It was a cold and beautiful morning when I arrived to my home flying club. The sun was about to rise, and the airfield was covered in a heavenly sparkling rime:
Soon Peter, a friend from the association of Danish Aviators, arrived. We pulled the aircraft out, and prepared it for the flight. Our tour was going to Ängelholm, a town on the west coast of the Swedish county Skåne, where we were going to visit the Ängelholm flygmuseum (English: Flight Museum).
The crispy and chilly Arctic air brought very nice weather (it was otherwise raining in November every single day).
In some places along the cold front, relatively small cumulonimbus clouds, like the one on the photo below, transformed themselves into powerful showers of supercooled rain. We were happy, our destination wasn’t Landskrona that day.
In Sweden, it was a little bit more cold, but very sunny. The day before there was snowfall, and we were advised by the tower that half of the runway was covered in rime. Ground services were busy clearing aprons, runway, and gate areas.
We got a very warm welcome, and headed straight to the museum. The Ängelholm flygmuseum is located inside Valhalla Park which was a home to the Fighter Wing F10 during 1945-2002. The streets in the area are called after the famous Swedish fighters, like Tunnanvägen, or Drakenvägen.
After the decommissioning of the Fighter Wing in 2003, the F10 Comrade Association took the initiative to establish a flight museum that was open in 2004. The museum is run on a voluntary basis, with entrance fees as a main source of income. The museum has around 20,000 visitors a year, and is awarded a cultural prize. The Comrade Association holds approximately 2,000 members.
Before going in, Peter and I wanted to see the Bloodhound surface-to-air missile exhibited outside:
The Bristol Bloodhound Mk. II squadron stood down in Sweden in July 1978.
In the museum, we began from reading about Elsa Andersson, the first Swedish female aviator, who was born to a poor farmer family, grew up and flew in the Ängelholm area:
Elsa Andersson wanted to become a paratrooper, but was refused to get trained in Sweden. She attended a parachuting school in Berlin, where the course included theoretical education and two jumps. Elsa Andersson did her first show jump (and the third ever) in 1921 outside Kristianstad. In 1922 she made her fifth jump, and crashed in front of several thousand spectators, because the parachute didn’t develop immediately. She instantly died on impact… The Royal Swedish Aeroclub erected a memorial stone on the crash site in 1926.
We continued through the museum directly to flight simulators.
And what a nice surprise awaited us! Ulrik, a pilot from Höganäs (ESMH), was there on his volunteer work! Actually, it was Ulrik who told me about the museum some time ago, and recommended visiting it! Ulrik (left) guiding Peter (right):
Peter later took this photo of Ulrik and me in front of the Draken J35, I “flew” on the simulator:
I was great fun – I wanted to do a round over Kullaberg, like I used to in an ultralight, but missed it because I “flew” Draken too fast. I did some aerobatics, and flew head down, which Ulrik wasn’t that fond of! With his help, I “landed” in Kastrup – the aircraft was saved!
We chose a lighter version of the simulator in order to have more time to see the exhibition, but there also was a real Draken simulator, as used in the Swedish Air Force. A former Draken flight instructor ensures unforgettable experience, and both Peter and I agreed we’ll go for that one next time:
J 29F Tunnan (below right) and a Volvo (left) from 1954 that was used as a starter for Tunnan. Tunnan was unofficially called “The flying barrel”, and was the Swedish equivalent of MIG15. The Tunnan served with F10 during 1953-1966.
J 35 Draken’ engine (weight 1,800 kg!):
FFVS J22 on the photo below, that in 1943 was claimed to be the world’s fastest compared to engine power:
It was a lightweight construction of steel and wood designed by Bo Lundberg. In total, 198 J22 fighters served in the Swedish Air Force during 1943-1950, 79 of them at F10 during 1945-1950.
The remains of a Swedish built Twin Wasp engine that ones powered a J22 fighter from the F10 Wing:
It was buried for many years in a marshland in North Sweden, after the crash in August 21, 1945, when the aircraft went into a spin. The pilot jumped out with a parachute, and survived.
By the side of a wheel from a Lancaster that crashed in Skåne during the WWII:
The museum wasn’t big, but we felt we didn’t have the time to see everything, so exciting it was to explore it. There was also a shop with many interesting aviation related books and merchandise, and a cafe with cold and hot drinks, and traditional Swedish kanelbullar (cinnamon rolls that I like so much) which Peter and I enjoyed having a break.
We left Ängelholm, and headed for Denmark:
The sun was shining, and we decided to fly till the sunset.
A reflection of the sunlight on a propeller blade, caught on camera over the Holbæk Fjord:
We flew around, took pictures, and at some point were advised by COIF that we had a traffic behind us. It turned out, it was an aircraft from my home club, with Thore and Lennart onboard. We waived to each other – it is always a pleasure to meet fellow pilots in the air.
Magnificent sunset from air, before turning back home:
And we landed in EKML during the civil twilight. I drew the white stippled line on the photo below as an indication of the centerline of our runway of 280 metres:
Peter and I had a very good time together on this trip, and loved the museum. It is a perfect destination for a day trip, and we talked about visiting it again maybe during spring when the days are longer, and spending more time there.
