F 9 Säve |
|
---|---|
Official name: | Kungliga Göta Flygflottilj |
Location: | Säve, Gothenburg Municipality |
Founded: | 1936 |
Closed: | 1969 |
Wing commander: | Magnus Bång
(1940-1948) |
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.
Contents |
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 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.
The airfield is currently operated as Gothenburg City Airport (IATA: GSE, ICAO: ESGP)
The old rock shelters house the Aeroseum - a museum of flight and event centre.
|