Pilvenveikko Tapani Harmaja, Pilot, Author and Journalist - with Guest Eero Haarla

The Saima Harmaja Society holds its September meeting on Tuesday, 15.9. at 18:00 in the reading room of Richardinkatu Library (3rd floor). The evening is open to all and dedicated to Tapani Harmaja, the brother of poet Saima Harmaja. The guest is DI Eero Haarla, a reserve officer in the Finnish Air Force and member of the Schadewitz family - Schadewitz was the original surname of Tapani Harmaja's father, Leon.

Tapani Harmaja (1910-1940) was a fighter pilot who fell during the Winter War on 1.2.1940 in the Gulf of Viborg while attempting to break free from an air battle above the clouds. He was also a prolific writer: his major work Pilven veikot (WSOY 1938) tells the story of World War I combat pilots - German, French and English. Additionally, he was assigned as a test pilot to receive Fiat aircraft acquired for Finland, and a test flight of the Fiat plane earned him a world speed record of 824 km/h in a dive when the aircraft's windscreen and rudder structures shattered.

The correspondence between Tapani Harmaja and his sister Saima has been preserved and reveals even dark humour between them: between the sister who suffered from tuberculosis and the pilot brother, wordplay was exchanged in the style of "how would Saima boast if not for her ailing lungs?" A few days before his death, Tapani Harmaja wrote the poem Sotalennolla iltahämärissä, which Eero Haarla will present during the evening with text and images.

Pilvien meri makaa
allaan pimeä maa,
mutta pilvien takaa
aurinko leimuaa.
Alhaalla yö sodan musta,
ylhäällä kuulakas sees,
tykkien julistusta
et tunne sydämees:
Ei sodan painava taakka
mieltäsi ahdistaa
jaksa pilvissä saakka,
siellä on rauhan maa.