Scale Model Build: Flygflottilj 19 Gloster Gladiator II -John Magnus Sjöqvist

[Jacob Richards 5]

Good evening everyone,

I've been lurking here for a bit while I learn more about my friend's great grandfather,  Flight Master Helanto.  While looking up the history of BL-117 and BL-119, I've begun to look more and more into my own family's history.  I'm part Finnish and part Swedish and learned that 5 of great grandfather's cousin's (2 Swedes and 3 Finns) died during the Winter War and the Continuation War.  One that caught my attention while I build a scale model of Flight Master Helanto's plane is that of my relative, John Magnus Sjöqvist.

I've been able to learn quite a bit like him in the past few months.  Funny enough, he looks a lot like my dad and way too similar to my uncle Charles.  As a gift to my dad, and because I'm insane to work on two planes at once, I'm going to build a model of the Gladiator my relative flew.  I'm running into an issue in trying to find the flight number for the fuselage.  I'm still learning Finnish and getting used to looking through the archives, but does anyone have any idea where I could find log books on him?

I know that his plane was shot down by a group of Red planes on January 23, 1940 while on a recon flight west of Märkäjärvi Village.  My Finnish Google Foo is failing me as of late.  Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Now to scribe in the fuselage of Helanto's Blenheim while I wait for the bomb bay conversion kit to arrive...

Jake

 

[Jukka Nisula 2 236]

Hi,

welcome to the forum!

Sjöqvists Gloster Gladiator S-52/B had big yellow B in the rudder. The fuselage number was N:o 281 or 282. That is a problem... a little bit hard nut to solve. My source is the book ”Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia SIH 12 - Englantilaiset Hävittäjät (English Fighters)”, written by well known aviation history researchers Kari Stenman, Kalevi Keskinen and Klaus Niska. 

I found a picture of Magnus Sjöqvists Gladiator in Finland. Unfortunately the fuselage number cannot see. Click to get larger image:

https://digitaltmuseum.se/021017341394/flygplan-gloster-gladiator-kor-ut-fran-varn-vid-f-19-svenska-frivilligkaren

Here is a swedish website and pics from the crashplace of Sjöqvist:

https://www.pennanochsvardet.se/militarhistoria/militara-artiklar/finlands-krig/1668-i-luftstrid-oever-lappland

And his grave:

https://www.krigsminnen.se/besok-vid-fanrik-john-magnus-sjoqvis-grav/

https://www.krigsminnen.se/tag/f19/

This is my own photo taken in Flygvapenmuseum in Linköping, Sweden on 24. July 2016.  Gladiator "278" yellow H.

Jukka

Muokattu: Elokuu 20, 2020, käyttäjä: Jukka Nisula
täydennyksiä, kuva

[Carl-Fredrik Geust 842]

Jake,

you should try to find this book by Swedish author and historian Mikael Forslund, published in English in 2009. There is also a Swedish edition published in 2010:

 

John Sjöqvist was shot down by Lt. Konkin (145 IAP), see attached pages from my recent book Red Wings in the Winter War (MMP Books, 2020).

 

 

 

Muokattu: Elokuu 20, 2020, käyttäjä: Carl-Fredrik Geust

[Carl-Fredrik Geust 842]

Jake,

a few more facts about John Sjöqvist (possibly already known to you) who was the only child in the family. After his tragic death in the Winter War his parents donated a fund to the Swedish Air Force "To the memory of Cadet John Sjöqvist", and a grant was awarded every year to the young Flying Officer which graduated from the Swedish AF Air Fighting School with the highest grade.

At some moment during the cold war this tradition seems to have been forgotten. However it was reinstated in the 1990s when F19´s both tradition wings, Lapland Wing (Lapin Lennosto) of the Finnish AF and F21 of the Swedish AF, jointly began to annually celebrate the F19-memory on 12 January (the day of F19´s first combat mission) at Olkkajärvi (some 10 km north of Rovaniemi) where the Oskar-ice base was established.

Like over 50.000 other Swedish families during WW II the Sjöqvists had taken care of a Finnish "war child", and Timo Hätinen became naturally a "substitute" for the missing John. Timo, whom I knew personally very well, passed away some years ago. He spoke always very warmly of the Sjöqvists, who not only gave him a safe home, but also supported his studies in Finland after he returned to his own biological parents in Finland. Timo usually spent his autumn and spring terms at Finnish school and university but was always invited to the Sjökvists for the holidays.

Timo made also his career in aviation (apparently inspired by the life of his elder "brother" John, whom he never saw!), not the cockpit, but as representative of several aviation companies, and later in the Finnish Aviation Insurance Company.

Timo was a founding member of the Finnish Aviation Writers Association (Suomen Ilmailutoimittajat ry), where I first met him. Timo  got also an official invitation by the Swedish AF to the John Sjöqvist memorial ceremony, but was then already seriously ill, and was unfortunately not able to attend the ceremony. 

Carl 

     

Muokattu: Elokuu 20, 2020, käyttäjä: Carl-Fredrik Geust

[Tuomo Laamanen 28]

As mentioned in one of earlier links, Sallan sota- ja jälleenrakennusmuseo has some artefacts of Johan's plane on display.
A few years ago I visited the crash site which is not very far from village of Salla. There is very little left today but I can send you a pic if you are interested.

Muokattu: Elokuu 20, 2020, käyttäjä: Tuomo Laamanen