Hobby Master 1/48 HA7013 Brewster Model 239 1st Lt Hans Wind Finnish Air Force

In 1939 the US diverted some Brewster Buffaloes to Finland that had USN equipment removed such as self-sealing fuel tanks and pilot armor plus This lighter aircraft also receive a different engine. These aircraft were designated Brewster Model B-239. The Finns added an armored pilot backrest and metric instruments. They also added their own gun-sights and four .50 inch (12.7mm) machine guns. In Finland the aircraft was referred to as the Brewster, never the Buffalo. A few nicknames were given to the Brewster such as Taivaan helmi ("Sky Pearl") or Pohjoisten taivaiden helmi ("Pearl of the Northern Skies") also Pylly-Valtteri ("Butt-Walter"), Amerikanrauta ("American hardware" or "American car") and Lentävä kaljapullo ("flying beer-bottle"). The most famous Finnish pilot of WWII was lentomestari (flight champion) Eino Ilmari "Illu" Juutilainen of 3rd Flight "Knight Flight" LeLv 24 (Fighter Squadron 24). Between June 1941 and February 1943 Juutilainen shot down 28 aircraft while flying his “Orange 4” (BW-364) Brewster B239 before changing to a Messerschmitt Bf-109G. By the end of WWII he had accumulated a total 94 victories and twice won the Mannerheim Cross, the highest award in the Finnish Air Force. LeLv 24 was the most successful with 460 kills flying the Brewsters. The last flight of the Model B-239 in Finland was in September of 1948.