Updated 2006-07-16
Because we don't have too many foreign visitors we will not provide a fully translated site.
Read about runway length etc at AIRPORT INFORMATION
If you want to look att some pictures from today and WW2 you are welcome to click on the links below
INTERIOR / EXTERIOR PICTURES WORLD WAR 2 PICTURES.
Read about what happened in Februari 1943 at AUTHENTIC FLIGHT STORY FROM 1943.
History
The defense plan for 1936 meant radical changes for the Swedish Air Force. With the German war-machine being constructed quickly, the need for the expansion of the Swedish airbase system became clearer and clearer. At this time there were no definite plans for building wartime airbases. But when heavy bomber wings were organized the need for permanent airbases increased. In a joint venture with the Swedish Geological Survey Company in 1938 the Air Force started to survey suitable areas. The survey increased in intensity during the winter and spring of 1939. The Air Force headquarters declared that the wartime airbases were of utmost importance for them to be prepared. In June of 1939 money was set aside for the construction of nineteen airfields.
Already during the fall of 1938 clearings were cut in Brattforsheden outside the town of Filipstad. AB Vägförbättringar in Karlstad was responsible for the construction of the airbase. In the spring of 1940 during the German assault on Norway, airbase 16 became operational. The thought behind this kind of base was that peacetime airbases would be the enemy’s primary targets. At the outbreak of the war, air wings were to be relocated to these hidden and inconspicuous looking airbases. (The outlines of the airfields were irregular and were made to look like a field with farmhouses and criss-crossing roads)
Strongholds were built at four locations around the airbase perimeter. Each stronghold consisted of machinegun bunkers, foxholes, air shelters and AA positions. The primary objective for the strongholds was to protect the airfield and the hangars.
A total of 27 small open one-plane hangers were built 1941-42. The work was done by the construction firm AB Granit & Betong, from the town of Uppsala. The hangars were built out of logs covered with boards on the inside and on the outside a mound of dirt served as a scrapnelcatcher.
Local farmers using horses and carriages largely did the transportation and the dirt digging. When the hangar was built it was covered with camoflage nets, which could be raised at the opening using wires and pulleys.
Blueprint of open airplane shelter What it looks like today
During the war years, up to 70 aircraft were stationed at the airfield. In the summer of 1942 and during the squadron exercise in September of the same year the F7 airbase in Såtenäs relocated two divisions of B17 (a dive bomber used by the Swedish Air Force) to Brattforsheden.
Many buildings and fortifications surrounded the airbase. The most preserved part of the airbase is stronghold number 1, which consists of two barracks with sleeping quarters, canteen, a roofed hangar and a workshop. The barrack with the sleeping quarters still has the original interior and some furniture from the war. The area surrounding stronghold 1 has been left almost untouched since the war. Stronghold number 2 and 3 with their bunkers and AA positions are fairly well preserved. Number 4 has been covered up with dirt.
Heavy machinegun bunker AA position with shelter.
The open hangars can still be seen, but all the woodwork has since rotted away. After the military left, the original owners or their next of kin who had reclaimed the property planted pine trees on parts of the landing field. Airbase 16 is together with the Optand airfield outside the town Östersund the only remaining wartime airbase left in the country.
The information above is gathered from the book:
Skansar i Värmland
INVENTERING AV BEFÄSTNINGSANLÄGGNINGAR BYGGDA 1940-1945
by Olle Nilsson
UTGIVEN AV: Värmlands Museum och Länsstyrelsen i Värmland.