Finland had a rather odd position in WWII. The nation was initially invaded by the Soviet Union at the end of November 1940 in what would be called the Winter War. It was short lived and the Soviets, despite their overwhelming superiority in numbers of troops and equipment were initially unsuccessful, but three months later, having gained the terriorty they wished, signed a peace treaty ending the war. During this time Finland was woefully lacking in sufficient modern fighters and though Finnish pilots were quite successful in the air, more aircraft were needed. While some of these were delivered and used during the war, most did not arrive in time to participate.

With the Continuation War starting when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, the Finnish Air Force was much more capable in terms of numbers and Finland retook all the land ceded to the Soviet Union over a year earlier. During this time, only the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand declared war against Finland. Because Finland was fighting on the same side as Germany against the Soviets, German equipment was provided, and not just obsolescent aircraft, but up to date Bf-109s, which really bolstered their fighter force. In late 1944 as a result of a treaty with the Soviet Union, Finland turned against the Germans, forcing them out of the Lapland, though the actual fighting was pretty half-hearted.

In this, the second book on Finnish aircraft colors, the authors have concentrated on later receipts. Each aircraft type is provided with a history of the type in service followed by pages of large photos companioned with superb color profiles and three views based on the photographs. Naturally, those aircraft with longer service and in larger numbers have the most entries in these sections with the 109G having the largest presence.

Aircraft covered are the Hurricane I, Caudron CR.714, Curtiss Hawk 75, Messerschmitt Bf-109G, and Myrsky. The Finns also flew captured aircraft, though not all of them saw combat. In this group are the Polikarpov I-15 and I-153, I-16, Lagg-3 and P-40M Warhawk. In the appendicies we are provided with  Finnish AF unit structure, aviation ranks, the location of airfields, trainer markings, Aerial victories (this section covers the careers of the top scoring pilots) and finally each of the units and the aircraft they flew. The Finns took a lot of excellent, high quality photographs of their aircraft in service, quite a few of them in full color. We are the fortunate recipients of this dedication and the high quality period images is what really makes this book stand out as much as the equally high quality color profiles. It is a book that no fan of the Finnish AF should be without. Most highly recommended.

August 2015