Tromsø Airport, Skattøra
Tromsø Airport, Skattøra | |||||||||||
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Coordinates | 69°41′45″N 19°01′08″E / 69.6958°N 019.0189°E | ||||||||||
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Tromsø Airport, Skattøra (
. Construction began in 1938 and the aerodrome was in use until 1975. At its peak it was the largest water airport in Northern Europe.The first water airport in Tromsø was located at the port in the city center and opened in 1935 to serve
The
History
Preamble
The first proposals for an airport in Tromsø was presented in 1918 by Det Norske Luftfartsrederi, who intended to operate air route to Northern Norway. They conducted surveys in 1919, but filed for bankruptcy the following year without their plans being carried through. A 1922 report from Blehr's Second Cabinet proposed water aerodromes as far north as Harstad, but not Tromsø. Five years later the city was included in the plans for future airline routes. The plans went unsubstantiated until the mid-1930s.[1]
When domestic air routes were established in 1935, there only went months from the approval to the services commenced. Permission was granted in April, at which time a suitable site for an aerodrome had yet to be identified. As an interim solution a buoy was founded for the first season. Norwegian Air Lines set up Tromsø as the last stop on its coastal service north of Bergen. Using a Junkers W 34, the route was inaugurated on 7 July and ran three times weekly for four weeks in the first season. Travel time to Bergen was ten and a half hours.[2]
From the 1936 season a permanent location for the airport was needed. A key factor was the need to place it as close to the city center as possible. Tromsøysundet was selected as the runway and the docks and terminal were located at Dampskipkaien. DNL specified their needs and Tromsø Municipality built the airport after the specifications. The most costly part was a floating docks, which was built using twelve used oil drums. A barracks in the inner parts of the port was used as a terminal building.[3]
The search was intensified with a committee appointed in 1936. They looked at four sites in
The Navy signed a lease for 2.6 hectares (6.4 acres) of land for five years. This was because the station was presumed to be provisional. However, as the fear of war rose, the state chose to expropriate the property on 25 July 1938. Construction commenced in January 1939, consisting of a slipway, a guard station, a barracks and a fuel depot. Further work was started to allow six torpedo bombers and twelve reconnaissance aircraft be stationed at Skattøra.[4]
With the full mobilization in September 1939, the Navy Air Service organized its 3rd Air Wing at Skattøra, with detachments at Hammerfest and Vadsø. The air wing was activated on 27 September, consisting of a single M.F.11. At the time the aerodrome only had a few buoys to anchor to. In October three Heinkel He 115 torpedo bombers were dispatched and were used to patrol the coast from Kirkenes to Helgeland.[7]
With
Luftwaffe operation
Following the surrender in Northern Norway on 10 July 1940, the Luftwaffe took control over Skattøra. Two days later the airport was cleared for use by German aircraft. Skattøra was first used by 1. Küstenfliegergruppen/506, but their He 115s were soon bombed or destroyed in a fire. Skattøra was taken over by 2. Küstenfliegergruppen/506., which also operated He 115s. From September these aircraft were used to send freight and supplies to Jan Mayen and Svalbard.[12] Until October an air ambulance operated out of Skattøra.[13]
German water airport efforts in Northern Norway originally centered around their own plans for
About ninety percent of Luftwaffe's seaplane fleet was allocated to Norway, and of that between eighty and ninety percent was allocated to Seefliegerhorst Tromsö. Although the center of operations, The Seefliegerhorst commanded water air stations along the coast from
About 1,500 people were working at Skattøra. There were not sufficient quarters for these at the air station, so they were lodged throughout Tromsø.
There were two Allied bombings of Skattøra. The first was on 26 August 1940, conducted by a British Supermarine Walrus.[18] The second took place on 12 April 1942, when the aerodrome was hit by bombs from a Soviet Ilyushin DB-3. Damage was limited to a few blasted oil drums and a few injured soldiers.[19]
Royal Norwegian Air Force operations
The RNoAF returned to Skattøra in May 1945, after the end of the war.[20] The No. 8601 Demolition Squadron RAF was flown to Tromsø to demolish the majority of the Luftwaffe's aircraft. Two Do 24 were taken over by the RNoAF. They were crewed with German pilots and were used to transport German soldiers to conduct minesweeping, as well as to act as ambulances.[16] They were moved to Fornebu Air Station in October,[21] but returned for the 1946 season.[22]
No. 21 Communication Flight was set up at Skattøra almost immediately after the surrender. They flew Noorduyn Norseman transporters.[22] This task was taken over by the Small Transport Wing in 1946. They would retain between two and four Norsemen at the airport until its closing for military operations.[23] Skattøra was also the base for three Junkers Ju 52 transports of the 335 Squadron from 22 June to November 1945.[24]
The 333 Squadron was from 1 January 1946 equipped with
Two-thirds of the building complex at the station was demolished in the remainder of 1945. This was done to secure building material for the reconstruction of Finnmark. For instance
With the advent of the Korean War, the 333 Squadron was moved from Sola Air Station to Skattøra in 1950. Their new main mission was surveillance of the northern sea area of the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. The squadron moved back to Sola in May 1952, although a detachment remained in Tromsø. From 1953 to 1 November 1955 the squadron also operated Noorduyn Norseman transporters.[25] Flights to Svalbard and Jan Mayen were then flown out of Bodø Main Air Station, although they did not have sufficient range for these missions and had to land at Tromsø for refueling. The Catalinas therefore continued to operate out of Skattøra until 1959.[28]
The Royal Norwegian Navy had a small guard unit at Skattøra from 1945 to 1949.
With Norway's entry into the
The Navy returned to Skattøra in 1962 and used the hangar as a depot. It also had a surveillance vessel, Havørn, which was disguised as a fishing vessel. During the preamble for establishing the Coast Guard during the 1960s, Skattøra was considered as a possible main base for the flotilla. The Navy pulled out of Skattøra in 1969.[29]
Commercial operations
When commercial flights resumed on 27 May 1946, Skattøra was allocated to also serve as the civilian airport for Tromsø. DNL resumed its coastal route, still flown with Junkers Ju 52 aircraft.
Polarfly was established in 1948 and stationed two Norsemen at Skattøra to act as air ambulance and air taxi. The following year Polarfly merged with Widerøe.[33] Skattøra soon became the airline's main technical base in Northern Norway.[20] Due to security concerns, a separate passenger terminal was built at the aerodrome in 1952, outside the gate of the air station.[26]
Bodø Airport opened as the first civilian land airport in Northern Norway in 1952. It was followed by Bardufoss Airport in 1956. The latter served only a small community, but its military counterpart, Bardufoss Air Station, was expanded to meet NATO demands. SAS started direct flights from Bardufoss to Oslo, using it to serve all of Troms. Subsequently, it also shut down its operations out of Skattøra.[34] Tromsø Air Traffic Control Center remained until 1 January 1957, when it was relocated to Bodø.[29]
Widerøe was given the task of flying the seaplane routes to Finnmark on SAS's concession from 1954. For this Widerøe bought new Otters. Two years later the airline took over maintenance of the military aircraft at Skattøra. The services out of Tromsø continue until 1962, when the government abolished the subsidies for the routes.
Scancopterservice, later
Later use
Civilian use of the company began in the 1950s. The ward was in 1955 converted to a psychiatric clinic. The civilian cafeteria was taken over by Northern Troms Vocational School in 1957 and used as a dormitory. The mess hall was converted to a gym in 1960 and its basement as a shooting range used by the
Starting in the 1970s the Skattøra area became a popular growth area and the seaside properties in the area experienced a development into industrial sites.[38] Røstad Båt og Motorco moved into the hangar in 1980. The supplier of boats and boat equipment started the process of converting the docks into a marina.[39] Later it used the hangars for boat construction. The hangar was rebuilt during the 1990s and given two stories, such that most of the interior does not represent its original form. However, the exterior is largely intact.[40] Tromsø Municipality retains ownership of most of the properties at the site.[41]
Local historical enthusiasts proposed in 2003 that the remains of the airport be listed as a cultural heritage. This was followed up by Troms County Municipality in December 2009, when they started the listing process.[42] The rationale is that Skattøra represents the best preserved water airport in Northern Europe and the best preserved military installation in Troms from modern times.[43]
Facilities
The airport was situated at Skattøra in what was then Tromsøysund Municipality, in today's Tromsø, some 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) north of the city center.[3] The predominant structure at the airport was the twin hangar building. It consists of two concrete arch triplets which carry the roof. Inside the hangar is split in two with a reinforced wall. The structure measures 2,000 square meters (22,000 sq ft).[40] There were two slipways, one falling down from the hangar and one further north.[44] There was a 63-meter (207 ft) pier which ran out from the airport, with a small building at the end.[45] A reinforced wall was built to protect aircraft from attack.[41]
From 1937 to 1945 there was an aeradio at the airport. It was then merged and taken over by and co-located with Tromsø Radio.[46] The airport had a control tower situated in the former fire station. From 1947 to 1957 Tromsø Air Traffic Control Center was situated in a subterranean facility at Marielund. Its area of operation covered from Trøndelag and north in Norway, as well as the Atlantic Ocean out to Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Iceland.[27]
Luftwaffe installed a subterranean fuel depot. It was taken over by
References
- ^ Olsen-Hagen (2012): 9
- ^ Olsen-Hagen (2012): 10
- ^ a b Olsen-Hagen (2012): 11
- ^ a b Hafsten (2003): 43
- ^ Jensen (2001): 1
- ^ Jensen (2001): 2
- ^ Arheim (1994): 26
- ^ Hafsten (1991): 69
- ^ a b Jensen (2001): 3
- ^ Hafsten (1991): 71
- ^ Jensen (2001): 4
- ^ Hafsten (1991): 111
- ^ Hafsten (1991): 112
- ^ Jensen (2001): 5
- ^ Troms County Municipality (2014): 59
- ^ a b c d Jensen (2001): 6
- Bladet Tromsø(in Norwegian). p. 22.
- Bladet Tromsø(in Norwegian). p. 33. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- ^ Hafsten (1991): 133
- ^ a b c d Hafsten (2003): 44
- ^ Arheim (1994): 113
- ^ a b Jensen (2001): 7
- ^ Arheim (1994): 179
- ^ Arheim (1994): 130
- ^ a b Arheim (1994): 114
- ^ a b c Jensen (2001): 14
- ^ a b c d Jensen (2001): 9
- ^ a b Jensen (2001): 8
- ^ a b c d e Jensen (2001): 10
- ^ Arheim (1994): 115
- ^ Olsen-Hagen (2012): 13
- ^ Olsen-Hagen (2012): 14
- ^ a b c d Jensen (2001): 12
- ^ a b Olsen-Hagen: 15
- ^ a b Jensen (2001): 13
- ^ Melling: 71
- ^ Jensen (2001): 15
- ^ Eilertsen (1984): 28
- ^ Eilertsen (1984): 144
- ^ a b Troms County Municipality (2014): 22
- ^ a b Troms County Municipality (2014): 7
- Bladet Tromsø(in Norwegian). p. 10.
- ^ Troms County Municipality (2014): 5
- ^ Troms County Municipality (2014): 23
- ^ Troms County Municipality (2014): 25
- ^ Eilertsen (1984): 172
Bibliography
- Arheim, Tom; Hafsten, Bjørn; Olsen, Bjørn; Thuve, Sverre (1994). Fra Spitfire til F-16: Luftforsvaret 50 år 1944–1994 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Sem & Stenersen. ISBN 82-7046-068-0.
- Eilertsen, Roar (1984). Næringslivet i Tromsø (in Norwegian). Tromsø: Tromsø Sparebank.
- Hafsten, Bjørn; Larsstuvold, Ulf; Olsen, Bjørn; Stenersen, Sten (1991). Flyalarm: Luftkrigen over Norge 1939–1945 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Sem & Stenersen. p. 225. ISBN 82-7046-058-3.
- Hafsten, Bjørn; Arheim, Tom (2003). Marinens flygevåpen 1912–1944 (in Norwegian). TankeStreken. ISBN 82-993535-1-3.
- Jensen, Einar-Roald (2001). Skattøra sjøflystasjon: 1937–75 – Historisk overblikk (PDF) (in Norwegian). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- Melling, Kjersti (2009). Nordavind fra alle kanter (in Norwegian). Oslo: Pilotforlaget.
- Olsen-Hagen, Bernt; Gulstad, Anne Blix; Gynnild, Olav (2012). Tromsø lufthavn, Langnes – Dokumentasjon for arkivmessig bevaring (PDF) (in Norwegian). Norwegian Aviation Museum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- Troms County Municipality (2014). Fredning av Skattøra – Offentlig ettersyn (PDF) (in Norwegian). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2014.