There must be 50-60 aircraft in the museum, with some being on display outside. Every item on display has details about the history of that aircraft and, downstairs is a quite remarkable display, in more than one way. The display is under the heading “Acts of Secrecy” and tells the story of a Swedish Air Force Douglas DC-3 Dakota that was shot down by the Soviets in June 1952. That an order was given for a MiG-15 (probably) to shoot it down, that order was unlikely to have been given approval at the higher level. Whilst the DC-3 was intelligence gathering, monitoring signals as it flew above the Baltic Sea, there was no doubt that it was in international airspace and the route followed was familiar even to the relatively unsophisticated Soviet radar. The route did necessitate flying directly towards the Soviet coastline for a short time but this was, again, a regular feature. Penetration of Soviet airspace by the UK and USA with impunity at around that time may have been a factor in someone deciding to act against the DC-3, an unarmed aircraft with three air force aircrew and five signal intelligence personnel. The incident occurred on June 13 th and on the 16th a search plane was also attacked by Soviet fighters, but the crew of that plane were rescued by a West German merchant ship. The details surrounding the incident were kept fairly low key so that the situation did not become inflammatory. The DC-3 was not finally located until 2003 and the following year it was salvaged and although severely damaged, the whole of the aircraft is now on display ‘underwater’ in the lower level of the Museum. An imaginative, clever and moving display about the incident and the loss of those involved.

At the time of our visit, back in the Summer of 2024, the cafeteria had been closed for refurbishment but was almost ready for re-opening and, judging from the high quality finish (see photos) will be an excellent place in which to have some refreshment during or at the end of an excellent day.

We were also very fortunate in being given the opportunity to look at some of the ‘behind the scenes’ work. We viewed the incredible collection of spare parts and the archive. When a number of Ait Bases closed around the Country, the opportunity was taken to look at the materials that could be used in the future by the collection or made available for exchange. What was considered to be worth keeping, and maybe even usable, was brought to Linkoping. The review of items has taken years to create and is all held on a computerised system as to item, condition, history and location.

Even the buildings in which all these items are held are impressive, new wood, rack upon rack of canopies, engines, helmets, radar, signals equipment, propellors – anything that may be needed to help the collection which not only supports the items in the Museum but can help to support other items displayed elsewhere in the Country that are in the Museum’s ownership. There is even the wind tunnel model that was created to help develop the J-29 Tunnan. The work done also enables the Museum to help to support the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight, which has i think, 13 airworthy aircraft, these include the J-29 Tunnan, the J-35 Draken, the JA-37 Viggen, three SAL Bulldogs and five or six helicopters.

There is a restoration facility onsite. There is a hope that one day, maybe in 2026, it will become possible for visitors to the Museum to see restoration work taking place (as ispossible in some other aviation museums). In the restoration facility was a Grumman JRF-5 Goose which served with the U S Navy before being sold on the civil market as N79001. The museum is going to restore it in the colours of the Swedish Air Force Goose (81001) which crashed in 1962. To assist in the restoration, volunteers are absolutely key, people with the skills and knowledge of how to work on an aircraft of this age, for example two retired riveters come in every Monday. The Company SAAB encourages younger employees to become involved and retirees from the Company can assist also to help continue their aviation passion.

A restoration project that has been completed is the Percival Pembroke, now on display within the museum. That project took 5-6 years to complete, with the aircraft now looking almost ‘factory fresh’. The SAAB 18 light bomber on display took around 40 years to complete. An indication of the thoroughness and determination of the team. The restoration team numbers around 30 people and they help to support aircraft not just at the museum but at locations around the Country, for example on a plinth, or at collections accessible to the public. All military aircraft withdrawn from service are in the ownership of the Air Force Museum and only designated people can ‘own’ or have a museum in which a withdrawn from use combat aircraft is displayed. It helps to preserve the heritage and affords a degree of control and of support, where possible, from the museum volunteers.

A short distance from the Museum, in Malmslatt, in a secure area, is the reserve collection holding around 20-25 aircraft (fixed wing mostly but also helicopters). The opportunity exists for the Museum to put some of these items on display in the main Museum but there is insufficient space for everything so items can be rotated. The vast majority of the items

are Drakens and Viggens, SAAB 91, Tunnans, items you will see in the museum but maybe a different model. But there are gems in the reserve collection at the moment, the Vertol V.44 in Marinen colours (01001), the SAAB 210 (210-1) known as ‘Lill Draken’ the fuselage of a Nord NC.701 (SE-KAE) – it did not see military service but the fuselage, in need of some tlc, has been preserved, an immaculate DH.60 (5560) and a Gloster Meteor T7 (SE-CAS) which was used by the Air Force to tow aerial targets for fighters to practice shooting at. Linkoping is only 200km from Stockholm and less than 300km from Gothenburg so very easily accessible. There are other collections, large and small, not far away if your visit is just for aircraft, or you may just want to do some touring in Sweden, looking at aircraft along the way. If you have not yet been, we highly recommend a visit and maybe look at 2026 for that year will see the 100 th Anniversary of the Swedish Air Force so there are bound to be events to mark, to celebrate that and lots of time to plan. We shall certainly be back!

We are so grateful to Noomi Eriksson, the Museum Director, for facilitating this visit and to Torsten Nilsson, the Head of Collections, for showing us around.



Article by Peter Nelson

Photography by Peter Nelson and Keith Piggott