VL Pyry (

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

for ''

blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

'') was a Finnish low-winged, two-seated fighter trainer aircraft, built by the State Aircraft Factory (''

Valtion lentokonetehdas ''Valtion lentokonetehdas'' (State aircraft factory) was a Finnish aircraft manufacturing company that was founded on 23 February 1928 from the IVL or I.V.L. factory (Ilmailuvoimien lentokonetehdas, Finnish Air Force Aircraft Factory), founded in ...

'') for use with the

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...

. The Pyry was in use from 1939 to 1962. The aircraft was a mixed construction of wood, steel, fabric, and duraluminium.

History

In 1937 a prototype, the VL Pyry I, with the identification number PY-1, was ordered by the Finnish Air Force. It was designed by Martti Vainio, Torsti Verkkola, and Edward Wegelius, with Arvo Ylinen being the chief designer. The PY-1s first flight was on 29 March, 1939. 40 aircraft were ordered in May of 1940 and were delivered in 1941. They were given the name VL Pyry II, with the ID designations of PY2-PY41. The Air Force School in

Kauhava Kauhava is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region, northwest of Helsinki and by the main railway from Helsinki to Oul ...

was the first unit to receive the new aircraft. Around 700 pilots were trained in the aircraft and the type accumulated over 56,000 flying hours over a service life of 20 years. PY-1 and PY-27 made the final official flights of this series in Härmälä on 7 September 1962. The plane was tricky to fly, and shown to be unstable and prone to wingtip stalls. In an attempt to fix the wingtip stall issue, four Pyrys (PY-1, -24, -32 and -37) were equipped with trapezoidal wings, as well as serving to test these structures for the

VL Myrsky The VL Myrsky ("Storm") is a Finnish World War II fighter aircraft originally developed by Valtion lentokonetehdas for the Finnish Air Force. The models of the aircraft were Myrsky I, Myrsky II, and Myrsky III. It was designed by Edward Wegeliu ...

. While these new wings did reduce the risk of stalls, they made the aircraft even more unstable than before. In 1942 all planes were grounded to fix a problem with horizontal stabilizer struts breaking, and the original struts were replaced with V struts, resulting in a more tail-heavy aircraft. To improve stability, the engine mount was lengthened by 16.5cm in 1944, but it was still a difficult plane to fly for inexperienced pilots. It was said if a cadet learned to fly on Pyry, he would later master just any kind of aircraft. There were 28 accidents of VL Pyry. All together 27 pilots died. The first accident was on 15 June 1941 in Hyvinkää. Pilot Kauno Osmo Meriluoto died. “Kohtalokkaat lennot 1939-1944” (Fateful Flights) by Jaakko Hyvönen. Publisher: Kustantaja Apali Oy, 2001, The aircraft's final flights were made by PY-1 and PY-27 September 6, 1962.

Surviving aircraft

* The PY-1 prototype can be found at the Kauhava Aircraft Park. * PY-27 is at the

Finnish Aviation Museum The Finnish Aviation Museum (, ) is a museum specialising in aircraft, located near Helsinki Airport in Veromies, Vantaa, Finland. History The Aviation Museum Society () was founded on 4 December 1969. Opened in 1972, the museum was initially loc ...

in Vantaa. * PY-35 at the

Finnish Air Force Museum The Finnish Air Force Museum (), formerly the Aviation Museum of Central Finland (), is an aviation museum located near Jyväskylä Airport in Tikkakoski, Jyväskylä, Finland. The museum exhibits the aviation history of Finland, from the early ...

in Tikkakoski. * The remains of PY-5 are at the Finnish Air Force Museum in Tikkakoski. * The remains of PY-26 are at the Päijänne Tavastia Aviation Museum in Asikkala.

Operators

Specifications (VL Pyry II)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vl Pyry 1940s Finnish military aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1939 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft Pyry