Fokkers and Ischaks

After locating at least one potential scenario for the Winter War from a Finnish perspective, I thought I'd have a look at the problem from the other way round, once again using Hakan's Biplane Fighter Aces from the Second World War site (which really is an excellent resource for this sort of thing). The Soviets were notorious for overclaiming and making multiple claims that don't match the actual Finnish losses, so it's a bit of a minefield. 

However, this dogfight could the basis of an interesting scenario if I filled in all of the blanks with some educated guesswork. It features a number of named Soviet pilots making it much easier to flesh out the pilot ratings and formations, and it also has the Fokker DXXI's in action for the Finns and I-16's for the Russians, which is great as I have quite a lot of these in the lead pile and they're both pretty nifty models. Anyway, here's the relevant bit snipped from Hakans Aviation page:

Starshii Leitenant Kozachenko served in 38 IAP at the start of the Winter War. During the Winter War in 1939-40, Kozachenko shot down four Finnish aircraft, flying Polikarpov I-153s in the Karelian area and emerged as one of the more successful Soviet pilots in this conflict.

Kozachenko was posted from 38 IAP to 4./25 IAP on 21 January 1940 to set up the eskadrilia with Polikarov I-153s. This unit operated over the Karelian Isthmus. 

Between 16:15-17:15 on 2 February 1940, ten I-16s and three I-153s from 25 IAP led by assistant CO Bushev fought with 18 Finnish aircraft over Imatra. The returning Soviet pilots claimed eleven Fokker D.XXIs and one two-seated fighter shot down without losses! 

Participating (and claiming) Soviet pilots were Kapitan Bushev, Mladshii Leitenant Polupan, Starshii Leitenant Yakov A. Antonov, Starshii Politruk Aleksandr A. Ivashkin, Major Aleksandr Ketov (I-16), Leitenant Smirnov, Denisov, Starshii Leitenant Smiryagin, Starshii Leitenant Sviridenko and Starshii Leitenant Kozachenko (I-153; it seems that he claimed the two-seat fighter and a Fokker). 

The only claim in this combat that can be verified is that the Danish volunteer Luutnantti Fritz Rasmussen of LLv 24 was shot down and killed in Fokker D.XXI FR-81 over Rauha.

Of course, another option would be to move the action forward to the Continuation War in 1941, when all sorts of interesting aircraft would be available for both sides, but for the moment I'll keep my sights fixed firmly on the earlier 1939-40 conflict.