Another bit of exotica photographed by John at Helsinki in 1956 was Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-12 СССР-Л1819, operating on the Moscow-Leningrad-Helsinki service. Powered by a pair of 1,850 h.p. Shvetsov ASh-82 piston engines, the 21-passenger Il-12 was dependable - but uneconomical.

Finnair crew from DC-3 OH-LCC deliver the mail to Rovaniemi (the "official home of Santa Claus").

The Finnish Post Office bus is loaded from Finnair DC-3 OH-LCC, named Tiira, at Rovaniemi in northern Finland, on April 24, 1956. The bus, which provided airport-to-town transport, crossed the Arctic Circle on each run.

Ten DC-3s were operated by Aero O/Y and Finnair from 1946, nine of them ultimately going on to serve with the Finnish military.

Bearing neither Aero O/Y nor Finnair titles, only the legend “Finnish Airlines” along its fuselage, Douglas DC-3 OH-LCC Tiira stops for refuelling at Kemi during John and Patricia’s flight “up-country” from Helsinki-Vantaa to Rovaniemi on April 26, 1956.

A typical line-up on the ramp during a busy day at Helsinki-Vantaa in 1956; nearest the camera is CV-440 OH-LRD, beyond which may be seen the fin of Finnair CV-340 OH-LRA (still in the airline’s older predominantly bare-metal scheme), with Scandinavian Airline System Douglas DC-4 LN-IAE at the far end. The introduction of the CV-440 heralded a smart new white, blue and bare-metal colour scheme for Finnair.

Junkers Ju 52/3m OH-LAO (WNr 7493) at Malmi in May 1949. It entered Aero O/Y service in September 1942, but was leased to Lufthansa the following month, serving as D-AEAC until July 1944. After its Aero O/Y career it was sold to Sweden and later served with Gibbes Sepik Airways in New Guinea.

A shared interest: John and Patricia Stroud beside a Viscount at Wisley, circa 1955-56. Patricia filed numerous reports for Flight during her career.

The first Finnair CV-440 Metropolitan, OH-LRD, dubbed “Finnliner”, at Helsinki-Vantaa in April 1956. Although the company had begun trading as Finnair, the company’s original name, Aero O/Y, was still carried prominently on the fins of its aircraft.

The revised exhaust outlet of the CV-440’s Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engine nacelle, in which the original twin tubes fitted to the CV-240 and 340 were enclosed in an attempt to palliate the high noise levels experienced in the cabins of the earlier models.

Convair 340 OH-LRC awaits its next flight at Bromma, Stockholm, shortly after the type’s introduction into Aero O/Y service in 1953. Note the CV-340’s "aspirated cooling" system, comprising a pair of “thrust-augmenter” tubes on the rear of each engine nacelle; this would be much modified on the improved CV-440 Metropolitan.

Delivered in April 1956, CV-440 OH-LRD was followed into Finnair service by OH-LRE and ’LRF the following year, with ’LRG joining the fleet in April 1961. The airline’s CV-340s were upgraded to Metropolitan standard.

One of the more unusual types encountered by John and Patricia during their 1949 visit was Viima II OH-VKJ, named Pirkka. Designed and built by the state aircraft factory, Valtion lentokonetehdas, the type was powered by a 150 h.p. Siemens-Halske Sh14A Bramo seven-cylinder engine. In total, 24 were built, all ultimately seeing service with the Finnish military.

The prototype Saab Scandia, SE-BCA, beside the circular three-floor terminal and control tower at Malmi in early June 1949. The Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp-powered Scandia was available in 24- or 32-seat configurations and was extensively tested for operational suitability by Aero O/Y with Saab test pilot Claes Smith at the controls.