Birger Ek

Who is Birger Ek?

Rolf Birger Ek was a Finnish pilot and Mannerheim Cross Knight.

Birger Ek was born in 1911 to insurance inspector Arthur Ek and Elsa Lundequist and grew up in Loviisa in southern Finland. He married Tyyni Orvokki Puupponen and had two daughters. He began his military career in the early 1930s.

He participated in the Winter War and Continuation War as a pilot and the commander of the second flight of bomber squadron 6. He was appointed the Mannerheim Cross and knighthood on 8 February 1943.

He flew 171 wartime missions, including 29 in the Winter War.

Captain Ek was the first Finnish "Suto", or submarine hunter pilot. He is credited with inventing and refining the method of dropping naval depth charges from aircraft. Immediately at the outbreak of the Winter War, Ek noticed that the small bombs used up to that time to combat submersibles were too weak against the Soviet submarines with their strong pressure hulls. They had to find another way of dealing with them. From a friend in the navy he learned about the depth charges that were in use and managed to get a hold of a few for his experiments. He then proceeded to find out at which heights the aircraft should fly to avoid deflecting depth charges from the surface and still drop the charge without breaking the detonation mechanism upon impact with the water.