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HISTORY
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caused by enemy ghters. All 8 “Sturmoviks” be-
longed to Baltic Fleet Air force (VVS KBF) which
performed missions over the Gulf of Finland
against Finnish ports, shipping and coastal ba-
tteries. From the crash sites indicated by VVS KBF
the closest to Koller´s victory is island Seiskari.
About 10 km north of this island (called Seskar
by Soviets) crashed the 7. GShAP crew gv. ml.
lt. N. I. Ptukhin/ml. ser. V. P. Zaharov. It is highly
probable that they are victims of H. Koller.
Most of the ght around ships on June 18 was
near Koivisto where evacuation missions were
performed. During the morning Soviet aircraft
made huge effort to attack Axis ships. Evacua-
tion was covered by 4 patrol boats of 2. Vm-
vLv and six German AF barges. Finnish ghter
units were busy over the area from 5.15 am until
9 am claiming 6 Soviet aircraft including 1 Il-2.
According opinion of Finnish navy historian
J. Aromaa the burning ship may have been small
coastal tanker Shell-4. It was the fuel depot
of 1. Motor Torpedo boat otilla. The ship left
Uuras harbour during the night 17/18.6. trying
to get into Pitkäpaasi area before dawn. The
ship was attacked by „dive bombers“ (could be
also Il-2), caught re and sank near Oritsaari
island.
Mr. Koller was transported on June 19 with an
airplane to Petseri and on June 20 ferried new
aircraft (fuselage marking “3”) via Reval and
Helsinki to Immola. Back with his unit he realized
that his wingman von Obernitz was shot down
and MIA day before. II./JG 54 also lost expe-
rienced Lt. Hellmut Grollmuss (75 v., RK) on the
same June 19. His body was found later by Fi-
nnish troops.
The “Black 12” was found in early 2006 during
excavations on perimeter of Immola aireld.
Thanks to Mr. Seppo Sipilä and other Finnish avi-
ation enthusiasts I was pleased to mediate con-
tact to Mr. Koller. The crash site, wreck of “Black
12” and her former pilot were reunited in Sep-
tember 2006 which was a special event for all
participants.
An unusual historical photo was created in or-
der to blend past and present picture of famous
Helsinki-Malmi aireld building http://www.pe-
lastamalmi.org//uutisia/koller.html
Many thanks for help with the artical goes to Mr.
Koller and his wife. Many thanks also to REVI ma-
gazine, Jaroslav Hradec and Milan Šindler. Great
support came Jari Aromaa, Hugo Broch (JG 54),
Petr Dousek, Karl-Fredrik Geust, Tomas Haladej,
Martti Kuivalainen, Pentti Manninen, Matti Salo-
nen, Kari Stenman, Pavel Türk and Milos Vestsik.
Photo credit: Bundesarchiv, H. Koller
SOURCES:
Aromaa J.: http://www.hut./~jaromaa/Navygallery/
index.htm
Keskinen K., Stenman K.: SIH 18 LeR 3, Lovisaa, 2001
Keskinen K., Stenman K.: Suomen Ilmavoimat (VI) 1944,
Espoo, 2008
Koller H.: victory list of 15. 5. 1945
Koller H: Soldbuch (temporary copy)
Koller H.: Log book pages 53 a 54 via M. Salonen
Luukkanen E. A.: Fighter over Finland
Malmi, aiport, log book 18. – 20.6.1944 via Matti Sa-
lonen
Obermaier E.: Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe, Band I.
Jagdieger, Mainz, 1989
Rodeike P: Focke Wulf Jagdugzeug, Eutin, 1998
Valtonen H.: Luftwaffen Pohjoinen Sivusta, Jyväskylä,
1997
Valtonen H.: Lento-Osasto Kuhlmey, Jyväskylä, 1991
Wood T.: http://tonywood.cjb.net/
BUY Fw 190A JG54 Grünherz 1/48
Fw 190A-6 W. Nr. 550889, 5./JG 54, Immola, Finland 1944
Finnish soldiers helping to load 20 mm ammo for
Fw 190 A-6 „white 4“. Note the small number „1“
on the engine cowling, which suggests, that the engine
possibly came from another plane.
Finnish ground crew helping with transport of bombs for camouaged Stukas
from SG 3 (part of Gefechtsvebrand Kuhlmey), Immola base.