Göta Air Force Wing | |
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Göta flygflottilj | |
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Active | 1940–1969 |
Country | Sweden |
Allegiance | Swedish Armed Forces |
Branch | Swedish Air Force |
Type |
Wing (1940–1957) Sector wing (1957–1969) |
Role | Fighter wing |
Part of |
Second Air Group (1942–1966) Western Military Area (1966–1969) |
Garrison/HQ | Gothenburg/Säve |
Mascot(s) | Vincere est vivere ("To conquer is to live")[1] |
Anniversaries | 6 November[1] |
Insignia | |
Roundel |
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Aircraft flown | |
Bomber | B 4, B 5, B 17 |
Fighter | J 8, J 9, J 11, J 22, J 21, J 28, J 29, J 34 |
Multirole helicopter | Hkp 3B |
Reconnaissance | S 14 |
Trainer | Sk 11, Sk 12, Sk 14, Sk 15, Sk 16, Sk 25 |
Transport | Tp 46, Tp 91 |
G 101, Se 102, Se 103, Se 104 |

Interior from the Aeroseum museum in the old mountain hangar.
Göta Air Force Wing (Swedish language: Göta flygflottilj ), also F 9 Säve, or simply F 9, was a Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Gothenburg in south-west Sweden.
History[]
The decision to set up the air wing was made in 1936 to defend the import/export harbours on the west coast. The wing itself was not commissioned until October 1, 1940 and the airfield took until 1941 to complete.
Initially, two squadrons of J 8 fighters were commissioned in 1940, but they were quickly replaced by three squadrons of J 11s.
In 1942 hangars and some of the base command were relocated inside large shelters blasted out of the rocks. Initially the shelter area was only 8,000 m² (72,000 sq ft.) but it was later extended to 22,000 m² (200,000 sq ft.) 30 m (100 ft) below ground level.
During 1943, the J 11s were replaced by J 22s and subsequently by J 21s in 1946. The J 21s served for only three years until 1949 when they were replaced by the J 28B.
After yet only two years the J 28Bs were in turn replaced by the J 29. The 29 Tunnan did serve for over ten years until they were finally replaced by the J 34 where some units came from Svea Air Force Wing (F 8) and Södertörn Air Force Wing (F 18).
The squadrons were gradually decommissioned one per year 1967-1969 until the wing itself was decommissioned on June 30, 1969.
The airfield later operated as Gothenburg City Airport.
The old mountain hangars house the Aeroseum museum.
Commanding officers[]
The commanding officer was referred to as flottiljchef ("wing commander") and had the rank of colonel.
- 1940–1948: Magnus Bång
- 1948–1959: Arthur Åhmansson
- 1959–1960: Åke Mangård
- 1960–1969: Ulf Cappelen-Smith
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Braunstein 2005, pp. 75–77
Print[]
- Braunstein, Christian (2005) (in Swedish). Svenska flygvapnets förband och skolor under 1900-talet. Skrift / Statens försvarshistoriska museer, 1101-7023 ; 8 [dvs 9]. Stockholm: Statens försvarshistoriska museer. ISBN 91-971584-8-8. 9845891.
Web[]
- Webpage listing all air force squadrons in Sweden
- Aeroseum flight museum inside the old base shelter
Coordinates: 57°46′44″N 11°53′01″E / 57.77889°N 11.88361°E
The original article can be found at Göta Air Force Wing and the edit history here.