Shootdown | |
---|---|
Date | 14 June 1940 |
Summary | Airliner shootdown |
Site | Baltic Sea, near Keri island, Estonia 59°47′1″N 25°01′6″E / 59.78361°N 25.01833°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Junkers Ju 52 |
Aircraft name | Kaleva |
Operator | Aero O/Y |
Registration | OH-ALL |
Flight origin | Ülemiste Airport |
Destination | Helsinki-Malmi Airport |
Occupants | 9 |
Passengers | 7 |
Crew | 2 |
Fatalities | 9 |
Survivors | 0 |
Kaleva was a civilian Junkers Ju 52 passenger airplane belonging to the Finnish carrier Aero O/Y. On 14 June 1940, as Flight 1631 from Tallinn in Estonia to Helsinki in Finland, it was shot down over the Gulf of Finland by two combat aircraft of the Soviet military and downed near the Estonian island of Keri, killing all nine on board.[1] The incident occurred during the Interim Peace between the Soviet Union and Finland, and at the outset of the Soviet occupation of Estonia.
The airplane's wreck was found on 5 June 2024 by Estonian unmanned underwater vehicles near the Keri lighthouse in Estonian territorial waters.[2] The wreck is located at a depth of 71 to 76 meters.[2]