HW 40 Vuotta

Exact 40 years back, on 16 December 1980, the first British Aerospace Hawk Mk51 for the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) arrived in Finland.

For this special occasion, the Ilmavoimat painted one of its Hawk Mk51s in a striking blue and white overall colour scheme. The aircraft, with "matching" serial HW-340, is also adorned with forty years Hawk markings ("HW 40 vuotto").

Hawk HW-340 was operated by HävLLv 11 in the second half of the 1980s, when it suffered an accident. The aircraft crashlanded at Kittilä on 27 February 1989. Fortunately, it could be repaired and the trainer was transferred to KoulLLv (training squadron) at Kauhava air base, where it served until September 2005, when the unit was renumbered HävLLv 41. This training unit moved to Jyväskylä/Tikkakoski air base in 2014.

Photo: Ilmavoimat