Flight Regiment 19 (, or ), known in Sweden as the Swedish Volunteer Air Wing in Finland () or F 19 Finland was a Finnish Air Force unit, manned by Swedish volunteers, which operated from Kemi in northern Finland for the last 62 days of the Winter War, and equipped with aircraft from the inventory of the Swedish Air Force. Its designation number was taken from the Swedish Air Force, which had 18 Air Force Wings at the time. The designation F 19 has not been used in Sweden. When new Wings were later formed, they were named F 20, F 21 and F 22.
The unit made a significant contribution to the defense of Finnish Lapland, from January 7, 1940, with 12 Gloster Gladiator Mk. II (J 8A) fighters,Avrosys.nu: J 8 - Gloster Gladiator (1937-1947) five Hawker Hart (B 4) bombers, and eight other planes. In total, the unit destroyed twelve Soviet aircraft (eight in the air, four on the ground), and lost a total of six planes; two to enemy action and four to accidents. Three of its pilots were killed and two more were captured by Soviet forces. The captives were returned to Sweden five months after the end of the war.
Organization Staff Staff Detachment Radio Detachment Household Detachment Truck Detachment Medical Detachment Airfield Company Fighter Squadron, equipped with Gloster Gladiator Mk. I Biplanes, designated J 8 in Swedish service Bomber/Attack Flight, equipped with Hawker Hart light bombers, designated B 4 in Swedish service Transport/Liaison Flight, various aircraft types
The unit was equipped with 12 Gloster Gladiator Mk. Is, four Hawker Hart Mk. Is, one Raab-Katzenstein RK-26, one Waco ZQC-6, and one Junkers F 13kä.
Victories Victories claimed while flying Gloster GladiatorNameAir forceVictoriesNotesPer-Johan SalwénFinnish Air Force3F 19Einar ThelerFinnish Air Force2F 19Ian IacobiFinnish Air Force1F 19Gideon KarlssonFinnish Air Force1F 19Roland MartinFinnish Air Force1F 19Falk, Greger: F19:n - en krönika; Flyghistorisk Revy nummer 33, Svensk Flyghistorisk Förening, Stockholm, Sweden. c. 1989-1990
The F 19 unit destroyed 12 enemy aircraft, and lost three Hawker Harts and three Gloster Gladiators due to various incidents, however, only one of these, a Gladiator, was lost in an air battle.
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F19, Swedish volunteer unit in Finland during the Winter War