Military Collections in Sweden – Third Chapter

The rich military tradition of Sweden can be retraced by means of many interesting dedicated collections. Many of them are scattered in the nice southernmost country regions of the Scandinavian peninsula, and make for an interesting detour from the most popular touristic destinations.

As reported in the previous two chapters on the topic (see here and here), the neutrality of Sweden in the major confrontations taking place during the 20th century allowed this northern Country to operate in a unique and original way, especially in terms of military procurement. Besides picking what was actually deemed suitable for their internal needs especially from the West, Sweden managed develop a strong domestic design and manufacturing capability, such to fulfill its own self-defense role in a cost-effective and credible way.

The defense of neutrality was carried out in the air by a strong Air Force, often updated over the years. With the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the major threat in the Baltic area came to an end as well, resulting in a major scale-down of this defense force and the disbandment of many military organizations. Correspondingly, memorial museums can be found often close to former airbases. One of them, dedicated to the ‘Scania’ wing F10, in operation since WWII to the early 2000s, is covered in this chapter.

A rather complete collection of aircraft from the entire span of the Cold War can be found in the unusual frame of a private museum, established in the 1960s from the will of the founder to display primarily his own collection of cars. The mix is particularly interesting, witnessing also the close link between Sweden and the vehicle industry of the US, possibly the tightest among all Countries in Europe.

Of course, in the theater of WWII Sweden was politically and geographically in an interesting position as well as later in the Cold War. Its relative proximity to the Third Reich meant it was often overflown by bombers on their way back from missions over mainland Germany. Dogfights and bomber chase missions reached the airspace of Sweden, sometimes ending with either German or Allied aircraft crashing on Swedish territory. An interesting museum covered in this chapter is fully dedicated to the topic.

Photographs in this chapter were taken in the summer of 2024.

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Sights

Ängelholms Flight Museum, Ängelholm

This nice collection of military aviation can be found on the former premises of the air base of Barkåkra (today Helsingborg airport), which has been the home of the 10th Wing ‘Scania’ (aka. F10 or ‘Ängelholm Wing’) between 1945 until the disbandment of the latter in 2002. Established during WWII, the illustrious history of the F10 wing spanned the entire Cold War, reaching into the 21st century. Correspondingly, the Scania Wing was supplied over the years with a rich inventory of aircraft models, ranging from classic fighters of WWII to the more recent SAAB Viggen and Gripen.

The structure of the exhibition, rather compact in size, is composed of two major areas.

In the first, the history of F10 is retraced especially by means of interesting photographs and memorabilia items. Among the pictures, some portray American bomber crews as well as German fighters landed on Swedish territory, which remained neutral during WWII.

In this area are also a few dioramas and reconstructions of typical military scenes, including a medical room, from the earlier days of operation of the Scania Wing. Everyday items, as well as military training and illustrative material, is presented in display cases.

The second major area is where most hardware of the collection can be found – aircraft, engines, vehicles, and much gear from the days of operation of the F10 wing. Among the earliest models acquired by F10 back in the WWII years was – rather interestingly – an Italian fighter, the Reggiane Re-2000 Falco, a batch of which was obtained from Italy in a supply shortage scenario, where especially the US had halted material export to non-allied countries. Pressed into service with the Air Force of Sweden (and specifically also with the F10 wing) as an interceptor with the locally attributed code of J20, this generally adequate machine was powered by a Piaggio P.XI 14-cylinders radial engine (which according to Roman numbering then often employed in Italy translates into P.11), a 1.040 hp model license-made in Italy, and originally a French design by Gnome-Rhone. A Re-2000 is not on display, but a Piaggio P.XI is! This engine has been quite popular in those years in Sweden, ending up also as an interim power plant for the Swedish own SAAB B17C single-engine light bomber/diver (not to be confounded with the homonym American Flying Fortress).

Close by the P.XI is the oldest aircraft on display belonging to the F10, in the form of a FFVS J22. The company FFVS was actually a Swedish state-managed entity, borne in the years of WWII to cope with the wartime supply requirements on one side and the overbooking of the SAAB plants on the other. Introduced during WWII, this rugged fighter was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830, the ubiquitous Twin Wasp, license-built in Sweden by Svenska Flygmotor. The Scania Wing received the J22 model only in 1945, the last propeller-driven aircraft in its inventory. The exemplar on display looks under maintenance, and is possibly in airworthy conditions.

Next on display is a SAAB J29 Tunnan, with its distinctive barrel-shaped fuselage enshrouding the single, centrifugal flow jet engine. The F10 wing transitioned to jets in 1946 with the early SAAB J21R and the British-supplied DeHavilland DH100 Vampire (named J28R in Sweden). The Tunnan was provided to the F10 wing in 1953, and there it remained until 1963, while more advanced models were becoming available. The engine of the J29 was a DeHavilland Ghost, manufactured under licence in Sweden by Svenska Flygmotor under the name RM2B – an example is on display.

Close to the tail cone of the Tunnan is also a DeHavilland Goblin engine, originally employed on the Vampire.

The longest-lasting workhorse in F10 service has been the SAAB J35 Draken. An exemplar of the J version, the most updated and last (with the actual modification taking place in the late 1980s), is on display. The distinctive bulge for the IR seeker under the fuselage, appearing from the modern F version on, can be checked out from very close.

Interestingly, the Draken is presented with an exemplar of the Rb-28 missile hanging from an underwing pylon. This is a SAAB-modified version of the US-designed Hughes AIM-4D Falcon, an air-to-air missile conceived as an anti-bomber weapon, but hastily pressed into service against Vietnamese MiGs during the Vietnam war, under the wings of the Phantom, and proving very ineffective in the dogfighting role. For the Soviet bomber interdiction role of the Draken, this missile platform was deemed more effective, and it was retained for service for decades in Sweden.

Other missiles, rockets and guns (including a dismounted Aden 30 mm cannon) pertaining to the warload of the Draken are on display as well, together with an interesting console for missile signal testing.

Ahead of the Draken is a memorial wall, and ahead of it is a Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine, displayed as an instructional cutaway – including both the turbomachinery and the afterburning component. License-built in Sweden by Svenska Flygmotor as RM6C, this was the engine of the Draken.

The F10 wing received the SAAB J37 Viggen only after the collapse of the USSR in 1993, marking the beginning of the last, post-Cold War chapter in the history of the unit. Quite elusive due to its adoption only by Sweden, albeit rather successful in its intended roles, an exemplar of this machine can be found in this collection. Specifically, this is a photo reconnaissance version named SF37. Lacking a radar, this model typically operated on reconnaissance missions in a flight of two, together with a radar-supplied SH37 variant.

The Viggen can be neared and checked out entirely with ease, thanks to its positioning on a pedestal. The photo-reconnaissance payload is on display. Under the left wing is a SAAB Rb-04 anti-ship missile. This Swedish own design was conceived for countering invasion starting from the sea. With a radius of 25 km and active radar homing, its warhead was sufficient for knocking out an enemy cruiser with a single hit.

The collection of the Scania Wing also includes the SAAB SK60 trainer, a successful trainer employed for decades, and inducted into the F10 inventory during the 1990s, when the wing took over the basic training role from the F5 wing. Similarly, an ubiquitous Bell 204 (Hkp 3B according to Swedish naming) can be found on display, as it was employed within the F10 for rescue and logistics/transport duties.

Close to the Viggen are further interesting exhibits. One is on the wartime bases (krigsflygbaser, see this post), with models and original signs from one of them.

Another is about weather forecasting within F10. It includes electronic hardware, an entire room with original consoles, and weather balloons, still today employed to carry atmospheric sounds.

A display is dedicated to pilot’s protection helmets, survival kits and ejection seats. Not only in Sweden, the latter have been in the focus of a major technological development over the years of the Cold War. Ejecting from a fast jet in the 1950s was reportedly a highly-risky business, since even when the maneuver was technically successful – i.e. such to take the pilot out of the aircraft alive – the ejection-induced acceleration alone was more than enough to cause serious injury, usually to the spine. Over the years, multi-stage ejection was implemented, allowing for a more gradual maneuver, which albeit remaining lightning-fast, does not inflict so harsh a treatment to the pilot’s body as in the past.

A top exhibit on display is an original cockpit from a SAAB J35 Draken, employed for training purposes. The cockpit is very well preserved, thoroughly described by explanatory panels nearby, and it can be boarded to give you a feeling of the functionality of the onboard systems, as well as of the ergonomics of the cockpit.

Two more training aircraft are included in the exhibition, a SK61 and SK50, both single-propeller machines employed for basic training.

Additionally, the last type in service with the F10 has been the SAAB JAS39 Gripen (from 1999 until disbandment), which is here represented by means of the first serial production machine of the first version (‘A’). This exemplar was actually never pressed in air force service, but it was employed as a test bed for multiple operations, including test firing of missile ordnance in the early 2000s.

Additional dioramas in this compact but rich collection include op-rooms from various ages.

An interesting exhibit is a relatively well-preserved Rolls-Royce Merlin piston enigine, originally powering a British Avro Lancaster bomber which sank south of Trelleborg in the Baltic Sea, presumably early in 1945 after a bombing run over Germany.

Finally, on the outside it is possible to find a British Bristol Bloodhound Mk II missile. This SAM supplied a squadron of F10 wing, complementing the air defense role in proximity to the airbase.

Getting there and visiting

The name of the museum in the local language is Ängelholms Flygmuseum, which translates into Ängelholm Flight Museum. It is located on the southwestern border of the former airbase of Ängelholm, easily reachable at the address Drakenvägen 5, 26274 Ängelholm. This town is 15 mi north of Helsingborg along the E6 highway.

Large parking ahead of the entrance. Nice shop with books, toys and gadgets by the ticket office. The museum facility is rather compact, yet a visit may easily take 1.5 hours for an interested subject, when carefully checking out all items on display and taking pictures. Descriptions are in double language, Swedish/English, allowing for an informative visit even if you are from abroad.

Professional website with full information here.

Museum of Forced Landings, Morup

The Museum of Forced Landings (in Swedish language the museum is named in a rather different way, ‘Morups Samtidsmuseum’) is a one-of-a-kind collection of remains and traces from air crashes or forced landings taking place during WWII in Sweden. Run by a lively group of dedicated enthusiasts, the display is extremely well-crafted, offering not just an array of many and diverse relics from aircraft wrecks, but for each of them a complete synopsis of the story behind that specific flight – and the crewmen who were on board.

Furthermore, in my case I was accompanied by a very knowledgeable English-speaking gentleman for the entire duration of my visit, making the experience even more engaging.

The exhibition starts with a display of general maps of the crash or forced landing sites. A sharp increase towards the end of the war is evident, due to the increase in the number of bombing raids over the center of the Third Reich. The crashed aircraft are mostly from the US and Britain. When hit over Germany but still airworthy, Allied crews attempted an escape to neutral Sweden, to avoid capture by the Germans.

Of course, Sweden was a neutral country, hence all grounded crews, irrespective of their nationality, were interned, albeit in more than decent conditions, especially compared to German or Soviet prison camps.

A map of the internment location in Sweden is presented as well. Clearly, also German aircraft crash-landed in Sweden. Crews of opposing nationalities were interned in totally different locations. Rare photographs from these sites are on display.

Then, one by one, the display cases describe each a notable forced landing, retracing its timeline, and showing some relics from the wreckage, as well as personal items belonging to the crew. Nice detailed scaled models and dioramas of the accident complete the reconstruction.

Among them are a German Messerschmitt Bf110 attack aircraft, with a fragment of the canopy as well as other parts on display, Norwegian training aircraft, a German Junkers Ju-52 transport, with an entire control column put as an exhibit.

The bombsight, radio and other instrument goggles belong to a German Heinkel He-111 bomber landed on ice.

One of the plots documented in the deepest detail is that involving Lt Edward E. Phillips, of USAAF 354th fighter group, which flew escort missions over Germany from Baxton, England, with North American P-51 Mustang fighters. On the 15th of April 1944, on return from a mostly failed bombing mission over Germany in bad weather, Lt. Phillips aircraft was chased north by a Bf109. He was hit over southern Sweden, bailed out but the parachute failed to deploy. He was killed instantly, and his aircraft impacted soft terrain and sank so deeply due to its own energy that it almost disappeared into the ground – and there it remained for 40 years. In the 1990s an excavation attempt was carried out by the future crew of the museum, uncovering substantial remains of the aircraft, including many parts, cockpit gauges, machine guns, an entire landing gear leg, and more.

A link was established by the local crew with the former wife of the man in the US, and the story hit the news. A memorial was inaugurated on the location of the crash.

Another American aircraft with a story to tell is a Consolidated B-24 Liberator. This time the aircraft managed to crash land under control, and the entire crew of 10 was saved and interned. Sgt Robert C. Birmingham, part of the crew, visited the locations of his adventure in Sweden more than once with his family.

More accidents described in the display involve British and German aircraft.

In an adjoining room, an impressive collection of quality scale models reconstruct many of the aircraft in service within the Air Force in Sweden, including details such as different celebration markings and camo coats. Among the artifacts and memorabilia items on display in this part is an autographed photo of WWII German ace Günther Rall.

In another small hangar is an interesting addition to the collection, mostly centered on aircraft engines. Engines from crash-landed aircraft, significantly damaged but undergoing a display-oriented cleaning and refurbishment, make for an unusual and interesting sight.

Outside is also a small collection of classic cars in pristine conditions.

Getting there and visiting

The museum is called ‘Morups Samtidsmuseum’ in Swedish language. It can be found right along the road N.768 about 6 miles north of the coastal town of Falkenberg, 0.25 miles north of the small town of Morup. The exact address is X9MP+84 Morup.

A visit may take about 1 hour, more when stimulating further telling by the very enthusiastic crew of the association running the museum.

Please note that no credit cards are accepted, only cash is – unless you are entitled to employ electronic payment methods allowed for citizens or residents of Sweden.

The website, partially under construction as of spring 2025, can be found here.

Credit for directing me to this hidden gem goes to Martin Steffen, from Sweden.

Svedino’s Automobile and Aviation Museum, Ugglarp

This unusual exhibition originates from the own collection of Lennart Svedfelt, a prominent Swedish stage and TV entertainer borne in 1924 and known as ‘Svedino’. The man started purchasing cars and planes for the purpose of collecting them, in an era when a similar activity was hardly heard of. In 1961 he opened his collection as a permanent display, the first museum dedicated to cars in Sweden. Over the years, and even following his passing, the museum continued to grow, reaching more than 100 cars and 40 aircraft on display today!

Even though this is not an eminently military museum, despite the cars being beautiful civilian cars, most aircraft on display are military machines, including some remarkable items – therefore, Svedino’s perfectly fits within this chapter!

The cars on display make for a really unique collection, in and out of Sweden. A remarkable feature is especially the number and uniqueness of US-made cars from the inter-war period between WWI and WWII. In a first building, these include models by Chevrolet, Buick, Dodge, Nash, Oldsmobile, and more!

Also some classic models from European manufacturers, like Opel, are on display. A special rarity is an Adler Trumpf from 1934. Adler, a German company from the 19th century active in the manufacture of petrol engines, operated in the car market for a relatively short time, roughly coincident with the Third Reich period. They made cars in the intermediate price segment, with good success. The company changed business following WWII, making Adler cars interesting collectible items representing car-making from a specific era.

As expected from a Swedish museum, a full array of classic Volvo is on display! These include small trucks and saloons, and interesting models like the PV36 from the inter-war period. Similar to the PV830 and the iconic PV444 from the immediate post-WWII years, an influence of the contemporary American designs is undeniable in all these models.

Also on display are more modern vehicles employed as state cars. An interesting item is a very old Gräf & Stift, an Austrian luxury sedan from before WWI, salvaged from the bottom of a Swedish lake after spending there more than 40 years, and acquired by the museum.

Two interesting cars on display are personal designs from the early 1950s. In Sweden it was possible at that time to introduce privately-built cars, provided they could sustain a compliance check. An example of a fantasy car, with a rather aggressive design and physically assembled from parts of other cars, is on display. It was never completed nor allowed on the road. Another example, designed and made by the son of the industrialist Wennberg, reportedly roamed around all over the 1950s! This unique exemplar is on display with ‘factory markings’ HW.

In a second adjoining building, a really valuable collection of even older cars, dating from earlier than 1930, is on display. Also here most items in the collection are from the US, a really rare sight on this side of the ocean! Looking at the elaborated labels of these oldies, made by Ford, Anderson, Seneca, and thinking of the craftsmen who personally assembled them back in the America of the early 1900s is really thought-provoking!

Among the most unique cars on display is a Pierce-Arrow from 1918, sitting alongside a Haynes from the same year.

Moving on to another adjoining hall, here cars are on display alongside a few classic planes from the first half of the 20th century. A DeHavilland Moth, a Götaverken GV-38 seaplane (a licence-built Rearwin Sportster, a US design), as well as a German Klemm Kl-35 and a Focke-Wulf FW-44 designs, are on the list together with more light airplanes and a few engines.

The latter include an original Rolls-Royce Goblin and Avon, respectively from a DeHavilland Vampire and a SAAB Draken, both in service with the Air Force of Sweden during the Cold War.

A focus of the exhibition is on the memory of a pioneer of Swedish aviation industry, Enoch Tulin, who is the author of many ‘firsts’ in the aeronautical history of this Country – the largest aviation workshop to date before WWI (with 900 employees), the first air mail service, the first air rescue mission, and more. A graduated engineer, flight instructor and early aerobatic pilot, Tulin died in an airplane crash in 1919, after gaining unquestioned prominence in many fields of aeronautical industry and operation in his era.

A final adjoining hall concludes the oldest part of the exhibition premises. Here the spotlight is on a few fighters from the Cold War era, namely a SAAB J29 Tunnan, two DeHavilland Vampire, and even a SAAB J35 Draken.

The latter is really a unique exemplar. As can be guessed by the monstrous red and white spine on the nose cone, typical to experimental aircraft and not a feature of the production machine, the one on display is actually the first prototype!

Another curious item is a Soviet-made Kamov Ka-26 helicopter. Alongside the helicopter is a vintage advertisement from 1975, written in Swedish, and made by Aviaexport, a Soviet agency for the commercialization of Soviet aeronautical products abroad. Borne as an import-export, Aviaexport acted also as a recipient of foreign certification rules, spreading the growing body of western aeronautical regulation within the Soviet design bureaus, to the aim of keeping the quality standard to a level sufficient for commercialization in foreign countries. Actually, thanks to Aviaexport the Kamov Ka-26 received a type certification in Sweden, which allowed its commercialization and regular employment there. Aviaexport is still existent in today’s Russia.

Interspersed between closely-packed aircraft are more cars, including a beautiful Jaguar Mk V and an East-German Trabant, as well as aircraft engines.

A massive Wright Cyclone R-3350 is among them – the power plant of the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-7, often considered the pinnacle and swansong of American piston power, this massive 1.2 tons, 18 cylinders engine produced 3.700 hp of shaft power!

Svedino’s aircraft collection is mostly hosted in a modern hall added more recently beside the original museum’s building. The first item on display is an original Junkers Ju-52! This aircraft is among those license-built in Spain. It operated for some time as far as in California in the 1970s, being later transferred to Ireland, and finally here. The camouflage and markings reenact those of a Third Reich’s Luftwaffe machine force-landed in Sweden during WWII. The cockpit of the Ju-52 has been reproduced separately, to allow checking it without boarding this precious aircraft.

As expected for a Swedish aircraft collection, the most prominent models which have served in the local Air Force are represented. These include a SAAB J32B Lansen, a Cold War attack aircraft from the 1950s, a SAAB SK60 trainer, and a SAAB J35 Draken – a production machine, not a prototype like in the previous hall.

These aircraft are presented alongside their engines. The Swedish licence-built version of the Rolls-Royce Avon, named RM6A, powered the Lansen and later the Draken.

The latest addition to the SAAB heritage on display is the J37 Viggen, here presented in the nice and distinctive camo coat of the Air Force of Sweden. This is presented alongside its mighty engine, the RM8A, a modified version of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan.

Additionally, a display of an open nose cone allows to see the arrangement of the radar antenna of the Viggen.

An interesting display case hosts the instrument panels, radar and reconnaissance gear of the Lansen, Draken and Viggen, as well as a collection of flight helmets and pilot’s gear, showing the evolution of this technical material over time.

But the collection of Svedino’s is not limited to aircraft in service in Sweden. A Lockheed F-104 Starfighter from the Air Force of Denmark is on display, next to a Gloster Meteor early twin jet. The blue exemplar on display is a former factory demonstrator originally employed by Gloster, and later sold to Sweden for target towing (in a batch of seven aircraft).

A rarity to be found close by is a Percival P.66 Pembroke, a twin-engined multi-purpose transport from the early 1950s, employed for training and passenger transport within the Air Force. Manufactured in Britain in just 128 exemplars, this type was mostly sold abroad to Western-European Countries and in Africa. Sweden originally got a batch of 16.

Another British type on display is a Hawker Hunter, which was actually employed by Sweden as a stop-gap model in the late 1950s, waiting for the completion of the design and the entrance into service of the J35 Draken.

Another Soviet addition to the collection is a MiG-21. A Cold War veteran, this exemplar is Soviet-built, and served in Hungary until 1982 and later in the Latvian SSR.

A recent addition to the exhibition is a Douglas Skyraider! Possibly overshadowed by the illustrious career the type enjoyed in the US Armed Forces, a part of the history of this massive attack aircraft is about Sweden. Some 13 exemplars were actually purchased by Sweden for target towing in the mid 1960 from Britain, which had got a larger batch from the US. The exemplar on display is an AD-4W, the early warning version of the Skyraider. It is currently (2024) being refurbished.

Among the biggest additions to the aircraft collection is actually an English Electric Canberra. As typical to this type, employed by the British for the first, high risk overflights of the Countries of the Soviet bloc before the high-performing Skunk Works aircraft became available, the Canberra (including its modified Martin version in the US) was employed for quintessentially Cold War signal intelligence missions opposite the Soviet Union. Two exemplars were employed also in Sweden from the early 1960s until the mid-1970s, and one of them is that on display.

A curious item also on display is a one-off design which won a competitive call of the Aviation Engineering Association in Stockholm in 1988, and which was later actually built by its designers. Unfortunately, it was eventually never tested due to one of the owners need to quit for health issues when the aircraft was undergoing a certification test for obtaining airworthiness. The name of the prototype is LLS-1.

Scattered among the aircraft are more engines, radars, consoles, simulators, and more aircraft than described, making for an overall very rich and interesting visit.

Getting there and visiting

Svedinos Bil & Flygmuseum – this is the name of the museum in the local language – can be found in a nice countryside 15 miles north of the port town of Halmstad. The exact address is SE-311 69 Ugglarp.

The premises are rather compact, with a large parking ahead of the entrance. Fresh cookies, homemade sandwiches and cakes are available for a light lunch in the exotic lobby, matching in style with this unusual collection.

A visit may take 2 hours for an interested subject. Most items are described with modern panels in double language Swedish/English, making the visit very informative. The website with logistical information is here.

Aircraft Collections in Norway

The ‘Norwegian chapter’ in the book of aviation history is a peculiar and interesting one. Similarly to virtually every Country in the western world, in the early age of aviation small manufacturing companies appeared also in Norway. Despite meeting with little success in the long run, they contributed in creating momentum around those ‘novel flying machines’. Norway, with a sinuous coastline stretching for some thousands miles from the latitude of England up north to where the European continent ends, and with a land largely covered in snow for many months per year, has been an ideal place for the development of a local air network since the early days of aviation. This created an alternative link between smaller communities and industry centers. As a matter of fact, similarly to Greece, Norway is among the top employers of smaller aircraft for commercial routes in Europe still today.

To the same early era belong the now almost mythological arctic expeditions, carried out also by air – by plane or airship – and almost invariably departing from Norway. The well-known Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was an advocate of air explorations, and his primary contributions to geographical explorations have constituted in some cases milestones in aviation history.

Despite a significant down-scaling of its Armed Forces in the post-Cold War scenario causing a strong reduction of the military presence in the Country, Norway has been in the focus of massive military operations since the 1930s.

In particular, both its geographical position and natural resources met the appetite of the Third Reich, which successfully invaded Norway in a blitzkrieg campaign in late spring 1940. Through an action based strongly on airlift capacity, German cargo planes relocated personnel and material very effectively to Norway. The crown and government were forced into exile in Britain, and with it also the military chain of command. Actually, the air force academy was moved to Toronto area, Ontario, where the military facilities of Norway got the name of ‘Little Norway’. New Norwegian pilots were relentlessly trained there, preparing them to repel the enemy from their Scandinavian motherland.

The Third Reich managed to keep a grip on southern Norway until its collapse and the end of WWII in Europe. Having witnessed the failure of neutrality as a foreign policy, in the rapidly deteriorating post-WWII scenario and the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet-led eastern bloc and the free democracies of the western world, Norway joined NATO as a founding member.

Since then and for more than four decades, Norway was on one of the ‘hot’ fronts of the war, with a border-crossing point with the USSR, and a privileged position to patrol the skies over the shipping routes leading from the highly-militarized Kola peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean (see this post). Keeping a constant watch on the air, surface and submarine movements of the USSR was a task brilliantly covered by the Norwegian Air Force and Navy for the entire duration of the Cold War.

Today, western world issues like climate-related hysteria and hardly shareable, deeply ideological so-called ‘carbon neutrality’ policies promise to definitively clip the wings to sport, private and commercial aviation especially in this Country, through an unprecedented technological leap back. Similarly, the (today, so evidently) short-sighted post-Cold War dismantlement of military power in Europe has impacted military forces also in Norway.

However, the memory of the glorious years when this proud Scandinavian Nation has been on the forefront of aviation technology and in the focus of military action are duly relived in two wonderful aviation collections, celebrating what can be achieved through technical skill, courage and good national ideals.

One of these collections is the Norwegian Aviation Museum, located east of the airport of Bodø, a coastal town on the Norwegian Sea, not far north of the Polar Circle. The other is the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection, located just west of Oslo-Gardermoen Airport, in the south of the Country and close to the capital city. Both museums host world-class collections, really worth a detour for aviation-minded people from whatever continent, and for the general public as well, as can be possibly perceived from the pictures in this post.

Photographs in this post were taken during a visit to both destinations in August 2022.

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Sights

Norwegian Aviation Museum – Bodø

The Norwegian Aviation Museum in Bodø is located on the northeastern corner of the airport, dominating this coastal town north of the Polar Circle. The airport was founded back in the 1920s, strongly potentiated by the Germans in WWII, and extensively used over the Cold War decades for mixed military and civil use. Today, it is mainly a commercial airport, with some residual military activity. However, the Air Station at Bodø shows evident traces of a military past – aircraft shelters, bunkers and large antenna arrays point the hilly panorama south of the runway.

The museum covers many aspects of the history of aeronautics in Norway. Both civil and military aviation are well represented, the respective collections being hosted in two adjoining large halls, merging into the central atrium – featuring a Northrop F-5 in the colors of the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF). This type has been the backbone of the RNoAF in the latter decades of the Cold War years.

Civil aviation hall

The proposed path in the civil aviation hall follows a chronological order, and starts with a display of memorabilia from the early aviation years and from the age of the adventurous polar explorations. The items on display include flags, historical pictures, personal belongings taken by explorers on polar exploration trips and many interesting explanatory panels.

Aircraft on display include rare early seaplanes, employed to establish transport services. These are put side by side with more modern aircraft of the company Widerøe, which today is responsible for most of the short-range high-frequency services linking the scattered settlements in the northern part of Norway – up to North Cape.

Nice advertisement posters are displayed to retrace the history of some classic airlines, including the all-private Braathens, once a major airline from Norway, and telling about the foundation of SAS – which incorporated also Braathens at the turn of the century – which stands for ‘Scandinavian Airlines System’. It is still today a big carrier linking Northern Europe and the world. These companies were among the world first massively flying polar routes, thanks to on-board instrumentation specifically made to tackle the navigation issues showing up when flying close to the poles.

A turning point in the history of Braathens has been the introduction of jets, in the form of the Fokker F.28, for which this airline has been a launch customer. An exemplar of the F.28 is partly preserved in the museum, allowing to check out the fully analog cockpit.

Helicopters, including one with a special pod hosting an entire berth for SAR operations, are also well represented. The Police is clearly using the latest models of rotary wing technology.

A rare aircraft on display is a British-made Britten-Norman Islander, once operating in the colors of the local company Norving. Very evocative pictures show the unusual scenarios often faced by airlines operating in near-polar regions!

Another peculiar mission covered by aircraft in Norway has been that of territory imaging and survey, including for archaeology in the search for ancient viking remains, typically hard to see from ground level. A Cessna 337 Skymaster push-pull originally tasked with this mission is on display. This type is pretty hard to see in Europe, but has enjoyed even a significant military career in the US (see this post).

A big bird on display is a beautiful original Junkers Ju-52 three-props seaplane. This is one of four originally in the fleet of the Norwegian flag carrier ‘Det Norske Luftfartselskap’, established in the 1930s, and operating with a mixed fleet of British, German and American models.

The cockpit of the Junkers has been put in a display case to be admired more easily.

Among the many other items on display in the civil aviation hall, you can find an original wind tunnel model of the Concorde, aircraft remains from an accident, and some unusual or one-off aircraft models.

Military aviation hall

The hall dedicated to military aviation starts again following the timeline of aviation history. The early-age manufacturers appearing in Norway when aircraft were still a totally new technological novelty are represented with dioramas of technical shops, scale models and historical pictures. Some aircraft dating to the pre-WWII years are also on display.

However, a major subject covered in the display is that of WWII. Norway was conquered by the invading German forces in a short and aggressive campaign in Spring 1940. Well planned from a strategic viewpoint, this operation included the capture of the airport of Oslo – the old field of Oslo-Fornebu – on the 9th of April, which was then used as a major base for landing transport aircraft, unloading military staff and material in the most populated area of the Country.

The landslide Third Reich invasion forced the government and the military chain of command to withdraw to Britain. An agreement was then settled to establish a military flight academy near Toronto, Ontario, to supply the Norwegian armed forces with new pilots, to carry out offensive operations from Britain.

The collection features many interesting items from WWII period. From a balcony you are offered a view of the collection, and a vantage view on the relic of a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju-88, transported to the museum after recovery.

The air operations in the invasion of Spring 1940 are documented with interesting scale models and dioramas, as well as much technical material retrieved from the days of German occupation. This includes cameras for photo reconnaissance, Third Reich military maps of the region, flags, aircraft engines, and many historical pictures.

From the same era, the cockpit of a Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, documents of the air actions against the Third Reich occupants, and others concerning the history of ‘Little Norway’ – the Norwegian military training facilities in Canada – are also on display.

Aircraft displayed in this area include restored or partly reconstructed examples of a De Havilland Mosquito, a Supermarine Spitfire, as well as a Focke-Wulf FW190 and a Messerschmitt BF-109 on the German side.

All these birds together make for a really unusual and evocative sight today! Especially the German fighters are really rare to find, and their condition and presentation is really eye-catching.

Further aircraft from the time include a North American Harvard trainer, and a big Consolidated PBY Catalina seaplane used for patrol. The latter looks really massive hosted indoor, compared to smaller fighter aircraft!

Anti-aircraft guns and a pretty unusual radio emitter/transmission station, employed as beacons for helping instrumental navigation in the war years, are also part of this interesting display.

Next to the WWII area is the Cold War section of the display. Following the bad WWII experience with a policy of international neutrality, resulting in an invasion by a powerful enemy force, following the escalating divergence between the western Allies and the USSR, Norway opted for joining NATO as a founding member.

The alliance with the US and Britain, similar to other NATO Countries, meant a substantial supply of American and (at least in the beginning) British military supply. A North American F-86 Sabre and a Republic F-84 Thunderjet are two beautiful representatives from the early Cold War era. Similarly, a De Havilland Vampire is hanging from the ceiling.

A slightly more modern item is a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. Not much employed in the US, it covered the interceptor role along the border with the Eastern Bloc in Norway, Federal Germany and Italy for many years.

Historical pictures tell – among many interesting subjects – about other aircraft, like the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, as well as the F-104 and the F-5 involved in interception and escort flights, shadowing Tupolev Tu-95, Antonov An-12 and other USSR machines flying over international waters or scraping the border of Scandinavian airspaces – quintessential Cold War memories!

Possibly a reason for Bodø having grown to further fame in the aviation community of Western Countries is the presence here of a real Lockheed U-2 spy plane. This aircraft can be found in Europe only at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Britain, and here. Actually, a curious fact about Bodø is that it was a designated destination or an alternate (emergency) airfield for the perilous overflights of the USSR, carried out with the Lockheed U-2, and later with the Mach 3+ Lockheed SR-71. Actually, the latter landed here in one occasion, whereas the ill-fated mission of Francis Gary Powers, downed by Soviet SAMs while en-route north of Kazakhstan from Peshawar, Pakistan, had Bodø as a destination (see this post for pictures of the relic in Moscow).

The U-2 is displayed so that it is possible to both appreciate its slim shape and large wing span, and also get near to its cockpit. However, its installation and lighting inside the hall – and the fact that it is black… – make it a rather difficult target for photographs. Next to the aircraft, historical pictures and schemes tell about the mission of Francis Gary Powers. Interesting tables for the interpretation of photo intelligence are also on display.

Still in the Cold War part of the museum, a very unusual and interesting section is centered on the facilities and technical gear for the detection and monitoring of airspace intrusion, for early warning and for alerting the air defenses of the National airspace.

This secretive and little publicized branch of the military kept its ears and eyes constantly pointed on the moves of the colossal Soviet neighbor, recording every single movement – look for the super-interesting registry of USSR aircraft movements! – and constantly updating the situation, in order to be ready to counter a sudden ‘turn for the worst’, in case of an actual attack.

Interestingly, much of the electronics here is US made, as can be seen looking at the product tags.

The arsenal that could be employed to counter an air attack included the Nike-Ajax and later Nike-Hercules surface to air missiles, deployed along the border with the Eastern Bloc also in Denmark, Germany and Italy (see here and here).

Just to complete this incredible Cold War exhibition, an interesting and pretty unique air-dropped WE-177 nuclear bomb case is on display!

More modern addition to the aircraft collection include a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and some helicopters.

A latter interesting part of the military exhibition showcases an array of aircraft-mounted cannons from various ages, showing their precision and their effect on the same target. You can appreciate the effects of the technical evolution of these weapons.

Examples of air-launched missiles and sonobuoys, and a fine array of flight suits showing the evolution of their design, conclude this exceptional museum.

As a plus, the old control tower of the military air station has been turned into a panorama point, where you can watch air operation on the actual airport, and also listen to air traffic frequencies!

The gate guardians include a Bell helicopter and an old glorious Hawker Hurricane from WWII.

Visiting

The museum is located at Bodø airport, and can be spotted pretty easily when entering the town. Bodø can be included – or considered as a starting point – in many tours of Northern Norway. The museum offers a large and convenient parking. It can be toured in not less than 2 hours for aviation-minded people. The website is here.

Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection – Oslo-Gardermoen

Coherently with its name, this wonderful collection is focused on military aviation in Norway. Most aircraft having served in the RNoAF at some point in history are represented, as well as some from WWII – not only from the Allied side, but most notably some rare exemplars from the Third Reich.

A great feature of this museum is also the architecture of the display. Put in a U-shaped building to the southwest of Oslo-Gardermoen airport, the aircraft are in most cases sufficiently far from one another to allow moving around freely, getting an unobstructed view from different angles. Furthermore, the natural lighting from the top windows is ideal for pictures (similar to the solution adopted in the Estonian Aviation Museum, see here).

Late 20th century

The display starts with the Northrop F-5, which is represented by three exemplars, interspersed with a single example of a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon – currently in use with the RNoAF, to be replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The Freedom Fighter has been the backbone of the RNoAF for the latter years of the Cold War, being flanked and substituted by the Fighting Falcon, and now by the Lightning II.

The aircraft on display are two F-5 Freedom Fighter, i.e. the light fighter version – one in a distinctive tiger painting – and one RF-5 Tigereye, which has been developed from the original design into a capable photo reconnaissance aircraft.

Walking beneath the F-5 reveals many details, for instance the landing gear mechanism, the missile pylons and anchoring system, and JATO bottles for reducing the take-off distance.

A J85 jet engine – there were two for each F-5 – is on display, with the afterburner pipe mounted past the turbine exhaust. A choice of missiles and pods can be seen close to the ‘tiger painted’ exemplar. The latter can be boarded. The fully analog cockpit shows much standard instrumentation for flight control, navigation and engine management, but also an armament panel with weapons selection and activation switches. Also interesting are the parachute deployment lever, for the arresting parachute, or the underwing load jettison system.

The RF-4 reconnaissance aircraft features a nose camera, with a prominent lens which can be easily checked out. Similarly, the hatch of the port 20-mm cannon has been left open, showing the cannon body, barrel and the very neat ammo supply system.

Next to these aircraft are a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in a two-seats trainer configuration, and the front section of another exemplar with the original cockpit, which can be boarded. The J79 engine of the Starfighter, apparently originally from Canada judging from the Orenda labels on some components, has been taken out of the fuselage and can be appreciated in all its length (with the afterburner pipe to the back).

The cockpit of the Starfighter is cramped, with little legroom and a very limited front visibility. It is fully analog, similar to the F-5.

In a corner of the hall, an original simulator – apparently for an F-16 – has found a new collocation, possibly from a military aviation academy.

Early Cold War

The next part of the display offers the sight of a full array of fascinating, well-preserved aircraft from the early Cold War period. The first is a North American F-86 Sabre, with an attractive golden front intake decoration. Walking around and looking closely, many particular features can be spotted, including the leading edge slats. A ‘used’ Martin Baker ejection seat shows the little damage resulting from actual employment in case of emergency.

Next is an improved version of the Sabre (F-86K), which features a very different intake, such to accommodate in the bulbous nose a powerful radar antenna. The latter could work in conjunction with a computer, and offered a substantial help in increasing the offensive capability of this fighter, which could also be operated in all weather conditions.

A nice gem of the collection is an original portable cabinet for testing the General Electric J47 engine. This cabinet looks like a suitcase, but it could be positioned standing on its legs, linked with connectors to the on-board systems, and could show the working condition of the engine in a mounted configuration. The monitoring instrumentation is fully analog. It would make for a great item for collectors of Cold War technical gear!

Then follows an Republic F-84 Thunderjet early jet fighter, with its neat lines, wing tip tanks, and an under-fuselage spoiler in a deflected position.

Nearby, the rather different – despite the similar code – Republic RF-84F Thunderflash photo reconnaissance aircraft prominently displays its big-diameter optics in the nose.

The really elegant design of a Lockheed T-33 can be appreciated next. The air intakes are really works of art, and the bare metal color just adds to the vintage line of this early design.

Similarly graceful is the iconic De Havilland Vampire, the only British addition to this US-dominated aircraft display from the Cold War era. With its distinctive twin-boom tail, the typical De Havilland vertical fins dating back to the pre-WWII propeller-driven examples, the shrouded jet engine totally disappearing in the body of the aircraft, with small, fenced intakes on the leading edges of the wing, this aircraft looks like a really good balance between engineering-driven design choices and pure elegance.

WWII aircraft

A central section of the exhibition is centered on WWII-era aircraft, starting with two Supermarine Spitfire, one hanging from the ceiling, and one sitting on its wheels, in a greenish color and RNoAF emblems.

What follows is a pretty unique US-made aircraft, a Northrop N-3PB seaplane, ordered as a sea patrolling aircraft by Norway, but not reaching Scandinavia in time before the German invasion. It was then employed as a sea patrol from Iceland by the Norwegian forces in exile. Possibly looking not so conspicuous in pictures, it is a rather massive bird. It shows an interesting floatplane design, where floats are anchored to the wings through aerodynamically profiled struts, so as to reduce drag as much as possible.

Walking around it, you can notice the relatively light weaponry hanging from the fuselage bottom, the down-firing back cannon for defense, and the detachable wheels to pull the aircraft ashore.

Then a very rare bird follows – a German Heinkel He-111 bomber from WWII! Restored in a mint-looking condition, this aircraft makes for a unique sight in the panorama of aviation collections.

This iconic aircraft from the Third Reich, much known to aviation-minded people especially in connection with the early landslide campaigns of the Third Reich in Europe and for the Battle of Britain, can be examined from very close and beneath, unveiling some interesting peculiar features. For example, the bomb bay features vertical square-section separated ‘blisters’, a totally different solution with respect to larger US bombers from the age.

The underbelly shooting pod allowed the cannon operator to ‘rest’ in a laid down position. The front cannon is clearly asymmetrically placed with respect to the aircraft centerline, following a side curvature of the nose cone such to increase pilot’s visibility.

Close by is another incredibly well-preserved addition from the Third Reich’s Luftwaffe, a Junkers Ju-52 transport in fashionable military colors.

The Ju-52 and He-111 were the main characters involved in the blitzkrieg attack to Oslo-Fornebu, the now bygone airport of central Oslo, which was the stage of a massive air-launched German attack in April 1940, a substantial contribution and a prelude to the complete invasion of Norway. Both aircraft are surrounded by a set of accessories from the time, including searchlights, fuel tanks, spare parts, anti-aircraft guns and even service trolleys with skis to be used on snowy aprons! The ensemble is really quite a sight.

From roughly the same age is also a perfectly preserved Douglas C-47 Skytrain – a true war veteran! Preserved in the colors of the RNoAF, it was originally incorporated in the USAAF and employed in action in Europe since mid-1944. It flew during the Berlin Airlift, operating in and out West Berlin transporting goods during Stalin’s blockade of the town in 1948-49 (see this chapter). It later joined the RNoAF and was employed for radar tuning and for transport until the mid-1970s.

The color scheme of the RNoAF looks great on this C-47, and the presentation among some airport service vehicles from the time adds to the display.

Further recent aircraft

Approaching the extremity of the U-shaped building, you can find a De Havilland Twin Otter with skis, some classic helicopters, some aircraft undergoing restoration – including substantial remains of a Junkers Ju-88 bomber from the Third Reich! – and a massive Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

The latter is possibly the aircraft in the collection having been retired most recently. It has been deprived of its vertical fin, which simply couldn’t fit inside the building, but the rest is almost complete. The engine pods are opened, so that you can see inside. An array of JATO bottles to enhance take-off performance has been anchored to the side of the fuselage.

The aircraft is on display with the back and side doors opened, so that boarding its preserved interior and cockpit is indeed possible.

Inside the cockpit, chance is you meet a living legend, the flight engineer of the RNoAF Mons Nygård, who will explain you the features and operations of his aircraft! The man joined the Armed Forces in the late 1950s until the 1990s, with a military career spanning a big part of the Cold War. He flew extensively the Hercules, as well as other aircraft including the Lockheed P-3 Orion, logging a staggering  more-than-17’000 hours in flight!

We could interview him about his career, which unfolded several nice anecdotes and memories from the Cold War years, and a real passion for his super-reliable aircraft and for his job. It’s no wonder the Hercules, being designed in the 1950s, is still in service with many Armed Forces of the world.

Anti-aircraft defense system

Finally, the exhibition includes Nike-Ajax and Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missiles (SAM). Installed in batteries against an attack from the USSR also in Norway (see for instance this preserved battery in Italy, this in Denmark, or this ghost one in former Federal Germany), these nuclear-capable massive missiles were in service typically between the 1950s and the early 1980s, becoming by then obsolete.

Of great interest for technically-minded people are some of the inside components of these missiles, including components of the guidance system and some electronics, which can be seen in display cases, as well as technical vehicles for launch control, radar operation etc.

Other lighter anti-aircraft weapons from the Cold War era are displayed nearby, thus covering also this interesting subject in good detail.

Balcony

The visit may be concluded with a walk along the inside balcony, from which a good view of all the aircraft just mentioned is obtained.

On the same balcony, you can find also many trainers once used for teaching young pilots the basics of flight. Some are classic models belonging to the era of Little Norway and WWII, when training for freshly recruited pilots was carried out in Ontario, Canada.

The gate guardians for this beautiful collection are an F-5 and an F-104, the latter in the greenish colorway seen also in the collection in Bodø.

Visiting

This fantastic collection can be found in the southwestern corner of the premises of Oslo-Gardermoen airport, the main airport serving the Norwegian capital city.

The museum is administrated by the Armed Forces.

Visiting for the aircraft enthusiast may be very rewarding and may take more than 2 hours, since the exceptional state of preservation of the artifacts and the many details you can explore through a walk around very close to the aircraft invite to spend time inside. You have also chance to speak with former military crew, which adds much to the experience. Very good photo opportunities for an indoor collection.

Large free parking ahead of the entrance, with picnic facilities. Nice model shop by the ticket office.

The museum is normally open on weekends, but further visits may be scheduled out of these opening slot. Please check the info on their website here.

The New Life of a Soviet Base in Germany – Ribnitz-Damgarten

Most Soviet bases in the former territory of the German Democratic Republic met with oblivion following the departure of their Red Army tenants back to mainland Russia, in the early 1990s.

Most locations – including full scale airbases (see here, here or here), infantry academies and shooting ranges (see here) and nuclear warhead bunkers (see here) – have been returned to nature, demolished or converted into something else. Much on this website documents this hidden part of the Cold War heritage in Germany.

However, there exist exceptions, like the airbase of Grossenhain with its preserved Granit-type bunker (see here), or the central Soviet headquarters of Wünsdorf (see here).

Another notable exception is that of the former Third Reich, and later Soviet, airbase of Ribnitz-Damgarten. Following an exploration in a day of closure in 2016 (documented here), the site was visited again legit, this time accessing the unique Museum of Technology of Pütnitz. The museum collection is very nice in itself, covering both civil and military vehicles from the DDR age, as well as heavy Soviet military vehicles, and even a few boats and aircraft from the Eastern bloc.

The museum is hosted in a complex of hangars dating from the years of the Third Reich, when the airbase of Ribnitz was active for experimenting with seaplanes, and busy with a facility of the Heinkel aircraft manufacturing company. These concrete hangars are still standing today, undoubtedly an example of German engineering excellence.

The Soviets made good use of this facility, and Ribnitz-Damgarten became a very active base on the Baltic coast for the full span of the Cold War – until the withdrawal of the then-Russian troops, who used this airport as the springboard for their final hop to their new home in Russia.

A further reason to pay a visit to Ribnitz-Damgarten is the chance to assist to the one-of-a-kind reunion and live exhibition of preserved vehicles from the Soviet bloc. Held in the summer, this ‘Treffen’ (i.e. reunion) is really worth the effort of setting up a trip, even when visiting from abroad. It is a multi-day event, and possibly the largest meeting of aficionados of cars, motorcycles and trucks from the communist world, with the chance to see all this good old technology at work, i.e. spitting and thick-smoking, all around the base. Chance is that you will drive on the original Soviet runway to reach the event parking!

Besides this yearly event, the museum offers live demonstrations of military vehicles on a more regular schedule.

The present post and photographs cover a visit to the Technology Museum of Pütnitz in occasion of the reunion of Eastern Europe vehicles held in late August 2021.

Sights

Museum of Technology of Pütnitz

The museum of Pütnitz has taken over the hangars of the old Third Reich base to the west of the airfield of Ribnitz-Damgarten. These hangars are pretty interesting from an architectural standpoint. By using large and curved concrete frames, the inside volume is extremely big for the time. As a matter of fact, they were kept in use for decades, since they could match the size of larger aircraft and vehicles of the Cold War.

These hangars are just a handful, but complemented by smaller (regular size…) hangars they provide for a very large display area, wisely adopted by the museum for its exhibits.

One of the hangars is dedicated to the NVA, i.e. of the Armed Forces of the former GDR. Among the many artifacts on display, are a MiG-21 fighter, the skeleton of an Antonov An-2 transport, and a Mil-8 helicopter. The latter has been placed in a suspended position, with a mechanism to rotate its rotors!

In the same hangar you can find a pretty extensive collection of light armored vehicles, technical amphibious vehicles as well as full-scale tanks formerly in use with the NVA in different stages of the Cold War.

A smaller area is dedicated to a display of NVA uniforms, GDR emblems and medals, uniforms of youth organizations within the GDR, as well as detailed scale models of war material in the arsenal of the USSR or the GDR over the years.

A second smaller hangar hosts trucks of Soviet make, formerly used by – presumably – the NVA. Some are especially interesting, since they were used as missile transports, and are on display with their original trailers and… payload! Also trucks transporting Soviet-made radar antennas, for air target capture or anti-aircraft missile guidance, are on display.

To the back of the same hangar, a super-interesting collection of material connected with nuclear warfare is on display. In particular, field instrumentation for measuring radiation levels, dosimeters, anti-radiation suits and masks, specific medical kits are part of this rich and uncommon exhibition.

Some of the measurement equipment is still working, with old-fashioned, low-light electronic displays still lit – really an evoking sight from the Cold War era!

Yet in another hangar, a huge collection of GDR cars and motorcycles is on display. Most of these now vintage cars and vehicles used to be a rather common sight in the GDR. The now iconic Trabant was a product of the GDR. However, many other car manufacturers existed in the Eastern Bloc, and in the USSR as well, and their products were often exported to other Countries in the bloc.

Stately cars for the top-ranking communist leadership were usually Soviet-made. You can find a small gallery of these Cold War icons in a corner of the same hangar, ahead of giant portraits of the SED (the ruling party of the GDR) leaders – Ulbricht, Honecker, Krenz.

To the back of the hangar, classic motorcycles from the Eastern Bloc are on display. They include MZ motorcycles in use with the Völkspolizei, the police of the GDR. A sizable collection of cameras is also on display.

In the same hangar are a reconstruction of a gas station, as well as a crop-dusting propeller aircraft.

Notably, you can spot fading writings in Russian on the walls of this hangar, an heritage of the Soviet tenancy of the airbase.

Some museum items are on display outside. Some of the military vehicles in the collection are still in working conditions. Live demonstrations of tanks and armored transports are regularly planned, and make for a nice sight and a thrilling experience!

Soviet Relics

Despite having being taken over by the museum and other commercial activities, the premises of the old Soviet airbase of Ribnitz-Damgarten betray the long decades of Soviet use. Besides the relics you can find scattered around in the airfield (see here for a previous exploration), very close to the museum hangars you can spot several technical buildings belonging to the base, and now basically abandoned.

On the side facade of one of those, a colossal Soviet emblem can still be seen, albeit now fading.

Signs written in Russian can be spotted here and there, as well as an original, very interesting full scheme of the base (in Russian too), a typical sight in any Soviet base.

Now-rotting buildings for the base staff can be found emerging from the overgrown vegetation to the north of the hangars.

Finally, the runway is still in a good shape, albeit cut to the east to make room to yet another solar power plant – with a really questionable function, considering the rainy weather physiologically insisting on the region most of the year. The original centerline and other markings can be clearly seen still today.

The airport is closed, but since the runway has not been taken away, perhaps some hope remains for a future with at least general aviation activities, like in Rechlin or Finow.

International Reunion of Vehicles of the Eastern Bloc

Perhaps among the busiest days of the museum in Pütnitz, those of the ‘Internationales Ostblock-Fahrzeugtreffen’ (which translates into the title of this paragraph) make for one of the most exciting occasions for a visit. Usually taking three days, this colossal reunion hosts roughly 2.000 vehicles, from cars to trucks, from farm tractors to motorcycles, from side-cars to firefighting vehicles, and from 4×4 military transports to camping trailers – all made on the communist side of the Iron Curtain!

The reunion is international, and many come from beyond the near border with Poland. In 2021 the reunion hit its 20th edition.

All vehicles are parked in virtually any lot of flat land between and around the hangars of the museum, including the original taxiways and any grassy areas around.

Furthermore, besides some official movements and parade, you will see vehicles moving around at any time, with their very characteristic good old piston engine crackling sound, as well as much spitting and thick-smoking!

Besides the countless Trabants, built in several different versions you will come to discover, chance is to see massive Soviet GAZ military trucks, or even Hungary-built Ikarus buses!

The ‘Treffen’ of 2021 was especially unlucky with the weather, which on the plus side allowed many vehicles to show their all-weather capability!

To better appreciate the noise and smoke, have a look to these three videos!

Visiting

The Museum of Technology in Pütnitz allows you to access the otherwise inaccessible base of Ribnitz-Damgarten. Access is recommended by car. The entrance is to the northeast of the airfield, through the original gate of the airbase. The museum has a website here.

Visiting in normal conditions, i.e. out of any special event, may take about 1 hour, more for a piston-power-minded subject, or for military/vehicles enthusiasts. In occasion of the vehicle reunion, planning a half-day visit at least is recommended, since the display of vehicles is really huge and worth a careful glance. A talk with many nice owners and enthusiasts may be a further plus in this occasion.

Warbirds in Texas

The immense state of Texas is in the foreground of the panorama of historical aviation, thanks especially to the CAF – the Commemorative Air Force (website here) – which maintains and operates some of the Nation’s finest airworthy warbirds. This privately financed, non-profit organization feeds the programs of many airshows everywhere in the US, and carries out an invaluable function in preserving the legacy of many aircraft designers, manufacturers and military servicemen especially from WWII and early Cold War years.

The birth of the CAF in Texas is not just by chance. The Lone Star State bolsters an extremely long and rich tradition in aviation. Training airfields were established in Texas earlier and in a number greater than any other State during WWI. Fort Worth was the birthplace of one of todays few surviving major airlines in the US – American Airlines – back in the early 1930s.

Aircraft manufacturers associated with Texas include Consolidated – most of the iconic WWII B-24 Liberator bombers  were manufactured in Fort Worth – and North American. Consolidated later merged into Convair, owned by General Dynamics since the Fifties. Many aircraft of the Cold War era were actually manufactured in Fort Worth, including the record-breaking B-36 Peacemaker and B-58 Hustler, or the highly successful F-16 Fighting Falcon, still in service today in many air forces of the world, as well as a good deal of other types. As of today, Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopters are both headquartered in Fort Worth.

Needless to recall, Houston has been one of the major focal points of world astronautics since the beginning of the space age.

In such a cultural setting, and considering the general financial wealth and the abundance of oil typical of Texas, it is not surprising that warbirds, even though fuel-thirsty and expensive to maintain, are present here in an exceptional concentration. Where possible, they are maintained in airworthy conditions, otherwise they are kept in great consideration in world-class air museums.

This post covers only four rich collections out of the many you can find in Texas. Two of them are ‘airworthy collections’, whereas in the other two warbirds are preserved for static display. Considered together, these four sites are probably already a good reason for an aviation-themed trip to Texas!

Photographs are from an extremely hot August 2018.

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Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Addison, TX

This renowned collection just west of downtown Dallas is split between a big group of exceptionally well-kept and airworthy prop-driven aircraft, and a number of warbirds on static display, some of them jet-powered. Website here.

The museum occupies a few hangars on a very busy general aviation airport (Addison Airport), where executive jets, helicopters and smaller propeller-driven aircraft operate all around the clock. 

The collection is hosted in four hangars and on an external apron where you can walk around freely. Not all aircraft are around here at any time, some having been flown out to some airshow, or for maintenance. In the first hangar you can find a handful of perfect airworthy replicas of WWI fighters from both sides of the front line.

Just besides are a North American B-25J-NC Mitchell, a ground strafing version of the famous medium-range bomber, and a veteran of WWII.

There are also a Vultee SNV-2 Valiant, a De Havilland Tiger Moth, a Ryan PT-22, all training planes from the Forties. In a corner you can see also a Piper L-4J, the military version of the J-3 Cub, and a Stinson L-5E, similar to the former in shape and mission type.

A Pitts Special aerobatic biplane is hanging from the ceiling in an inverted attitude.

The second hangar hosts a Fairchild PT-19 Cornell, an ubiquitous US military trainer from the Forties, in a distinctive light blue colorway with a yellow fin. Together with a yellow Stearman N2S-4 Kaydet biplane and a North American T-6 Texan, both good old trainers, they share the scene with a handful of stunningly preserved icons from WWII.

These include a Grumman F-4 Wildcat and a massive Grumman TBF Avenger – both in the dark blue colorway of the US Navy. 

Just besides are a licensed version of the Messerschmitt Bf-109G of Nazi Germany built by Hispano Aircraft in Spain, and a nice replica of a Soviet Yakovlev Yak-3M.

Cross the apron, you can find some more great classics from the Forties. There are an immaculate Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and two North American T-28 Trojan trainers in the colors of the Navy. In the background you can spot a sizable Heinkel He-111 twin, a licensed version manufactured by CASA in Spain.

The last hangar shelters an aggressive Douglas A-1H Skyraider in the colors of the USAF. This version of the massive single-prop features a single seat and is especially reinforced for increased bomb load to carry on ground attack missions.

This is surrounded by a series of pretty famous jet attack aircraft, including a McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II, a North American F-86 Sabre and a Grumman F-9F-2B Panther with foldable wings and the distinctive blue and red colors of the Navy. 

There are also two classic fighters from WWII, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIII and a North American P-51D Mustang. The latter is so polished that you can clearly see your image reflected in its skin panels!

On the outside apron you can see parked three Soviet-made jets from WWII – a MiG-15 UTI and a MiG-17 in the colors of the Red Army, and a more recent MiG-21 in the colors of the North Vietnamese Air Force. Close by, a PZL Iskra trainer, once ubiquitous in the former Soviet bloc.

There are also a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter, a Grumman S-2F-1 Tracker patrol aircraft of the Navy with folded wings, a Republic F-105 Thunderchief awaiting restoration, and a Vought A-7 Corsair II.

Scattered around the museum are also a few helicopters, and even a Sherman tank.

During my visit I could see two movements of aircraft taxiing out for take-off. The first was a Cessna O-2 Skymaster, a model extensively used in Vietnam for FAC missions. This has been refurbished with fake underwing rockets. You can see it in the vid below.

The second was a Douglas EA-1E Skyraider in gray Navy colors. This is the early warning version, designed for a crew of three and originally mounting a dedicated radar platform. You can watch (and hear!) the difficult startup of the huge Wright radial engine – it was around 100°F outside! –  and the aircraft taxiing with folded wings. Unfolding starts only seconds before the aircraft gets out of sight.

Forth Worth Aviation Museum, Fort Worth, TX

This museum hosts a little but highly valuable collection of US aircraft on static display. The museum is totally volunteer-run. These folks are doing an exceptional job preserving their aircraft. As you can see from the pictures, there are many exemplars being actively refurbished in a hangar to the back. The museum is located on the southeast corner of Fort Worth Meacham general aviation airport. Website here.

All aircraft are preserved outside, but you get access to the museum grounds through a lounge, stacked with wonderful memorabilia, technical specimens, paintings and rare pictures.

A showcase is devoted to the Convair B-58 Hustler, a record-setting Mach 2 bomber from the Fifties, produced in slightly more than 100 exemplars, which were all manufactured in Fort Worth. This iconic delta wing, four-engined jet was exceptional for the number of ‘firsts’. Among them, it was the first aircraft with a computerized flight control system and an integrated navigation platform. You can spot part of this analog computer, a bulky stack of black metal parts.

There are scale models of the Cessna O-2 Skymaster, and based on the themes of the merchandise in the museum shop there is actually a predilection for that aircraft and the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, which had a similar mission, i.e. observation, reconnaissance and forward air controller (FAC).

Actually, among the first aircraft you meet outside there is a Cessna Skymaster. I was so lucky to visit on August 19th, the National Aviation Day, when the museum recruited many veterans to stay besides their respective aircraft and tell their story. I spent a little time with Doc Lambert, Nail 66, one of the pilots of FAC missions over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, who allowed me to have a long look inside his Skymaster. Among the testimonies of his war operations, he told me some anecdotes. Most FAC missions were performed with only the pilot on board, which caused a pretty high workload. Furthermore, the aircraft was not equipped to counteract any weapon shooting up from the ground. This meant that a typical flight was an uninterrupted sequence of strong turns to avoid being hit from ground fire, something that also helped in searching for grounded crews, or enemies hiding in the jungle. As a result, you had to be accustomed to such way of flying, or a strong sense of nausea would come to disturb you pretty soon. This regularly happened with visiting high-ranking USAF staff on demonstration flights…

The museum owns another Skymaster, which was undergoing refurbishment in a black livery at the time of my visit, similarly to an operational USMC version of the OV-10 Bronco.

Best preserved aircraft on the front row, which are clearly visible from the public road ahead of the museum, include a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star training aircraft, and a Northrop F-5 Tiger II in a fake Soviet camouflage once used by aggressors in flight academies.

On the same row you can spot a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, a type in service since the early Sixties, and shown here painted in the colors of the Navy. The beautifully restored Vought A-7B Corsair II nearby was deployed to Vietnam three times with VA-25 on board USS Ticonderoga and USS Ranger.

Next is a massive Republic F-105D Thunderchief, a very nice example of this Mach 2 fighter-bomber from the early Sixties. This very aircraft was stationed in Europe, tasked with carrying tactical nuclear ordnance. The roomy bomb bay designed for the scope can be observed from inside. After more than ten years in the USAF, this aircraft went on to serve with the Air National Guard in the Seventies, and was finally disposed of in 1983.

Right besides the F-105 you find a McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II in the colors of the USMC Aviation. This very aircraft is a Vietnam veteran, and it was later converted into a target drone, but luckily never used in this role. The collection features another F-4, again a Vietnam veteran.

Cutting edge technology from the late Seventies is represented by a Grumman F-14D Tomcat. This plane is a war veteran, it flew missions during Desert Storm and over Afghanistan, and it was often used on FAC missions and for training at home. It was retired in 2007.

The Tomcat is sitting next to an imposing Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter. This too is a Vietnam veteran, and suffered also some damage on combat duty. The avionics of this big helicopter are totally analog. Next to it you can find a Convair TF-102 Delta Dagger interceptor built for combat and training. This very aircraft was flown by President George W. Bush.

Other training aircraft on display from different ages include a Vultee BT-13 Valiant single-prop, a Cessna T-37B Tweet and a Douglas TA-4 Skyhawk. The latter was used extensively for training purposes on board USS Lexington.

Two totally authentic Navy veterans are a Vought F-8 Crusader and a McDonnell-Douglas F/A 18 Hornet. The first spent its early career on board USS Lexington and USS Ranger in multiple cruises in the Western Pacific during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, being later assigned to several Naval Air Stations along its more than 20 years long career. The Hornet was deployed operationally from the late Eighties on board USS Midway and later on USS Independence, and spent its final years in the Blue Angels – of which you see the vivid livery today – being finally retired in 2009.

A special feature of this museum is the only existing mock-up of the McDonnell-Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 Avenger II. Development of this attack aircraft was carried on in the Eighties and finally canceled by the Government. The flying wing configuration and the widespread adoption of composite materials made this platform unique, but also ahead of its times. This design was penalized by subsequent mass increases which caused its cancellation, but it represented a first chance to investigate concepts and technologies later adopted for operational aircraft flying today. The mock-up used to reside in the Fort Worth plant of General Dynamics, from where it made its way to the museum.

Other Cold War planes include a General Dynamics F-111E Aardvark, built in Fort Worth and assigned to Japan and Europe along its long operational career spanning the years 1969-90, and a Rockwell OV-10 Bronco formerly in service with the USAF.

Lone Star Flight Museum, Houston, TX

This stunning museum is located on the premises of the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. The installation is centered on a collection of mainly airworthy warbirds and classic planes.. It is really top quality, surely among the best displays of the kind in the Nation. Besides that, they offer a well-designed, recently-made, fresh presentation of the history of aviation in Texas, as well as didactic labs explaining the principles of flight through experiments and simulators. You can find their website here.

There are also meeting rooms and galleries for art exhibitions. Really a place to be for enthusiasts of ‘flying oldies’!

The collection is not huge, but it boasts a good number of notable aircraft still flying today. In the first hangar you can find many iconic designs from the Thirties and Forties. There are a North American T-6 Texan and two beautiful Stearman PT-17 Kaydet trainers. 

A centerpiece of the collection is an extraordinary Republic P-47 Thunderbolt – the fastest propeller driven aircraft ever – in a majestic colorway from WWII years.

At the center of the hangar, much room is taken by an airworthy example of the mighty Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Together with a few other models, this formed the backbone of the US bombing capacity during WWII. Stunningly restored, this aircraft can be booked for pleasure flights!

Further aircraft on display in this hangar are a Piper L-4H, its civil counterpart, the J-3 Cub, and a similarly looking Stinson OY-1 Sentinel in military colors. 

A true rarity is a stylish Beechcraft D-17 ‘Staggerwing’. This aircraft was conceived in the Thirties as one of the first ‘executive aircraft’, with good handling capabilities, and nice interiors to provide good comfort on board. Despite all efforts, visibility from the front windscreen is probably not very good…

A Grumman F-6F Hellcat, an authentic warbird from WWII, painted in the colors of the Navy, a Fairchild trainer and an ubiquitous general aviation Beechcraft Baron complete the exhibition in the first hangar.

The second hangar hosts both prop-driven and jet-driven aircraft, most of them airworthy or otherwise being restored. The most classic designs in this room are a North American B-25 Mitchell medium-range bomber, a Douglas DC-3, a Douglas SBD Dauntless and a Grumman TBM Avenger.

Interestingly, the Mitchell is the only in the world painted in the colors of the Doolittle Raiders. This very aircraft did not see action during WWII, but later being flown by the CIA on covert missions, it was involved in JFK’s failed attempt to invade Cuba, overflying the Bay of Pigs in the days of operations.

The DC-3 flew extensively with American Airlines and later TransTexas Airways – later to be ingested by Continental, hence the livery – and is still airworthy today. Both the SBD and TBM on display are from WWII days, and are still flying today after restoration work.

While possibly disappearing in front of its illustrious colleagues in this hangar, an honest Cessna T-41 Mescalero represents here the training branch of the armed forces. This is basically the military version of the C-172, probably the aircraft manufactured in the highest numbers in history, and a platform where pilots of all sorts spend part of their training still today. The colors are very nice, and this aircraft is the cheapest you can rent for a ride at the Lone Star Flight Museum.

In the same hangar you can find also (slightly) more modern aircraft. There are three jet-powered aircraft from the early Cold War period. One is a Lockheed T-33A trainer, a very successful aircraft sold in high numbers in the late Forties. More impressing is an authentic Soviet MiG-15, which spent its years in service with the Chinese Air Force and saw action in Korea, opposing the F-86A in the first jet vs. jet campaign in history.

A Polish-built MiG-17 in an incredible ‘Red Banner’ celebration colorway completes the trio.

Close to the exit you can find a beautifully restored Douglas A-1D Skyraider. This aircraft is airworthy, and is an authentic veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam war, where it reportedly sustained extensive damage but was not shot down.

There are also a Sikorsky helicopter used for commuting to oil platforms off the coast of Texas, and a Cobra attack helicopter.

Outside, as a gate guardian on one of the access roads leading to the base, you can spot a NASA Boeing 707 used for zero-gravity flights on behalf of Johnson Space Center.

USS Lexington, Corpus Christi, TX

‘Lady Lex’ – as it was affectionately called by its crews along its illustrious career – is an Essex class WWII aircraft carrier, and with 40 years of active service is by far the one that enjoyed the longest service life. Since the late Sixties it operated as a training platform, where many pilots of the Navy learned how to perform a carrier landing. 

Today this majestic vessel is permanently moored on the bay of Corpus Christi, where it is home to a fascinating history museum covering her long operational history. The corresponding website is here.

Highlights of the visit are first of all the ship’s bridge, from where you can also profit from a vantage view of the flight deck and of the bay – and of the thunderstorms afflicting the area in mid-August, of course.

Similarly interesting are the lower deck where aircraft used to be stored. This is huge, and some historic aircraft can be found here as part of a number of small exhibitions.

The forward compartments recall the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941, and display also some artifacts from the time, including pieces of the ill-fated battleship Arizona, and a banner belonging to the older CV-2 Lexington – CV-16 being the number of this vessel in Navy inventory.

An unusual topic is movies – some great scenes of ‘Pearl Harbor’ Hollywood drama starring Ben Affleck and Alec Baldwin were shot on USS Lexington, including an apparently genuine take-off of a B-25 from the flight deck! Other motion pictures partly shot on board Lexington are ‘Midway’ and the series ‘War and remembrance’.

Part of the quarters of high-ranking staff can be visited, including a canteen. These were typically used only when the ship was moored. 

Interestingly, it is possible to walk along the side decks of the ship, where anti-aircraft guns can be found and closely inspected.

Finally, the flight deck hosts a number of aircraft, representing many types in service with the Navy, most of which found their way on the modernized flight deck of this old carrier, during combat assignment or on duty as a training vessel. Being exposed to a salty atmosphere and to the intense sun of the Texan coast, these aircraft have been somewhat coated, which gives them a ‘mock-up appearance’, but this is just an impression, for these aircraft are real and on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation.

The aircraft to the stern of the ship are all pretty classic, and represent types which were actually flown from USS Lexington. They include the Douglas TA-4 Skyhawk trainer, the early Cold War Grumman F9F-8T Cougar fighter jet and the loosely similar McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee. This was designed as a fighter, but it was selected to cover primarily the reconnaissance role.

A workhorse which saw combat in Vietnam and all down to the First Gulf War is the Grumman A-6 Intruder, a tactical bomber with good penetration and low-level attack qualities. Differently from the Grumman F-14 Tomcat nearby to the bow of the ship, the Intruder could be operated from the relatively small deck USS Lexington.

The Vought A-7 Corsair II attack aircraft and the North American T-2C Buckeye trainer both saw action from the deck of the Lady Lex. The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is possibly the heaviest type to be operated from Navy carriers on a regular basis, and it is here represented by a tanker version in a blue colorway. Also this type was actually operated from the Lexington.