VL Pyorremyrsky

Conceived to make maximum use of indigenous materials with emphasis on suitability for operation from small Finnish front-line airfields under the most severe climatic conditions, the Pybrremyrsky (Whirlwind) was designed by Dipl-Ing Torsti R Verkkola. Powered by a 12-cylinder inverted-Vee Daimler-Benz DB 605AC engine rated at 1475hp, the Pyorremyrsky had a single-spar wooden wing with plywood skinning and a fuselage of steel-tube construction with detachable metal panels forward and a wooden ply-covered mono-coque aft. Armament comprised one engine-mounted 20mm MG 151 cannon and two 12.7mm LKK/42 machine guns, provision being made for two 200kg bombs underwing. Prototype construction was slowed by the preoccupation of the VL with higher priority programmes, and work on the Pyorremyrsky, which had languished for several months, came to a halt with the Finnish-Soviet Armistice of 4 September 1944. Somewhat surprisingly, construction of the fighter was resumed later, in January 1945. A DB 605AC engine was removed from a Bf 109G and installed in the prototype, which flew for the first time on 21 November 1945. The Pyorremyrsky could outclimb the Bf 109G-6 and was more manoeuvrable, but, as no funds were available for the purchase of new aircraft for Ilmavoimat and sufficient Bf 109Gs remained to equip the Ilmavoimien fighter force that was permitted under the Armistice terms, the prototype was grounded after 30 hours flying and the programme terminated.

3-View

A three-view drawing (1667 x 1273)