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GUNNAR LIHR – northeast of , the seventh child of master blacksmith Berndt Lihr. The Lihrs A LEGENDARY FINNISH had been blacksmiths for generations, em- AVIATOR ployed at various ironworks in southern . The first Lihr in Finland was one of several Walloon masters invited from Carl-Fredrik Geust to Finland to set up ironworks in the 17th century.2 The strong handicraft family tradition TO AIRLINER K-SALG, and his deep technical interest directed STOCKHOLM. Gunnar’s choice of profession towards avi- Helsinki 14.6.1928 21.48 PM. ation, which in his formative years was the Continue immediately from Turku to Hel- newest technical wonder, and the topic of sinki Friday [15.6] stop departure to Spitz- many exciting books stimulating the boy’s bergen same evening if possible buy maps interest. In addition, Gunnar had the ex- northern , norway and arctic ocean ceptionally good health and mental qualities required by the demanding profession of aero aviator. Despite his rather modest formal education (only Myrskylä primary school) This telegram hit our calm aviator company he soon fully mastered his chosen profes- like an explosive during our dinner in Hotel sion. In 1920 he volunteered to complete Foresta in Lidingö, Stockholm. Spitzbergen! his military service in the newly formed Nobile! , and joined the Flight Battalion (Ilmailupataljoona) in Santahami- With these words Gunnar Lihr begins the na, Helsinki. After the one-year mandatory account of his dramatic search and rescue service he was enrolled in the Air Force operation of the Italian polar explorer Um- as non-commissioned officer, and served berto Nobile, whose airship Italia disap- as the responsible mechanic of a French- peared 25 May 1928 somewhere northeast made Georges Levy flying boat. Because of Spitsbergen. Lihr’s own narrative was of recurring technical failings, resulting in printed only as a serial story in the Finn- fatal accidents, these flying boats were soon ish children’s journal Pikku Matti in 1934– nicknamed “flying coffins”. The observant 1935.1 young mechanic was ne vertheless able to It should be noted that Pikku Matti was save the life of his crew and also the aircraft published by Lihr’s wife, the well-known by resolute action after an abrupt engine paediatrician Zaida Eriksson-Lihr, who fire whilst airborne. During his service in proudly wrote the introductory words: the Air Force Gunnar Lihr was also accept- ”Despite numerous requests, only this jour- ed for pilot training, thus acquired a unique nal was able to persuade Gunnar Lihr to double education: aircraft pilot as well as write down his memories of the dramatic flight mechanic. Spitsbergen rescue operation.” While still attending the pilot course, Lihr was selected as flight mechanic on the first Finnish flight to the Arctic Ocean, HO WAS UNNAR IHR W G L ? from the 22 to 26 April 1922. The Breguet Gunnar Lihr was born 26 July 1897 in Myr- 14 A 2 was piloted skylä (Mörskom), approximately 75 km by Major Aarne Snellman, Commander of

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The skilled Gunnar Lihr soon became the responsible mechanic of for the French- made Georges Levy flying boats, or ‘flying coffins’.

KATSAUKSET Photo: Bruno Jacobson/ C.F.G.’s collections.

the Flight Battalion. During the intermedi- Air Force. In June 1924 he was recruited by ate stop in Oulu on the northbound leg Lihr the Finnish commercial airline Aero Oy and had to dismount the defective engine mag- became the first Finnish commercial pilot neto, which turned out to be irreparable. in the company.3 Thanks to Lihr’s double The spare magneto sent by train to Oulu pilot and mechanic education, he was unu- was unfortunately of a wrong type, but the sually well prepared to handle both tech- blacksmith’s son skilfully adapted the spare nical problems and unserviceable weather magneto, and Snellman was able to take off conditions, all typical disturbances of early to his destination, Petsamo at the Arctic commercial aviation that hampered traffic Ocean. Snellman most likely permitted his regularity. bright flight mechanic to pilot the aircraft Because of engine malfunctions he during the long flight legs of the trip. made several forced landings at sea or on After passing the military pilot’s exami- the ice of the Gulf of Finland on flights nation in the spring of 1923, Lihr served as from Helsinki to Stockholm or Tallinn, dur- a military flight instructor for the Finnish ing which he quickly located and repaired

Intermediate stop with a Breguet 14 A 2 at Rovaniemi 26 April 1924 on the return leg from Petsamo. Photo: C.F.G.’s collections.

50 Tekniikan Waiheita 3/13 KATSAUKSET the fault in the engine or device, and then hero Roald Amundsen in the airship Norge took off for the route destination. Informa- in 1927. After this trip, Nobile and Amund- tion about Lihr’s successful forced landings sen fell out. Nobile decided to show who was quickly spread amongst Aero’s custom- was number one in arctic research, and ers by word of mouth, and gradually also finally eliminate all of the white spots on via enthusiastic articles in the Scandinavian the globe. Nobile planned every detail of press. The smart-looking and reliable flight his trip, recruited an international team of captain soon became a symbol of flight scientists (including the Czech physicist safety during Aero’s pre-war expansion pe- František Behounek and the Swedish mete- riod. orologist Finn Malmgren, who had already Lihr’s activity as a commercial pilot participated in Nobile and Amundsen’s started in June 1924 with an introductory joint airship flight in 1927) to join the crew course at the Junkers factory in Dessau, of his airship Italia (like Norge also designed , after which he was able to coop- by Nobile). The PR-minded Nobile ac- erate with Aero’s German flight mechan- tively kept the international press informed ics without difficulty. The pilot and flight about his plans and preparati ons. Even the mechanic were sitting side by side in the Pope solemnly presented Nobile with an aircraft’s open cockpit, and had to commu- cross to be erected upon the planned nicate with each other seamlessly. Although landing of Italia at the North Pole. But re- the main owner and president of the Jun- gardless, Nobile did not enjoy unanimous kers company, Professor Hugo Junkers, support in his own country. His main op- generally required that new pilots should ponent was the Italian Air Force General pass a six month course before being al- and Deputy Minister Italo Balbo, who saw lowed to pilot one of ‘his’ aircraft, Lihr the airship enthusiasm backed by Nobile as was accepted as a Junkers pilot after only a endangering the development of conven- week in Dessau. He was soon also trusted tional or “heavier-than-air” long-distance by Aero to accept and ferry-fly new airlin- aviation. Nevertheless Nobile’s research ers from the Junkers factory in Germany to trip became a well-publicised media story Finland. Lihr accumulated a rich experience from the start. of the problems and challenges of regular On the third research trip from Long- wintertime airline traffic. As heated hangars yearbyen in Spitsbergen Italia was unable were seldom available, the blacksmith’s son to land as planned at the North Pole. The skilfully designed and constructed an en- Pope’s cross was dropped from the cock- gine heater, which facilitated engine start- pit, and Italia struggled to make its way back up in sub-zero temperatures significantly. to base in an icy snowstorm. It never ar- rived. Search expeditions were immediately organised after the last radio message was THE NOBILE RESCUE OPERATION TO received 25 May 1928, but to no effect. SPITSBERGEN SUMMER 1928 Only on 3 June 1928 a radio amateur in The greatest event of Lihr’s career was no Archangelsk, Russia, was able to hear faint doubt the rescue operation of Umberto SOS-signals, after which interest in organ- Nobile northeast of Spitsbergen in the ising rescue operations spread internation- summer of 1928. The renowned Italian ally. In Finland as well, young and active Air Polar researcher and airship designer had Force officers were keen to send a rescue undertaken a much discussed research voy- team to Spitsbergen, but the Finnish Air age together with the Norwegian national Force had no suitable aircraft. However,

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Gunnar Lihr and Uuno Backman are already in the cockpit of Junkers F.13 Turku, and Lt. Olavi Sarko climbs into the cabin before take-off from Helsinki to Spitsbergen in the early morning of 16 June 1928. Photo: Soile Petersen/ C.F.G.’s collections.

At Spitsbergen no hangars were available. The crew had to keep watch day and night to ensure that Turku would not be crushed by drifting ice. Photo: C.F.G.’s collections.

52 Tekniikan Waiheita 3/13 KATSAUKSET it was well known that Gunnar Lihr, chief AVIATOR AND SPECIALIST PHYSICIAN pilot of Aero, had a few weeks earlier ferry- flown the new Junkers F.13 (named Turku, Gunnar Lihr found his great love on the registration code K-SALG) from Dessau Åland Islands – the energetic doctor, Zaida to Finland, the longest non-stop flight by a Eriksson, daughter of a merchant captain. Finnish pilot until then. Already at school Zaida’s motto was ”To After quick negotiations between the have the will is to have the skill”. She was military authorities and Aero, including one of the first female doctors in Finland, consultation with Italian diplomats, it was and she presented her dissertation on chil- decided that Finland would send in a res- dren’s diseases in Germany in 1925.6 cue operation, consisting of Gunnar Lihr Despite Zaida’s excellent academic as pilot, Lt. Olavi Sarko from the Finnish certificates she repeatedly encountered re- Air Force as navigator and commanding of- sistance, even discrimination from male ficer, and Uuno Backman also from Aero as colleagues. Gunnar Lihr, “only” a non-com- flight mechanic.4 Turku, leased to the Finn- missioned officer, and a Swedish-speaker, ish government by Aero, took off from also met with similar prejudice during his Helsinki 16 June 1928, two days after the career. He was able to handle this due to his telegram sent to Lihr in Stockholm. professional skill. Despite their completely Although the Finnish rescue operation different formal training, Gunnar and Za- was very badly organised and dispatched ida were well matched and formed couple. with such hurry, Lihr was able to complete Zaida and Gunnar were married 27 his task without any incidents. These could October 1934, and moved into a house easily have been fatal, considering the ex- which Gunnar himself had constructed tremely difficult conditions. The night of 12 in Lauttasaari, in Helsinki.7 About a year to 13 July Lihr and Sarko (Backman was left later, 15 September 1935, their son, Olof on ground for this final search flight) were fi- Gunnarson was born. In Zaida’s journal, nally able to rescue the Italian alpine Captain Pikku Matti, she wrote jokingly about fam- Gennaro Sora, who had been searching for ily events, at the same time giving expert ad- the missing airship for several weeks with his vice about childcare and parenting. dogsled on the endless Arctic ice.5 Gunnar Lihr was highly appreciated After this successful rescue operation both as a skilful aviator and also as a warm- Gunnar Lihr received several decorations hearted man. How much he was appreci- and honours in Finland, Italy and Sweden. ated within the company was demonstrated He also received the rare Golden Junkers by Gunnar Ståhle, president of Aero Oy, pin as recognition of the successful rescue asking his chief pilot Gunnar Lihr to be operation and for his long, immaculate per- godfather to his son Göran (born 1933; in sonal flight service. In 1933 Lihr was one the 1980s and 1990s he was a popular guide of the few Finnish aviators who were invit- in the Finnish Aviation Museum in ). ed to meet Charles Lindbergh during his in- Reciprocally Gunnar Ståhle became godfa- termediate stop in Helsinki, and the follow- ther to Olof Gunnarson Lihr. ing year he was one of the first two Finnish aviators who were awarded the honorary UNNAR IHR S LAST FLIGHT title of flight captain (lentokapteeni) by the G L ’ President of Finland. In the afternoon of 1 December 1937 Gunnar Lihr, with Evald Hartikainen as radio operator, undertook a mail flight

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from Helsinki to Stockholm with Junkers friends and colleagues in Aero, in particu- W34 Östergötland (SE-AEF), on loan from lar his superior and friend Gunnar Ståhle, the Swedish ABA-airline company. On the but also to vast communities within Finland approach to Stockholm the aircraft met a and abroad. The romantic marriage of the thick snowstorm in an icy, sub-zero temper- handsome aviator to the well-known doctor ature. Suddenly the engine malfunctioned only a few years previously had appealed to

KATSAUKSET because of ice and wet snow accumulated the public interest. Now a cruel fate made in the carburettor. Lihr made a forced land- the popular doctor a widow and her small ing in the darkening winter’s day – as he had son fatherless. so skilfully done several times before. This The short but glamorous aviation ca- time fate did not favour the legendary pilot reer of Gunnar Lihr, and his tragic ulti- – the landing spot was not snow-covered mate fate, were soon overshadowed by Fin- land as Lihr presumably may have believed, land’s traumatic wars. As Gunnar Lihr’s last but instead the thin ice of lake Fjäturen, flight was made with a Swedish-registered that could not carry the weight of the air- aircraft, the fatal accident is missing from craft. Before help could arrive the aircraft some well-known aviation history reference had sunk to the bottom of the lake and the books and lists of accidents. Thus Lihr, crew drowned. once a Finnish aviation legend, has until Gunnar Lihr’s tragic last flight brought recently been virtually forgotten. After my boundless sorrow not only to his family, biography of Gunnar Lihr was published in

A few days after the fatal accident, Östergötland was recovered from the bottom of the lake – all too late. Photo: Sweden’s National Archives/ C.F.G’s collections.

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and controlled by the German Junkers aircraft factory, which provided key personnel, including pilots and mechanics to its clandestine subsidiaries. See Lennart Andersson, Günter Endres, Rob Mulder and Günter Ott: Junkers F13 – The World’s First All- Metal Airliner, EAM Books 2012. 4 The choice of Lt. Sarko as Commander of the Finnish rescue operation was apparently due to his knowledge of Italian language and military manners, as he had studied at the Italian Air Force Academy. However he had no experience of Jun- kers aircraft, and therefore had some problems getting along with Lihr. 5 Only six members of Italia’s crew of 16, all with various injuries, were located by 20 June 1928 on an ice floe northeast of Spitsbergen. Nobile himself was picked up 24 June by Swedish aviator Einar Lundberg (who crash-landed and became trapped during his next rescue flight), while the rest and Lundberg were rescued 12 July by the Soviet ice- breaker Krasin. Three men had left the camp on 30 May heading for Spitsbergen on foot; two of them were rescued by Krasin, in very bad condi- tion, while the Swede Finn Malmgren had perished. A total of 23 aircraft, 16 ships and some 1400 men from eight countries participated in the large-scale rescue operation, of which two aircraft with nine The smart-looking flight captain Gunnar Lihr crew members crashed. 6 – a symbol of the new means of transport. Zaida Eriksson-Lihr later became the foremost Photo: Juha Niemi/ C.F.G’s collections. specialist in allergies in Finland, founded the Al- lergy Clinic in Helsinki (now part of the Helsinki University Hospital), was Chair of the International Allergy Association for many years, and was awarded the title of professor in 1955. October 2012, the general interest in his ex- 7 In order to honour the memory of Gunnar Lihr, ceptional career has been revived, which is the street where he had lived, formerly Ryssänkuja, was renamed as Lentäjänkuja (Aviator Lane) in proved by the vast participation in the hon- 1938. The name was changed to Lentokapteeninkuja orary assembly at Lihr’s grave at Hietaniemi (Flight Captain Lane) in 1951. cemetery in Helsinki, on the 75th anniver- sary of his last flight 1 December 2012. MAIN SOURCES: Gunnar Lihr’s flight diary, family archive and pho- Carl-Fredrik Geust, M.Sc., is an Honorary member tographs. of the Finnish Aviation Museum Society. This ar- ticle is a brief summary of his book Gunnar Lihr – Personal communication with some 25 relatives En finländsk flygarlegend – Suomalainen lentäjäle- and aviation historians in Finland, Sweden, Nor- genda (Fontana Media, Helsinki 2012, 288 pages). way, and Russia. Archives and museums in Finland, Sweden, Nor- way, Estonia, Germany, Italy and Russia. Published sources include some 100 books and ar- 1 Pikku Matti was published in parallel editions in ticles. A full list of sources is included on pages Finnish and Swedish. Gunnar Lihr’s narrative was 284–287 of Carl-Fredrik Geust’s book. printed in Nr. 10-12/1934 – 8/1935. 2 For a detailed presentation of the Lihr family tree see Uppsatser VI, published by Helsingfors Släktforskare 1984. 3 Aero Oy was founded in November 1923, and as many other European airlines was secretly financed

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