Illu" Juutilainen retired from the Ilmavoimat in May 1947
and became a commercial pilot. He lived to see the fall of
the Soviet Union and died in Tuusula February 21st, 1999

Officially Juutilainen had 92 + 2 confirmed kills
He claimed the actual total to be closer to 120

He was never hit by enemy fire