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# Air Force (Finland)

##

Last modified: 2026-04-11 by christopher oehler
Keywords: finland | swastika | wing profiles | air force: finland |
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image by Miles Li, 17 October 2007
Ratio: 4:5
Based on an image from www.salebete.net

- Air Force Squadron
- Air Fighter squadron #37 (Continuation War, 1941–44)
- Air Force Markings
  - Air Force Roundel 1918–1944
  - Air Force Low Visibility Roundel 1941–1944
  - Air Force Roundel 1944–
- Air Force Emblem

See also:

- Air Force Academy (Finland)
- Military Flags (Finland)
- Swastikas in Finland
- Finland

## Air Force Squadron

This is the Finnish Air Force squadron flag. The badge of the squadron would appear on the canton.
This flag is still in use today; unit insignias were not affected by the 1944 Allied directive which saw the discarding of most swastika symbols by the Finnish Air Force.
Miles Li, 2 September 2006

The Finnish Air Force squadron flag was approved on November 8, 1957, more than a decade after the end of World War II.
Miles Li, 17 August 2007

The swastika of the Finnish Air Force was adopted when Swedish Count Eric von Rosen donated the first aeroplane to the Finnish government, adorned with his personal good luck symbol blue swastika.
Source: Wikipedia: Eric von Rosen
Jussi Hattara, 21 August 2007

The design appears in pre-World War II flag books and roundel charts, so the 1957 adoption restored the old design that pre-dated Hitler's rise to power. It took a decade for resentment to die, I suspect, before they could go back to their traditional emblem.
Bill Dunning, 17 April 2007

A BBC News article from 2020 about the historical roots of the Swastika on Finnish air force flags, planes and the Presidential Flag; and how the Air Force is dropping it by and by.
Martin Karner, 11 December 2024

The Finnish Air Force used a swastika in 1918, years before the political party in Germany started using it. Swastikas had also been used in Finnish iconography long before this, e.g. in works by Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. During the Finnish civil war of 1918, Gallen-Kallela served as a lieutenant and an adjutant to General Gustaf Mannerheim who was the commander of the 'White' forces and Gallen-Kallela designed much of the symbols of the newly independent country. The connection between Eric von Rosen and his relative by marriage Herman Göring is also not very clear. If anything, von Rosen might have given Göring the idea to use the swastika rather than the other way around. Finland did not adopt the swastika because Finland and Germany were on the same side in the Continuation War of 1941–1944; Finland also used it in the Winter War of 1939–1940, when the Germans helped the Soviet Union trying to conquer Finland. The bottom line is, the Finnish Air Force did not use the swastika because of any connection to Nazism.
More news reports: nbcnews.com, yle.fi, euronews.com [retrieved]
Elias Granqvist, 1 September 2025

## Air Fighter squadron #37 (Continuation War, 1941–44)

[Editor's note: Together with the below information, a photo was presented, showing a square white flag with a stylized red bird or airplane on it and the following text surrounding this image:
LLv 26
VII 37
Since the ad is not around anymore and the photo is certainly copyrighted, FOTW cannot present the picture.]

According to an eBay ad, they flew Italian airplanes against the Russians.
WW2 Finnish Fighter squadron flag, #37, fought Russians.
William Garrison, 18 September 2009

## Airforce Markings

### Air Force Roundel 1918–1944

image by Nozomi Kariyasu, 2 June 2024

image located by Nozomi Kariyasu, 2 June 2024

### Air Force Low Visibility Roundel 1941–1944

image by Nozomi Kariyasu, 2 June 2024

image located by Nozomi Kariyasu, 2 June 2024

### Air Force Roundel 1944–

image by Nozomi Kariyasu, 2 June 2024

image located by Nozomi Kariyasu, 2 June 2024

## Air Force Emblem

(source)

Old and new Air Force emblem. The newer has been in use at least since 2020.
located by Martin Karner, 11 December 2024