Secreted away in his family’s barn in rural Estonia, the priceless Bugatti had not even crossed Mihkel Oja’s mind since he fled the pre-WWII turmoil gripping his Estonian homeland. It would remain a forgotten fact, now, as he fled from victorious Soviet occupation forces overrunning eastern Finland. With the Soviet/Finnish Winter War ended and Soviet power in ascendancy the prospects for he and fellow teenage warrior Ed Sikes loomed as dark and foreboding at best. Both had volunteered to fight for Finland against the, now victorious, Soviets. At this point, their only hope, in the bitter winter of 1940, resided in the ability of Mihkel’s 12 iron willed sled dogs to deliver the two young but hardened warriors to safety in neutral Sweden.

 

In Search of the Lost 7^th Royale  (Part 2, Episode 11 – A Wounded Bird Points the Way)

LAPLAND, FINLAND 1940

Even as the dark smoke from the wounded British Bristol Blenheim bomber’s starboard engine hung in the frozen arctic air Mihkel knew his plan to reach Kiruna, Sweden had been profoundly altered. What Mihkel could not know was how this single event would impact his life’s path for all his years to come.

Just as he had felt compelled to rescue “Wonderfalk” when learning of Ed’s downing in the Finnish wilderness; so too Mihkel could not bear to turn away knowing that one or more of the wounded bomber’s air crew might have survived. Stranded and ill-equipped in a frozen wilderness and subject to Lapland’s deadly winter, anyone still alive stood little chance if not located quickly. Mihkel understood immediately what he had to do. He also knew he would have to do it alone. He tasked Ed with continuing on to Kiruna to rally more support. Ed’s success in his mission would come to play a vital role; one that that would shape his own future as well.

Mihkel and Ed had quickly devised a rescue plan. With the sled already outfitted with provisions for the intended run to Kiruna, Mihkel, the master woodsman and musher, could turn his team north without delay. Ed, with the willing support of Andres Turi a Sami veteran of the Winter War, would continue the journey towards Kiruna via Andres’ reindeer sled. As soon as possible Ed would seek to connect with people willing and capable of supporting any success Mihkel’s immediate rescue efforts might achieve. Such resources might also be enlisted to aid the two young warriors long term plans for an escape to freedom. In short order Ed and Mihkel bid each other “safe journey” with an implicit understanding that they would reconnect in a matter of weeks if not days.

The acrid smell and soot that had rained down from the wayward bomber’s burning engine corrupted the pristine arctic air. It provided an olfactory foot print that Mihkel, with all his senses on full alert, relied on to help track the crippled plane’s flight path.

During a needed rest for his hard driving dogs, Mihkel momentarily relaxed finding himself lost in wonder as he viewed a spectacular “northern lights” display dancing across a crystal clear, star filled and brutally cold night sky. Contemplating the confluence of such beauty in a world experiencing such horror quickly exceeded his ability for personal reflection. A dog barking snapped his focus back to the immediate danger he faced. The call of a great Grey Owl had caught the barking dog’s attention.

Snapped tree tops made the distant ridgeline resemble a lower jaw with a tooth knocked out. Mihkel mushed the dogs to full stride, his ever more frenetic approach to the damaged trees revealed the source of the knockout punch. Pieces of airplane embedded themselves in the thick snow cover. Mihkel recognized a sheet metal shard torn from an engine cowling. Peaking the ridge he saw it. At rest in a large open field bordering a frozen lake. The plane’s shredded tail twisted grotesquely up and away from the plane’s fuselage. Its wings splayed wide and lifeless like a felled bird. A dark broad smudge extended from the starboard engine. A patch of snowless ground showed where an intense fire had melted the surrounding snow before the frozen resting place sucked the life out of the fire. As Mihkel approached the wreckage, a man’s halting hollow voice uttered two words, “Thank God.”

KIRUNA, SWEDEN 1940

With the bearing, savvy and stance of a battle tested winter warrior, which he was, Sami war veteran Andres Turi had delivered Ed to a frozen airfield on the distant outskirts of the Kiruna iron mines. The Swedes there initially did not know what to make of Ed this brash young American with Andres the indigenous chauffeur. However, being an airfield, it did not take long for the English speaking Swedes to grasp the situation and embrace the notorious Ed “Wonderfalk” Sikes. There in their presence, stood Mr. “Death from above” in the flesh. While warmed by the welcome, Ed stayed on point. He set about prepping a rescue effort. In so doing he quickly became aware of the presence of a living legend and America’s greatest Arctic flight operations expert: Colonel Bernt Balchen a Norwegian by birth. Balchen had served as the pilot for several of the greatest polar adventures in human history including the Amundesen-Ellsworth-Nobile Polar Expedition, Admiral Byrd’s flight across the Atlantic and piloting the first airplane to fly across the South Pole. Ed felt awed but never veered from his focus on Mihkel. He worried about his dear friend, but then he would reassure himself by thinking, “Mihkel most certainly must have earned the nickname Arctic Fox for a reason.”

LAPLAND FINLAND 1940

At the crash site Mihkel had found all three crew members alive. Some barely so, with two, the pilot and navigator, in rough shape. The third, the gunner, suffered a broken leg as the worst of his injuries. The crew had been flying a reconnaissance mission for a planned allied assault on Nazi forces positioned near the Norwegian coastal town of Narvik. This Norwegian harbor town would soon be the stage for a bloody land and sea tug-of-war between the allied and Nazi forces with victory slipping from the grasp of one side, then to the other and then back again. At last, victory came to rest in the tight grip of the Germans. Antiaircraft fire from a Nazi destroyer in the harbor took out the Bristol’s starboard engine. Too far from home the pilot had to bring it down, preferably over land. Heading east the rugged terrain did not provide any attractive opportunities until gravity made the decision for him.

While the plane’s fuselage provided some shelter and Mihkel’s presence and provisions elevated the crew’s spirits, Mihkel faced a devil’s choice as to how to evacuate the men, considering their injuries. As Mihkel pondered his poor choice of options the gunner startled him by loudly bemoaning his disappointment that the aircraft’s radio had been damaged. Mihkel snapped to. Radios had always fascinated him. So much so that as a child he would take them apart to see how they worked. Making a beeline to the cockpit, He climbed through the twisted wreckage to the instruments and the radio. Mihkel recognized the standard T1082 transmitter. Mihkel smiled.

ESTONIA 1940

Young lieutenant Yuri Petrov, though not considered remarkable in the performance of his duties, had no shortcomings when it came to personal ambition. However, in all honesty, when it came to personal attributes, he could take no credit for his single greatest asset, that being his place of birth. Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine did not exactly roll off the tongue, but it did claim as a native son one Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. By 1936 the thirty-year old Brezhnev as a passionate pro-Stalinist had survived the bloody 1930s Soviet “Great Terror” purges. Recognized as a suitable candidate for the ranks of the Communist hierarchy, Brezhnev rose through those ranks quite quickly. During the early years of Brezhnev’s ascension he took a liking to a very solicitous young officer from the same hometown. Being that young officer, Petrov used his Brezhnev connection to transfer from the Estonian woods to the Transcaucasian Front as a direct report to Political Commissar Brezhnev.

By the 1960s, Brezhnev would have risen to the leadership of the USSR. Then like many Soviet leaders past and present, Brezhnev enjoyed extensive privilege. For example, Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Peoples’ Revolution against the elite and rich, loved big expensive luxury cars. He rode in a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost chauffeured by Adolphe Kegresse, the deposed Tsar Nicholas II’s personal driver. Petrov quickly became attuned to Brezhnev’s tastes. He displayed skill at providing luxury vehicles, secretaries and nurses. All to serve the needs of Brezhnev when Brezhnev took a respite at one of his free villas, beach houses, and hunting and drinking parties. Over the subsequent years Brezhnev cultivated Petrov as a capable and attentive administrator for addressing Brezhnev’s interests which increasingly involved unique and luxurious automobiles.

KIRUNA, SWEDEN 1940

The young apple cheeked Swedish airman blew open the hangar office door aided by a stiff gust of frigid arctic air. The slamming impact of the runaway door on a file cabinet jarred Ed from an intense conversation with Balchen. The young Swede’s breathless message met with great huzzas. Mihkel had radioed in confirming that he had located the crash site. Even better, all crew members had survived. However, their precarious state put them in desperate need of evacuation.

Col. Balchen spun back from the door, turned to Ed and uttered two words, “Let’s go!” that would change the trajectory of Ed’s life. A twin engine Consolidated PBY Catalina warmed in a hangar as Ed scrambled in preparation to fly with a legend. Airborne, Balchen startled Ed by suggesting that “Wonderfalk” assume the controls. Clearly, Balchen had taken to the young American pilot. Without hesitation Ed took over. As if born to fly the multi-engine PBY Catalina, a hyper-vigilant Ed cruised the rugged snow cover landscape with the directional guidance Mihkel had provided. With the help of a blazing signal fire below, Ed spotted the crash site. Clearly, Balchen had been so impressed by something he saw in the young pilot that he chose to be bet his life on it. Pointing to the frozen lake, he turned to Ed and told him to “put ‘er down.” Ed caught his breath then locked on to the job at hand. He banked, turned and set the PBY down like a baby on a bassinette. At this moment Ed understood the stage upon which his life would be lived.

Though the PBY seated seven and a pilot, the need for additional space to accommodate the compromised condition of the three air crew members left Ed with the short straw. No worries. Certainly, there would be no room with the “Fox and Hounds.” For Mihkel, he had anticipated insufficient space for transporting his team and sled. For Ed he savored the thought of returning to his role as dog sled co-pilot.

Two days later the Fox, twelve happy hounds and Wonderfalk entered the air field grounds. Quonset huts disgorged cheering men with fur hoods and steaming breath delivering a hero’s welcome. Gloved hands clapped the sledder’s backs. Calls for celebratory drinks filled the cold air. Of course, Mihkel’s drink would have to wait. Twelve valiant dogs needed to be fed and loved up. The dogs basked in the warmth of blankets and Mihkel’s heartfelt affection.

ESTONIA 1940

As snow gently fell across the open family farm yard, Jaak Oja sat quietly in his rustic country kitchen warmed by a blazing wood fire. His wife Ann quietly occupied herself in another room stitching the sturdy work pants he had snagged on a nail. He savored a cup of strong black coffee as he quietly thought. The simple and hard life of an Estonian farmer did not so much appeal to Jaak Oja, as much as it met his needs. He entertained no alternative to this the only life he had ever known. While he personally did not aspire to greatness, he did have dreams. At night before falling to sleep he would envision the day when he learned his independence loving son Mihkel had escaped to freedom and lived a family life of love and abundance. This dream, shared with his wife Ann served to cement their close and loving marriage.

While accepting of the peasant life he lived, Jaak, also comfortably accepted his circumstances as the beneficiary of an unbelievable twist of fate in the face of stifling Soviet oppression. Jaak the Estonian peasant had been left in possession of what could well be the most visually compelling, desirable and valuable car in the world, a custom race-prepped Bugatti Royale; that is, should anyone discover his secret. But no one had as it remained protected by Jaak’s stubborn silence and a camouflaged hideaway on his farm. As the steam rose from his coffee cup Jaak tilted back his head, closed his eyes, thought of Mihkel and allowed his mind to wander to a better place.

KIRUNA, SWEDEN 1940

The wood fire crackled in the Quonset hut fireplace as its flickering golden light danced across the faces of Ed and Mihkel. They had talked. Now, they sat quietly. Mihkel and Ed had forged a bond of friendship that would endure regardless of what tomorrow would bring. And tomorrow had a lot in store for them.

A stiff bitter cold wind buffeted their creaking hut.