Sarvanto was born and raised in Turku, Finland. He attended high school in Turku and graduated in 1933. He was first admitted to the Pori Infantry Regiment, but decided to apply when the Finnish Air Force sent out a notice that they would select officer trainees. He was admitted and sent to the Reserve Officer Pilot Course number 4 at the Kauhava Air Base. He knew he had come to the right place. He completed his reserve officer training in 1934 and applied to the Military Academy in order to have the military as his profession. In graduated in May 1937 at the top of his military academy class, including army, navy and air force. Sarvanto was at first sent to Lentoasema 1 at Utti and later to Lentorykmentti 4, which was a bomber squadron. He had wished to fly fighters and requested a transfer to Fighter Squadron 24, which was granted. He started to fly Fokker D.XXIs there in 1937. He excelled in the firing tests, with a hit average of 92%.
War service
On 30 November 1939 the Winter War erupted and Finland was at war with the Soviet Union. He saw his first battle on 19 December and his first two victories came on 23 December 1939. On 6 January 1940 Sarvanto engaged alone in an air fight with a group of seven Soviet Ilyushin DB-3s. In the ensuing encounter, Sarvanto managed to shoot down six of the enemy aircraft in quick sequence. The remaining one of the Soviet bombers was later caught up and shot down over the Gulf of Finland by another Finnish pilot, lieutenant Per-Erik Sovelius. This incident drew a lot of attention worldwide, and the press considered it a world record. Most of the major Western newspapers published a photo of lieutenant Sarvanto holding a large sheet of aluminum with a big "5" on it, a trophy from one of the victims. Sarvanto was to become the top scoring Finnish ace of the Winter War with 13 victories. During the Continuation War he downed four more aircraft with Brewster Buffaloes, bringing his total score to 17. He flew a total of 255 combat missions during World War II. In 1941 he was appointed captain and he was given different staff positions, e.g. as a liaison officer with the German Luftflotte 1, as the commander of LeLv 24's 2nd flight and later as the commander of TLeLv 35.
Sarvanto would continue his military career, which led him to become the commander of the Flying School in Kauhava. In 1954 he became Finnish military attaché in London, a position he held for 3½ years before returning to his position at the Flight School. Sarvanto resigned from the air force in 1960, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Before the war, Sarvanto married Eine Elisabet Artemo. They had four children. He would work as the CEO of a bank until his death on 16 October 1963. Sarvanto's grandsons include American champion bagpipe playerJori Chisholm and American political consultant Kari Chisholm. One of his granddaughters is married to General :fi:Kim Jäämeri|Kim Jäämeri, Chief of Strategy of the Finnish Defense Forces.
