F 9 Säve

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F 9 Säve
Official name:	Kungliga Göta Flygflottilj
Location:	Säve, Gothenburg Municipality
Founded:	1936
Closed:	1969
Wing commander:	Magnus Bång (1940-1948) Arthur Åhmansson (1948-1959) Åke Mangård (1959-1960) Ulf Cappelen-Smith (1960-1969)
Types of aircraft:	Fighter
Main types:	J 8, J 11, J 21, J 22, J 28B, J 29, J 34
Other types:
Other:

F 9 Säve, Göta Flygflottilj, Göta Air Force Wing, or simply "F 9", is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Gothenburg in south-west Sweden.

1 History of the airbase
2 Current use
3 References
4 See also

[edit] History of the airbase

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 m^2 (72,000 sq.ft.) but it was later extended to 22,000 m^2 (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 F 8 Barkarby and F 18 Tullinge.

The squadrons were gradually decommissioned one per year 1967-1969 until the wing itself was decommissioned on June 30, 1969.