The Lumimyrsky or Blizzard was designed from the ground up as an attack aircraft that utilized twin BMW 801G-12 engines driving contra-rotating 95" VDM-Dural Quad Paddle-Blade propellers with a single exhaust collector pipe for each engine that provides a jet-like boost in speed from the heated exhaust. Cooling was a unique system pioneered by Focke-Wulf earlier in the war during the development of the Fw-190 in which air was rammed into the air cooled engine around a prominent fixed conical protrusion ahead of the engine and vented into the exhaust system. At the time engine outputs were not great enough to capitalize on this system but was a proper fit for later Finnish designs.

Its construction was loosely reminiscent of other twin boomed aircraft of the '30s but differed significantly internally with armor for the three man aircrew, fuel tanks and engines that made it all but invulnerable to up to 12.7 mm caliber ground fire - which was the primary low altitude anti-aircraft weaponry fielded by both America and Canada with a lower occurrence of 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cannons which could potentially penetrate the armor if at a close enough range for it to do more than blast a hole in the skin of the aircraft.

Armament was comprised of a pair of 2 LKK 20/R.213(c) 2 cm Cannons (Licence produced MG 213C 2 cm Cannons.) in the nose with a single ventral dustbin Bordkanone BK.5 5 cm Cannon. While designed for bomber destruction - it was an ideal solution for busting tanks from the air. In combination with 7.5 cm High Explosive Rockets, equally effective against the soft armor on top of tanks, anti-material as well as infantry positions - in addition to anti-infantry specific 114 kg Fragmentation Bombs, this attack aircraft earned a nickname from the Canadians on the Lapland front; "The Meat Grinder."

VTOL - Lowers Flaps or Raises Spoiler.
AG 1 - Activates the twin 20 mm cannons.
AG 2 - Activates the massive 50 mm cannon.
AG 3 - Drops both 114 kg Fragmentation Bombs, or can be dropped individually via the usual method.
AG 4 - Disposes of expended rocket pods for a lightened load.

Flight notes: She can take off fine without the flaps though it drastically shortens the takeoff run. I recommend flying it at maximum speed only to get to the target area and dropping to 50~70% throttle so you can aim more carefully.

Creator's Notes: This was my first time creating an aircraft with doubled wings, scaling wing guns to match the caliber, using high gloss finishes and so much modding of sizes and angles of parts. (The 20 mm guns are actually a little UNDERSIZED if the standard ones are supposed to be 50 caliber.) Originally this aircraft was going to be RLM 70/71 over RLM 65 but my son and I decided we liked the greens we had been using but I made the call to keep the RLM 65 belly though due to my son's colorblindness he insists it looks white. lol

While the license to produce the MG 213C 20 mm cannon is spurious this weapon actually existed at the very end of world war 2 but never saw operational service though afterwards it would serve as the prototype for all aircraft cannons in France, the UK and the US for many years to come. Its rate of fire and muzzle velocity is quite impressive. The BK.5 was also a very real weapon but its rate of fire wasn't quite that seen with this aircraft, only capable of 75 rounds per minute. (The game doesn't like 1 shot per second nor decimals on that attribute; Even still the rate of fire and burst count is considerably lower than the standard.) While never employed in the anti-tank role in reality even in the limited numbers of Me-410s that carried these weapons they shot down over 200 bombers for the loss of only 9 of their own aircraft in a total of six gruppe missions. However, a 50 mm gun would have been capable of taking advantage of the thin armor on top of armored vehicles but instead the Luftwaffe decided it wasn't enough and they went ahead and mounted high velocity 7.5 mm high velocity cannons on Hs-129B-3 aircraft which were literally capable of busting any tank then in existence. Thankfully for the allies the Hs-129B-3 was not a stellar performer, was underpowered and suffered stability issues. Nonetheless that gun remained the most powerful cannon ever mounted in an aircraft until the USAF began putting 105 mm cannons in their Spectre gunships.

I wasn't anticipating this aircraft to be quite such a stellar performer but she is mobile, agile and hostile! I pity the poor Cannuck, with maple smelling breath, thinking he can get an easy kill up against one of these just because they are ground attack aircraft. He would only find it whipping around on him and chasing him around sending what look like volleyball sized green orbs hurtling at him that would shatter his fighter upon impact. If that didn't get him the high velocity rapid fire 20 mm cannons would!

I soon intend to release a Night Fighter variant as well. Meanwhile, enjoy this remarkable Finnish fighting machine!