The Fighter That Humbled The Soviet Union

The Fokker D.XXI doesn't figure among the better-known aircraft of the Second World War, but, in some secondary conflicts, it became one of the best-performing fighters of the war. Join us for a look at the last fighting Fokker.
Game footage and aircraft models
War Thunder - / warthunder .
0:04 History
11:25 Conclusion
Disclaimer - This channel is apolitical. We do not endorse any kind of political view.
Corrections
- At 6:27 the image does not show a sniper rifle. It is a Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machine gun.
Music by order of appearance
History:
- Beautiful Oblivion by Scott Buckley ssoundcloud.comscottbuckley
Music promoted by httpswww.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
screativecommons.orglicensesby4.0
Conclusion:
- Finlandia, Op. 26 by Jean Sibelius
SFX
Old Vintage Film Scratches:
www.videezy.com/Free Stock Video Footage by Videezy.com
Sources
- "Fokker D.XXI Aces of World War 2" - Kari Stenman and
Peter de Jong
-"Le Fokker D.21" - Peter de Jong
- "Finland At War - The Winter War 1939-40" - Vesa Nenye, Peter Munter and Toni Wirtanen
- "Lentolaivue 24" - Kari Stenman and Kalevi Keskinen
- "Winter War 1939-40: Finnish Soldier vs Soviet Soldier" - David Campbell
- "Finnish Aces of World War 2" - Kari Stenman and Kalevi Keskinen
I do not own any of the images used in this video. The owners of such images are identified in the video itself.

[@Reindeer911]

Interesting how Finland was able to acquire planes no one else wanted and was able to kick serious ass with them.

[@chae_shoko]

Finnish pilots did fly with amazing valor and success, it is very sad that Finland is today considered as Axis force, despite having no option but to make very loose connection to Germany.

[@pelimies1818]

Same happened again in 1942 Continuation war, with Brewster fighter, which was model rejected as obsolete by US.

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

Often there are different operational parameters. Consider that the Hurricane was great in many roles, but the Russians disliked it. The Buffalo was a tough little fighter for the Finns, but not suitable for dogfighting with a Zero.

[@Crashed131963]

@@chae_shoko The Fins puting swastikas on their planes did not help.

[@cloroxbleach9222]

@@Crashed131963 It's not like Finland put the Swastikas after allying with Germany, the Swastikas were there before the Nazis came to power, a lot of coincidences here

[@seanthornton9969]

An airplane is nothing without a good well trained motivated pilot.

[@smooth_sundaes5172]

Absolutely.

[@jimdavis8391]

... and a team of mechanics and fitters.

[@jduff59]

Training, training, and more training + good pilot.

[@niedersacksen]

@@jimdavis8391 especialy that mate!

[@larsdahlen319]

A finn is a finn.

[@infoscholar5221]

You have to admire the Finns. They fought gallantly against overwhelming force, and fought the good fight.

[@ourshelties7649]

I believe few are the times in history where so few did so well when so massively outnumbered. They lost the war, but did themselves proud.

[@jamesmcallister5494]

The finn's were tough as hell and fought well in their own environment, and they could shoot well with open iron sights.

[@mikewalrus4763]

@@jamesmcallister5494 what do you mean "Where?"

[@bige2220]

@@ourshelties7649 Well, this is what I find interesting, when it is stated Finland "lost" the war, the reality is Finland never had thoughts of "winning" the war, only in surviving as a free nation, the real loss for Finland would have been complete annexation of Finland, so I laugh when I hear, especially pro-soviet types(not saying you are) say well Finland lost, however the reality is Finland saved itself from becoming part of the USSR and saved their way of life and that of generations to come.

[@herptek]

@@bige2220 It is a sort of coping mechanism for Russian minded people who would like to think of Russia as omnipotent. Defensive wars can't be won in reality, only enemy gains can be denied to some degree more or less successfully. Only in the continuation war was there any change of the Soviet Union actually collapsing so that they would be begging for peace terms unfavorable to them. It requires concerted European effort and it certainly didn't help that Europeans were back then fighting against each other rather than against the Russians.

[@ericj.w.ruijssenaars3421]

Thankyou for this very interesting episode. At the momemt, a D.XXI is build in the Netherlands with as many original parts as can be found. It is expected to fly in the near future. Greetings from the Netherlands!

[@dutchthespitfire3204]

Oh, gaaf om te horen.. Hoop em ooit eens te zien vliegen

[@ericj.w.ruijssenaars3421]

@@dutchthespitfire3204 hoop ik zelf ook 😁. Stond vorig jaar een artikel over in de krant. Tik fokker D XXI in op internet en je vind vast meer info over dit project.

[@SkinPeeleR]

Klopt, in Hoogeveen. Ben zeker van plan om eens te kijken.

[@That70sGuitarist]

Honestly, I'd be more interested in seeing an airworthy G1 Reaper. From what I've read, they acquitted themselves very well during the German invasion of The Netherlands. Greetings and best wishes from Ottawa, Canada's capital and Den Haag's sister city.

[@ericj.w.ruijssenaars3421]

@@That70sGuitaristWe can always dream 😁. But yes, a flying G1 would be awesome. Greetings from the Netherlands!

[@TammoKis]

Insignia of the Finnish Air Force 1918-1945 . "Swedish count Eric von Rosen gave the Finnish White government its second aircraft, a Thulin Typ D.[3] Von Rosen had painted his personal good-luck charm on the Thulin Typ D aircraft. This logo - a blue swastika, the ancient symbol of the sun and of good luck, with no political connotation at the time - gave rise to the insignia of the Finnish Air Force. The white circular background originated when the Finns painted over the advertisement from the Thulin air academy.[4] The swastika was officially taken into use after an order by Commander-in-Chief C. G. E. Mannerheim on 18 March 1918. "

[@EC23331]

I believe it was removed and changed about a year ago. Which I don’t agree

[@jameslongstreet9259]

@@EC23331 Yeah..Black Lives Matter also hit the Finnish Air force, why I have no idea... :o(

[@nonamesplease6288]

Note that the Finns called it the Hakkaristi, and it was also commonly known in German as the Hakkenkreuz. The symbol is in common usage in Asia as a religious symbol. A firehouse built near me in the 1920s had the symbol built into the architecture. It was well known as an ancient symbol of good luck, so everybody had a word for it. The word swastika was popularized in Germany in connection with that political party that I'm not allowed to mention. The word comes from Sanskrit.

[@EneTheGene]

@@nonamesplease6288 You sound misleading in a small way. The word hakaristi is just a translation for the word swastika, they are not different symbols. (though obviously we used the symbol before the Germans did) The difference often noted by Finnish writers is how Finns just had our swastikas in a straight orientation where as the German ones are crooked.

[@hurri7720]

@@EneTheGene , the Nazi swastika can be both crooked and straight, the one adopted by the Finnish air force, long before the Germans took it too, is always straight.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Obviously the Fins were highly skilled pilots if they could make the Fokker and Brewster look good lol :D

[@romaliop]

Not just the pilots, also the ground crews and engineers knew what they were doing, resulting in a much better Buffalo than anybody else had even on paper.

[@dragonace119]

To be fair the reason why the Buffalo was so shit when the Americans used it was because the Navy added so much extra armor to it after the design was accepted that it became useless and the Finnish removed most of said after-production armor which proved its worth.

[@jussiollila7714]

Qualitas Potentia Nostra.

[@calvingreene90]

The Finnish Brewster Buffalos were unarmored which gave them much better power to weight ratio to the Buffalos flown by the Americans and much better performance. The lesson is don't load a plane down with armor without a major increase on power.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

@@calvingreene90 Very true, Japanese knew all about that. :D

[@bjornh4664]

You missed to mention the feat by Jorma Sarvanto during the Winter War. Flying a Fokker D.XXI, on 6 January 1940 he engaged alone in an air fight with a group of seven Soviet Ilyushin DB-3s. In the ensuing encounter, Sarvanto managed to shoot down six of the enemy aircraft in just a few minutes, becoming AFAIK the first "ace in a day" of WW2.

[@aleksazunjic9672]

He did not miss to mention, it was a fake story. In reality he downed one and damaged another. Rest of his victories were ... "air" :D

[@patriot52realfinn22]

@@aleksazunjic9672 Story is absolutely true. 9 SB2.s started an attack to Kuopio. 2 of them was shot down before. 7 planes feached Kuopio and on the way back to Paldiski 7planes were shot and 6 of them b1y Jorma Sarvanto and last one by Pelle Sovelius. Sovietunion was totally humiliated by Finns in Winter war. 1944 and in Tali - Ihantala they were humiliated again. Soviets last battle in Ilomantsi was disastrr when their troops were in two mottis ,lead by General Erkki Faappana. Soviets red army was not able to beat Finns under any places.Finnish army did never surrender to "ryssä army". Afterwards russian general told that we could invade just enough land that we could bury our dead.

[@jyritaskinen8954]

@@aleksazunjic9672 Bullshit. It's a true story.

[@aleksazunjic9672]

@@patriot52realfinn22 Russian sources confirm loss of 3 planes , and another one heavily damaged but managed to land. Considering armament (4X7.7 mm) and quantity of ammo (500 rounds for nose guns, 300 rounds for wing guns) onboard Fokker D.XXI , this was solid success. Of course not done by single man, it was a group effort. Sarvanto got 1, maybe 1.5 kill and that is about it.

[@esajuhanirintamaki965]

@Aleksa Źunjič You had to know, that in Stalin's Soviet Union no one even dared tell or write truth to the reports! It is clear that Soviet Air commanders tried to hide their mistakes. Otherwise these commanders would lose their lives in the hands of "brave" NKVD butchers. Fear was Stalin's most important weapon among Soviet people.

[@petesheppard1709]

My respect and admiration for Finland only increases...thanks for a very informative video! The number of unsung aircraft that were fought valiantly is amazing!

[@tomoplt5437]

Who made this plane big were the men in the cockpit. I can highly recommend a book written by Finnish air ace Eino Antero Luukkanen. The book titul in English is "Fighter over Finland".

[@Donik0420]

Going to have to keep an eye out on ebay. Doesn't look like there's any digital versions available!

[@tomdavies241]

well stated!

[@marttimattila9561]

You fight with what you got or dont fight at all, I hope we still have that spirit that we had in Winter War. Thanks for good video.

[@joostprins3381]

Because of its simplicity it was easy to maintain in the harsh environment in Finland during the Winter war, it would always start, could take off and land on bad strips. In the end it was just obsolete, like many planes designed in the 30’s. The pilots did the rest, and doing a hell of a job.

[@jimjamauto]

I remember Randy "Duke" Cunningham saying in old VHS video: the advantage in aerial warfare always goes to the pilot who is supremely confident in his ability to shoot down his enemy, not the pilot with the better plane or training.

[@onanthebarbarian4842]

When it was originally built the D.XXI was a thoroughly modern fighter, being comparable to the Ki 27. Most fighters from the mid-30's are saddled with the reputation of being unremarkable while the truth is that they straddled two different era's of fighter design and production. Erich Schatzki designed the F.K.58 not long after the D.XXI, and you can see the development. It was faster, and had a retractable landing gear. Ordered by France, it was a more formidable fighter than anything France had in its own arsenal at the time. These changes were hardly lost on Fokker, or Dutch aviation in general. When the war broke out Fokker was already flying the prototype D.XXIII, and the Schelde factory was building its S.21 prototype. These were extremely futuristic craft incorporating radical design decisions. Indeed, Koolhoven had already cancelled its F.K.55 after disappointing results, though its design was also far more modern than one might expect from 1938. The powerful nations of the time were already ordering replacements for aircraft they just took into service, and this allowed them to keep the edge on the enemy. You have to remember, Germany entered the Spanish Civil War with He 51's, a biplane who's first flight predates that of the Fokker D.XXI by only three years, and Great Britain entered WWII with the Gloster Gladiator, who's first flight predates the D.XXI's by only two years. If the Netherlands had been similarly wealthy (and its government insightful), we may well have remembered a D.XXII in the same way we remember the P-40. The facts as we have them, however, paint a picture of an aircraft that performed much better, and much more, than could have been expected from it being past its date as it was. It should also be mentioned that while the D.XXI's only accounted for 10 kills during the Battle of the Netherlands, the total losses suffered by the Luftwaffe number around 250. Which is quite a lot. Though, they managed to gather the parts and perform repairs of around half those aircraft, which I suspect amounts to many of the Ju 52's destroyed on the ground. Yes, the attacking force suffered an astounding number of aircraft destroyed on the ground, which is odd. But here's a hint: It wasn't on their own airfields. The losses to the transport fleet were never fully replaced (and neither were the experience instructors the Germans so wisely decided should pilot these craft), and the much more well known big whammy at Malta put the final nail in the coffin.

[@marcblank3036]

Fokker also produced the G1 twin engined fighter at the same time. Many years of pacifism made it impossible to prepare properly for the Nazi onslaught. Amazing what the Dutch military did with the lack of weapons and training

[@marcblank3036]

@John Johnson You forgot to mention that the city of Rotterdam was bombed to pieces as well......All allies lost very quickly in the East, including the USA, UK and France. The Japanese, however, fairly quickly lost momentum. What do you mean with the jewel being returned to it's owner? The Japanese?

[@marcblank3036]

@John Johnson The German forces were 3 times bigger than the Dutch. Well armed, trained and motivated. Apparently the Dutch did not collapse as quickly as the Nazis wanted due to the fact that they had to threaten to bomb major cities, with Rotterdam being the only one before surrender was effective. The damage done to the German forces by such a poorly prepared country was significant, so far so that even when the Germans invaded Crete they did not have enough JU52. And by the way Indonesian independence came about after the US and Britain were unwilling to allow the Dutch to hold on to their Asian Jewels although the 2 campaigns against the Japanese trained Indonesian Resistance in mainly Java, were successful. The Debate about colonies is another one. France suffered likewise in Vietnam and Britain, of course, held on to Malay and Singapore well into the 1960s. Being "a victorious nation helped, probably. You should read up on history if you have time

[@onanthebarbarian4842]

@@marcblank3036 Best not to argue with the crazy man. People like this make up history to suit them, and even the truth can not cure their madness. But he provides an important lesson: One can never count on others to be peaceful or reasonable. It is as true today as it was in the 30's. A man like this was in charge of Germany, all full of zeal and righteousness.

[@marcblank3036]

@@onanthebarbarian4842 So true

[@realbraf]

On 6 January 1940 Finnish fighter ace lieutenant Jorma Sarvanto engaged alone with his Fokker D.XXI fighter in an air fight with a group of seven Soviet Ilyushin DB-3s Bombers. In the ensuing encounter, Sarvanto managed to shoot down six of the enemy aircraft in quick sequence. It took just 4-5 minutes. This incident drew a lot of attention worldwide, and the press considered it a world record. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorma_Sarvanto

[@rubengonzalez5921]

Thank you for telling a little known story of the Finnish air force and its great combat capacity...I didn't know it in detail

[@Republic_ofTexas]

Great video. One man's trash in another man's treasure. Love what Finland did. Keep the original content coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TCK71]

Great video and much respect to the brave Finish people.

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@buttersstotch7981]

That is Lahti-Saloranta m/26 LMG at 6:27 ,not a sniper rifle. Also there was an experimental version (Finnish Fokker D.XXI-4 with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine, production code FR-167) made during Continuation war in 1942 which had retractable landing gear and it could achieve the speed of 428km/h at 2800m. In the process of making the FR-167 the 2 machine guns from the wings were moved to the hull which improved the concentration of fire. So this was possibly the best version of Fokker D.XXI ever made.

[@AllthingsWW2]

Hey there, thank you for the correction. I've added it to the description. Hope you enjoyed the video despite that mistake 👍

[@buttersstotch7981]

@@AllthingsWW2 Yes I did, it is very nice :)

[@tommyhijmensen6257]

@@AllthingsWW2 lumi puhuu suomea. Thank you so much for this story,you got another subscriber.

[@lightfootpathfinder8218]

Really enjoyed this video it was Informative and well put together with the photographs, diagrams and statistics 👍

[@donaldbest1295]

Interesting and well presented. Lots of history I didn’t know. Thanks and subscribed.

[@geralblas6188]

At this moment the D21 is waiting for final administrative approvement by the Dutch authorities. The building process Hans been taking place at Hoogeveen AirPort. The man who made this all possible is Jack van Egmond, a technical genius. Test flights will take place at Hoogeveen, hopefully on short term. The engine is a DC3 P&W 1830 engine with 1100hp which will turn this machine without armor-plating and armament into a beast. Looking forward to its maiden flight.

[@amerigo88]

Thank you! There are so few Fokker DXXI videos available. Lovely little plane.

[@msumungo]

The Finns have always made miracles to happen with inferior equipment. And now they have F-35s.

[@joergmaass]

Which proves your point...

[@samuelbiskin3416]

The jury is out on that airplane. Not so great so far.

[@hurri7720]

Knocking on wood, hoping for the best as a Finn.

[@gerhard6105]

Nice video. At 00:29 in your video, the Fokker "Spin" (Spider) is flying over my home town. : )

[@johnforsyth7987]

Thank you for another informative and entertaining video. Well done.

[@no-nonseplayer6612]

Thank you wery much for such well made video

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@lnstall_Wizard]

Really cool video. Thanks for it. I subscribed.

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you and welcome!

[@noahreekers5585]

Great video man

[@darrellborland119]

A very interesting video about a subject I know very little of'. Thanks!

[@balikolaci1]

Great video! Finns were enthusiastic about nowhere-else-succesful aircraft like the Morane MS-406, they even built it with Klimov engine, let alone Buffalo with Shvetsov engine... The Fokker's big problem was the nasty habit to high speed stall due to their narrow wings. But with disciplined flying they could live together with this.

[@esajuhanirintamaki965]

Klimov-engined Morane 406 earned nickname "Mörkö-Morane" or "Bogeyman-Morane". If Messerschmitt Bf109 were considered as a first-class fighter, Mörkö-Morane was second-class fighter.

[@JuhaEerikki]

Excellent video, thank you!

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video so I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@hawnyfox3411]

^^^ Superb presentation & video, as always - ( hence as to "why" I'm a subscriber ) .

[@martryan2060]

Good video it's shame Antony Fokker didn't live long enough to see This aircraft reach its Zenith. Keep up the good work 👍 Would love see a video on tupelov TB3 bomber . Take care ☀️

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you! Will certainly go around Tupolev bombers.

[@erwinmuskens3149]

Great video! I just want to let you know, we now have a flighing Fokker DXXI in the Netherlands.

[@PhilORourke]

Great Channel . FASCINATING!

[@mikajulin]

Great work!

[@dubyacwh7978]

Great video thank you for sharing

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@roykliffen9674]

The D.XXI was requested for use in the Dutch colonies where technical support was much rarer and rough airstrips were mostly the rule. It therefor had to be simple to repair and rugged. With such limitations one can't expect cutting edge performances, though the D.XXI performed as well as could be expected from it against much more modern fighters.

[@eve-marie6751]

This is a classic example of the classic trade-off between quantity and quality and the propensity for "experts" to overvalue quantity vs quality:- both on the ground and in the air the Finns were very much more motivated to win and fought much smarter and more co-operatively than the Soviets and even if the Soviets eventually rolled over the Finns by reason of massive materiel superiority it became obvious even to them that trying to crush the Finns completely was not worth it. A big bad bully might be able to beat you up but if you can inflict a lot of pain on him even when you go down he will learn to leave you alone:- it's a classic theme throughout history and even Machiavelli touched on it. Btw, the Russians have learned to their great dismay that even a small motivated Ukrainian force with half-decent weaponry can inflict unacceptable casualties on much more numerous and better equipped Russian troops.

[@TammoKis]

Finnish Air Force Motto still is : Qualitas Potentia Nostra (English: "Quality is our Strength").

[@stormystudios9804]

Do you know what event lead to "the Russians have learned to their great dismay that even a small motivated Ukrainian force with half-decent weaponry can inflict unacceptable casualties on much more numerous and better equipped Russian troops." ?

[@stormystudios9804]

@CipiRipi00 to be honest this applies to both the US (Cuba) and China (Vietnam). The sad part is that you get blockaded by these countries after being bruised, so no recovery for you.

[@markelalagoz7363]

@@stormystudios9804 You have to excuse the girl and her stupid comment

[@tomaspabon2484]

Man this format is awesome. I just binged the whole thing after discovering the G.55 Centauro video. Arsenal VG33 video soon?

[@terrynewsome6698]

The Finn built a amazing air force in a cave with a box of scraps!!!!

[@samarkand1585]

Bought the airforce

[@terrynewsome6698]

@@samarkand1585 the p-40s were built from crash Soviet examples.

[@peabase]

@@samarkand1585 The D.XXIs were license-built in Finland with the exception of the first batch, out of a total of six. The Bristol Blenheim bomber in FAF service had a very similar history.

[@markelalagoz7363]

Is that why the VL Myrsky Finnish aircraft fell apart in mid-air

[@peabase]

@@markelalagoz7363 The VL Myrsky deteriorated in adverse weather conditions, but save for one crash, the cause wasn't attributed to the wooden construction failing. The type's poor serviceability was blamed on substandard war-time glue. The good stuff, phenolic resin, couldn't be had.

[@gii_vannile]

Thank you very much . and , Happy New Year . Jan. 16th 2022 Sun. 16:30 from Yokohama City Japan

[@jorannielsen4213]

Very nice video. Congratulations.

[@anttimustonen9033]

Jorma Sarvanto ampui FR-97 koneella 06.01.1940 alle 4 minuutissa 6 kpl Iljusin DB-3 pommaria.

[@alvashoemaker8536]

...FASCINATING... THANKS for this info! 👍😃😃👣

[@thefruitdealer4970]

Great video!

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@COACHWARBLE]

Great video. You have my subscription

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you and welcome!

[@jdewitt77]

Great video. I've always loved this plane because of the way it looked and its amazing combat record by the Finns against the Russians. Please come out with more videos on lesser known aircraft.

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you. Will do!

[@Dog.soldier1950]

Sounds familiar

[@Halemmeric2010]

In warthunder the canon armed variant is responsive and nimble but does lack speed , but given that it served in a small country getting up above the incoming bombers would be more important than crossing vast qreas to engage the enemy. Overall great plane for early war, but its all down to the pilot to use it properly.

[@ZeroNotJunior]

Amazing Work top engenering from Fokker and the Dutch Airforce the Fokker D.XXI only sold to the Dutch-East Indies, Denmark and Finland during 1938 unitl 1941 some parts were sold to Spain and later 42 training planes but Spain never saw the planes operational in 1938

[@AudieHolland]

Dutch D.XXI pilots also did very well considering the circumstances. It also helped that the Me-109 was fast, too fast to engage in dogfights so in the few instances German Messerschmitt pilots were lured into a fight, the Dutch pilots found it rather easy to evade the enemy fire and turn inside to get on their tails. Unfortunately, their own airfields were bombed out of action so most D.XXIs were lost after crash landing or destroyed on the ground in subsequent bombings. The Finnish warriors, both on the air and on the ground, did wonders against the might of the Soviet Union in 1940. All credit to the Finnish soldiers and pilots for blunting the Soviet attack. My end conclusion is that the D.XXI, despite having a fixed undercarriage and no self sealing fueltanks, was a very capable fighter/interceptor in the early years of World War II.

[@javajohnny7759]

Very nice video

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@davidelliott5843]

The Fokker D21, Hawker Hurricane, Gloster Gladiator and Fairey Swordfish all shared similar construction methods. Had the Fokker been given more power it might have been more successful.

[@flyingdutchman4you]

excellent, well done!

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@GaryArmstrongmacgh]

I think it was an adequate plane. But it was the Finns themselves that made the aircraft better. As with any plane they got a hold of.

[@lyacoubian]

The "J" in Junkers is pronounced as a "Y". Very informational channel. Just subscribed.

[@ifga16]

I think that the Finns could use a mouse trap to snag a bear.

[@MarkkuKoljonenwTinja]

Thanks! :D

[@sejembalm]

Reads book on the WW2 Focke-Wulf FW-190 fighters as a young lad, asks Dad, "Daddy, what does Focke mean?" Gets a whipping.

[@gerhardris]

Excellent video on the D21. You correctly point out the two asects that made the D21 (as Fokker itself notes and DXXI as most others do) shine. The jewish designer Shatski who built an aircraft to be simple and ruggid yet with only 800 plus hp to play with needed to comete with 1000 + hp. Keeing it light was the first trick. Being able to powerdive not having to worry about the diving speed even able to follow a Stuka in a dive made the attack much more simple for pilots. The Dutch air arm used the vic formation akin the Britisch at first. With only one in three having a radio. The Fins made far beyter use of the plane.

[@Chironex_Fleckeri]

1930s was an incredible time in aviation. It was a formative decade

[@joevespa3157]

Happy new year

[@mattjacomos2795]

I look forward to your video on the Buffalo!

[@harlech2]

I really liked this video!

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you!

[@RaoulLeDegueu]

happy new year too very nice airplane, i bought 2 of them in 1/100 scale

[@patrickcheung1795]

Pls bring back the stuka video. If done again I hope KZbin doesn't take it down

[@lunokhod3937]

very interesting, you don't hear much about fokker during ww2

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The company didn't do much during WW2. Its factories were seized by the Germans to build Bücker Bu 181 trainers and parts for the Ju 52. Anthong Fokker died in 1939 in New York.

[@randlerobbertson8792]

fascinating aeroplane. and yes the Finns were amazing in them.

[@book3100]

You prepare the best you can. Then you go to work with what you have. Can hope to improve things as you go, but that isn't always possible. Almost every plane made in the 30's had some merit to it when pushed into war in the 40's, some more than others, sure But every man with the balls to climb in and do his damn best with his plane, that's the real credit.

[@steveconway1948]

That aircraft at 0.22 which is listed as a Fokker D1 is an aircraft I have never heard of or seen before. I always understood the progression of Fokker aircraft in WW1 to be the Eindecker, the DR1, the DVII and the DVIII. I assume the D1 was an experimental plane entered into fighter competitions that never entered service, do you have further information on it?

[@russrosener7463]

I would say it was the superior training and motivation of Finnish pilots during the Winter War. And yet if the Fokker DXXI wasn't the best fighter, it certainly was good and if the Finns had more the airwar could have been even worse for the Russians.

[@morokolli8700]

Good mini document. Next brewster.. Ilmari Juutilainen like allso that and many other pilots too before me-109 came. 👍🇫🇮

[@jackdale9831]

Very briefly, the FAF made a "copy" of the Me-109, that looked almost exactly {--to me} like a 109, --the VL Pyorremyrsky. I'm told it was a separate design, and performed "better" {--faster climb rate}than the M-109Gs the FAF had.

[@tommyhijmensen6257]

Long live the people of Finland, lumi puhuu suomea ,periode !

[@TheOBOM]

0:30 is not generaly known as 'Grote Kerk' but the Saint Bavo Cathedral ... or just 'De Bavo'.

[@Desertduleler_88]

The Finns made that aircraft's reputation with their discipline,training and organisation skills.

[@Phoenix-xn3sf]

Great little doc. If only the Finns could've gotten their hands on some Fokker G1's too... BTW, you might want to change the title of this to feature the actual plane. Now if I search for 'Fokker DXXI' this video doesn't come up.

[@AllthingsWW2]

Thank you for the heads up!

[@javasrevenge7121]

I am dutch and you are very right.

[@jfrorn]

Always loved the DXXI, such a beautiful airplane...

[@kimwit1307]

Just so you know: they've built a working replica that is slated to go airborn for the first time sometime in 2022.

[@AviViljoen]

How did the fighter humble the Soviet Union?

[@alessiodecarolis]

A lot of early monoplanes had a similar appearance, such as the A5M & the D21, naturally against more modern fighters they were hopelessy outmatched, it's a pity that the spanish couldn't fight.

[@tonyaughney8945]

Finland's defence of their homeland against communism was exceptional. Some of the tactics used such as 'Motti' are still used today but called Fighting In Woods And Forests (FIWAF).

[@aronmarkovits5396]

Yes but I think the finnish people did it best

[@tonyaughney8945]

@@aronmarkovits5396 I think nato would have a few more resources.

[@aronmarkovits5396]

Yes but they had snowy wastelends

[@tonyaughney8945]

@@aronmarkovits5396 and a population that loved their country with a sizable percentage of men trained to fight in the forests. Exceptional bravery and tactics.

[@hurri7720]

It's about cutting the enemy into smaller units you then have the force to take out one by one. What made this possible was that all the Russians was on that one road. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raate_Road The Germanic did the same to the Romans in the German woods then long ago.

[@crazywarriorscatfan9061]

Interesting!

[@markr.1984]

In the first iteration of the Maddox IL2 Sturmovik Flight Sim, I remember trying to fly a career in the D.XX1 for the Finns. In one mission we were supposed to escort Finnish Blenheim bombers, but we could not keep up with them!! And the speeds in the old IL2 were quite accurate and well researched. It was simply too slow, so I changed to the Brewster quickly and did much better!! If you could get the D.XX1 in a turn fight with I-16s you could get a few though.

[@charlesjmouse]

It certainly seems training and tactics count for a lot.

[@fliegeroh]

A beautiful little fighter plane.

[@marcusfranconium3392]

The fokker D21 was one of the few aircraft that could follow a Stuka in to a dive and kill it . The Foller D21 also had several BF 109 kills during the invasion of the netherlands . quite a good plane if used right .

[@willcord3932]

The Finnish Air Force during the WWII was a mess. In a view of maintenance. Finland had planes from England (Blenheim, Bristol Bulldog, Gloster Gladiator), Sweden (Hawker Hart), Netherlands (Fokker C.X, D.XXI), France (Morane-Saulnier), Italy (Fiat G.50), United States (Brewster Buffalo), Germany (Dornier Do-17, Junkers Ju-88, Messerschmidt Bf-109) and Soviet Union (Iljushin DB-3, Polikarpov I-15, I-16, I-153, Tupolev SB-2). Basically Finns had planes from every plane producing, war going nation in Europe. The Army was not in the better shape. Mosin-Nagant has already been mentioned, but Finns had also some artillery pieces from France which French army had decommissioned as obsolete before the World War (76 K/23). That is before the FIRST World War.

[@zorankalina6100]

Looks...Finns are realy...remarkebly good drivers of enething with motor/engine🙂👍

[@spannaspinna]

True look at mika hakkenen

[@zorankalina6100]

@@spannaspinna A lot of them are on the top places in moto sports......from the beguning of the racing. I like ...Kimi Raikonen....realy spetial guy.....different then most of others🙂👍

[@spannaspinna]

@@zorankalina6100 they start in motor sport as kids they get very good at it

[@zorankalina6100]

@@spannaspinna Good idea...clever, keeping kids from streets and give them sence, chances.....chalindges. Sory for my unpolished english/Cr🌞atia/ Should go up there....one summer...to chill & walk🙂🍀👍 Actualy, all Scandinavian countries ...should visite for a summer hollydays to walk, taste ,see....and relaxe from high summers temperatures..we have here. Ah...only worie about vines and beers....I like, but there ...they are so overtaxate/extreamly expensive/

[@jackdale9831]

@@zorankalina6100 Can you bring your own? Croats are AWESOME! Come to the US--lots of different climates here. MUCH, cheap {price} wine/beer/Spirits here. Many Croat relatives here. In most places, you can have your own pistol {--just a 'tool' of Protection...} here. We would 'LUV' you here.

[@SIG442]

The Dutch pilots that flew this aircraft complained they couldn't see properly in front of them while taking off or landing. This leading to pilots hanging partially outside their cockpits to even see something. Aside from that most Dutch pilots would favor the Fokker G.I instead which had a lot more firepower and was feared by the Germans. Now whether upgrades would have helped or not, yes it actually would have made a huge difference depending on what you would change. A better engine would have improved things a lot already, retractable landing gear would have helped as it would have made it more aerodynamic. Yet aside from that you would need to do a revision of the airframe itself. By changing the airframe to a full metal one that would use a much better engine would actually have been a major step forward. This hypothetical platform would have been capable of much higher speeds and carry armor protection for the pilot. Also it's weapons being moved to the wings and upgraded to all heavy guns would have made it a lot more dangerous. However the biggest change that may have caused for a much better aircraft would have been to lengthen the hull and wings a bit so it would be easier for landing and taking off, as well as adding stability in flight and combat. It even would allow to hold a bit more fuel then and have better performance over all.

[@snakeplissken2148]

there is nothing wrong about displaying the finish airforce insignias in all its glory. if you are barely into history, you should be able to research the swedish baron rosen, his relation to aviation and finland.

[@rogeralsop3479]

Most interesting.

[@windfall35]

Hmmm....compare this aircraft with another that was a contemporary design- the Hawker Hurricane. While the Hurricane retained some of the characteristics of earlier generation fighters (ie linen over wood frame and a distinct family resemblance to the biplane Hawker Fury) the Hurricane was light years ahead of Fokker's design (thank goodness for Britain) and its honest qualities enabled it to be an effective weapon for the allies from 1939 to 1945.

[@mikauusitalo7421]

Interesting, In Finland Hurricane was a disappointment. Clumsy, easily broken (fabrik skin wings), not accurate gun platform. And after Britain declared war against Finland, maintenance became almost impossible. Spare parts must be first shoot down from numerous planes Britain gave to enemy. And those were different variant.

[@petercrosland5502]

Hurricane had metal tube fuselage not wood, and as you say it was nearly all fabric covered. This made it easier and cheaper to produce - a knitted fighter. Early versions were not much faster than the Fokker and a lot of modifications were made before it would perform well. The Fokker was designed as a frontier fighter, with fixed undercarriage for rough field operations, all it needed was a better engine and the later ones built by the Finns got a worse one. As someone has remarked the Finns also had Hurricanes which were not as successful, mainly due to a lack of parts. The new D21 being built in Holland has a 1000hp+ engine, see how that goes.

[@TheWhoamaters]

At 6:30 that is a light machine gun, not a sniper rifle, a Lahti M/26

[@mycroft1905]

Another excellent analysis. Superior training and high morale must have underpinned Finnsh aerial successes. Are there echoes of the Winter War in the current conflict in Ukraine? TFP

[@gurkslunga]

This is a list of the finnish fighter aces and the fighters they flew. There were pilots who flew even less capable fighters like the Gloster Gladiator and still got several kills. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_aces_from_Finland

[@beebee7834]

They defended their homeland courageously!

[@geordiedog1749]

“Well children, today we have World War Two fighter pilot Jonny Jones come to talk to us. Tell us about your combat in the air during that war.” “Hello children. Well, one day we were flying at 10,000 feet over the coast when we got attacked by these five Fockers ………” Children start to titter. “Of course children, Jonny is talking about the famous German fighter plane the Focke Wulf 190 !” “Yes, well, anyway, as I was saying we were flying at 10,00 feet when we were attacked by these five Fockers in their Messerschmitt!”

[@Martin-on2pp]

@NFels, which Dutch civil war do you mean?