8 December 1907 – 25 February 1940

Pentti Ax was born on 8 December 1907 at Äänekoski.

He received flying training in 1928 and took the reserve officer school.

In 1937, he changed his family name to Tevä.

On 18 January 1938, he joined LLv 26 as a vänrikki.

He was promoted to luutnantti on 15 December 1939.

On 23 December, a patrol led by luutnantti Tevä took off on an interception mission towards Lake Laatokka (Ladoga). Over Käkisalmi at 11:55, they encountered a formation of 6 to 7 SBs from 24 SBAP, which were bombing from the altitude of 1700 m and 100 meters above clouds. Tevä shot one down and it crashed into the Lake Ladoga confirmed by the coastal units. Lentomestari Lennart Mildh dove after the formation but could not gain enough speed until surprisingly one SB passed beneath him. He had an opportunity to fire at the SB for several minutes. The SB received hits and dove steep into a low-lying cloud and Mildh was credited with a damaged aircraft.

On 25 February 1940, three Gladiators from LLv 26's detachment Siiriäinen were sent to intercept Russian artillery observation planes above Muolaa. The pilots were luutnantti Tevä (GL-254), alikersantti Matti Sukanen (GL-258) and alikersantti Ilmari Joensuu (GL-256). They met nine R-5 planes near Muolaanjärvi, attacked and shot down four of them. Sukanen claimed one and one damaged at 15:30 while Tevä shot down two at 16:10 and Joensuu finally claimed one at 16:15. The Soviet aircraft were in fact R-Zs from 4 LBAP, 13 VA, of which two were lost. There were also six Russian I-153s from 13 OIAP (Soviet 13th Independent [O] fighter [I] regiment [AP]) in this area as an escort to the R-Zs. These intercepted and shot down and killed Tevä. His GL-254 was seen to dive straight into ground from the altitude of 3000 m without any attempts to pull up or jump, so Tevä was probably hit himself. Sukanen was also shot down. He was wounded and crashed his Gladiator at Ristseppälä. Joensuu was forced to make forced landing with a damaged fighter.
One more Gladiator was lost on the same day when it made a forced landing on the enemy side.
At 16:10 on the same day, vänrikki Lauri Sihvo (GL-279) claimed a damaged R-5 over Sippola.
It is possible that some of the Finnish Gladiators had been in combat with I-16s from 68 IAP, which reported that six I-16s lead by Starshiy Leytenant Plotnikov patrolled in the region of Mäkelä village and were engaged in combat with eight Bulldogs. The task of this group was to cover SB bombers attacking a target in the same area. Soon after that the SBs dropped their bombs, the I-16s saw the first Bulldog, which flew to north at the altitude of 2500 metres. It was attacked and downed by Starshiy Leytenant Plotnikov. According to the pilot report, the aircraft smoked and fell into the forest.
Just after that, at 17:05 Russian time, the I-16s turned to the opposite direction and saw a group of R-Z aircraft, which were flying below them and also seven other Bulldogs. Two Bulldogs attacked one R-Z and it came over Soviet territory loosing altitude. Leytenant Safronenko’s flight attacked one of these Bulldogs and shot it down. The Bulldog crashed into the forest on the Finnish side.
At the same time, Plotnikov’s flight flew towards five other Bulldogs flying 1000-1500 metres higher and not seeing the Soviet fighters. While climbing, the I-16s got onto the tail of the enemy formation and all together fired a burst that missed and the Bulldogs began to turn towards the Soviet fighters. The I-16s continued to turn and shot down one more enemy fighter, which was observed by a command post of a Soviet Army Corps. Then the flight separated and in the following combat, Leytenant Emirov shot down one Bulldog. Emirov was wounded in the hand, while his I-16 received 85 holes, but he returned safely to the airfield. At the same time, Leytenant Mayev got into a head on attack with a Bulldog, but simultaneously two other Bulldogs got behind his tail. Mayev’s I-16 got 56 bullet holes, but the Bulldog attacked by him was hit and fell to the ground out of control. Mayev returned safely.

At the time of his death, Tevä had claimed three biplane victories.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1939
1	23/12/39	11:55-12:00	1	SB-2	Destroyed	Bulldog	BU-68	Käkisalmi	LLv 26
	1940
2	25/02/40	16:10	1	R-5 (b)	Destroyed	Gladiator	GL-254	Muolaanjärvi	LLv 26
3	25/02/40	16:10	1	R-5 (b)	Destroyed	Gladiator	GL-254	Muolaanjärvi	LLv 26

Biplane victories:3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with SBs from 24 SBAP.
(b) Claimed in combat with R-Zs from 4 LBAP, 13 VA. Two were lost against claims for four by LLv 26.

Sources:
Englantilaiset Hävittäjät - Keskinen, Stenman, Niska
Ilmavoitot, osa 2 - Kalevi Keskinen and Kari Stenman, ISBN 952-99432-8-8
Kohtalokkaat lennot 1939-1944 - Jaakko Hyvönen
Ilmavoimat talvisodassa - Keskinen, Stenman
Ilmavoitot, osa 1 - Kalevi Keskinen and Kari Stenman, ISBN 952-99432-8-8
Ilmavoitot, osa 2 - Kalevi Keskinen and Kari Stenman, ISBN 952-99432-8-8
Suomen Ilmailuhistoriallinen Lehti nr. 1/1996
Suomen Ilmavoimat part II – 1928-40 – Kalevi Keskinen and Kari Stenman, 2006, ISBN 952-99743-0-2
Additional information kindly provided by Alexey Andreev, Lars Larsson, Tuomo Lukkari, Pentti Perttula and Jukka Raustia.