On Saturday morning many new guests arrived. I saw aircraft from the UK, Denmark, Germany, and of course many from Sweden that came to Säve to celebrate this remarkable anniversary.
Göteborg flying club is the oldest in Sweden, and one of the oldest in Europe. In the beginning it was just a lobbying organisation of aviation enthusiasts, but with grand visions. An aeroplane at that time was a very new invention – it was only 15 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight!
The club got its first aircraft in 1931. It was an Avro Avian with the call sign SE-ACP. The aircraft was bought in the UK, and was named “Göteborg”, but instead was called “Mackerel” (Swedish: Makrillen). Today it is not known why…
The training of first pilots began. In 1931, 102 hours of flight training were registered, for 95 members.
In 1930 one hour of flight training costed 75 SEK. In today’s money it is approx. 1977 SEK.
(source: Aeroclub in Göteborg, anniversary magazine)
We stopped by this classic MFI-9, and had a chat with its owner:
A beautiful female pilot I met there. And … she is also a flight instructor!
Lots of activities were organized in Säve. Guests had an opportunity to go on a sightseeing tour in a military helicopter, driven by a car:
Or why not go for a ride in an old fire engine vehicle?
SAR helicopter demonstrated a rescue operation:
Static display was also compelling. With Rolf in front of my dream aircraft:
There were many interesting things to do and see, like this vintage Volvo:
We visited Aeroseum which is an aviation experience centre in what used to be an underground hangar dating from the Cold War. The Aeroseum is a completely unique experience, like nowhere else in Europe.
The hangar is 27 metres underground, with 22 000 m2 of exhibition space.
SAAB J 29F Tunnan (The Flying Barrel). 661 of them were produced – the greatest number of any Swedish military aircraft. It was the first western European swept-wing aircraft, a design partly based on German WWII research. Despite the aircraft’s round shape it was fast and agile.
Some of the exhibited aircraft had an interesting story behind, like De Havilland DH 60 G Moth Major below.
This Moth Major was owned and flown by Gösta Fraenkel from Göteborg. He obtained his flying certificate when he was 47 years young and was given this aircraft by his mother on his 50th birthday. He enjoyed using this aircraft for 25 years before retiring. In the 40’s Gösta Fraenkel regularly flew with whooping cough patients whose symptoms were relieved at higher altitudes.
And this is just a corner of Aeroseum with beautiful restored aircraft:
After Aeroseum we returned to the airfield. With Joakim in front of another dream of mine:
Pipistrel’s pilot did a superb aerobatics airshow:
We were amazed by his skills, and came to say thanks after he landed. Here he is, doing paperwork after the flight:
There were many other awesome things to experience, it is simply impossible to describe everything from that day. It was time to go home. Rolf and Joakim on apron, in front of “Säve flygplads” building:
The tour back home was breathtaking, and I decided to dedicate a special blog post to it.