Aeroseum

After the Swedish Air Force abandoned the secret and nuclear-bomb-proof aircraft cavern built under a 30 meter thick rock massif, the air force museum Aeroseum moved into the 22,000 square meter tunnel system in 2008.

In the underground hangar, which is about three football fields in size, the Aeroseum presents more than 30 different aircraft types. Among them are, besides some gliders and sports planes, a number of military aircraft, as well as some fighter jets of the type SAAB Draken and SAAB Viggen. In two Draken and one Viggen you can take a seat in the narrow pilot's seat and try to feel what a cramped cockpit of a fighter jet full of technology feels like.

The exhibits in the Aeroseum

Besides airplanes there are more than 20 different helicopters in the exhibition of the Aeroseum. The different types range from transport helicopters with tandem rotor of the Vertol 44 (Flying Banana) and Boing Vertol 107 type to the small piston engine helicopter of the Hughes 269 type. In one of the cross tunnels branching off from the main tube, some aircraft turbines are exhibited and in another there are a total of eight different flight simulators. There you can either simulate a flight with sports planes, with a helicopter, with the fighter jet SAAB Viggen as well as with the large commercial aircraft Airbus A300 and Boing 737. For the use of the simulators an additional fee is charged.

The aircraft are flanked by several exhibitions on different topics. These include the exhibition about the construction of the underground aircraft hangar, exhibitions about the Cold War, the destructive power of nuclear weapons and the peaceful use of nuclear energy, about spies during the Cold War, about the Stasi in the former GDR or about communication in aviation.

In addition, the Aeroseum has one of the largest collections of airplane and helicopter models in Sweden and is the venue for the large model building fair Göteborg Modell och Hobby, which takes place annually at the end of March.

The former airbase Säve Depå

The tunnel system of the underground hangar consists of a several hundred meter long U-shaped main tube, from which several cross tunnels branch off. At both ends, the main tube is secured by 70-centimetre-thick armoured gates, each half of which weighs around 70 tonnes. In front of the gates, there is a transverse access tunnel on each side of the tunnel leading into the open air, which is constructed in such a way that pressure waves from heavy explosions are guided past the gates.

The cavern was operated in principle as a one-way street. Returning aircraft entered the hangar on the east side and were towed by towing vehicles to their parking position in the tunnel. On the west side, the jets left the hangar again in the direction of the runway. Usually there were five to seven interceptors permanently stationed there, ready to take off, which could be in the air within a few minutes in case of an alarm.

Until its dissolution in 1969, the F9 squadron was stationed in the cavern, the so-called Göta Flygflottilj, responsible for the protection of the Gothenburg airspace. Subsequently, the underground hangar was used by the naval pilots of the 2nd helicopter division until 1997. Until its final abandonment in 2006, the hangar was mothballed as a possible launch base in case of emergency and served as a storage area for a larger number of fighter jets in case of mobilisation.