Flygvapenmuseum

With over 170,000 visitors a year, the Flygvapenmuseum is one of the biggest attractions in Linköping. The Air Force Museum is not a very martial military museum, but a museum of technology showing the development of military aircraft in Sweden.

The aircraft collection in the Air Force Museum

In the exhibitions of the Air Force Museum there are permanently almost 60 different military planes and helicopters from the pioneer days of military aviation to the present. Among the veterans are rare and unique models such as an M 1 Nieuport, the first aircraft of the Swedish Army, or the first combat aircraft developed by SAAB, a SAAB B 17 and the world's only preserved Junkers Ju 86.

The latest and most modern combat aircraft in the museum is a SAAB JAS 39 Gripen, which is currently in service in the Swedish Air Force. In addition, the Air Force Museum owns more than 300 aircraft from foreign production as well as the complete collection of all models developed by SAAB in Linköping. A part of the collection is located in the museum in Linköping and the surrounding area, for example on high concrete pillars along the motorway E4.

The majority of the aircrafts are borrowed to numerous museums in Europe and Sweden, such as the Air Force Museum Ängelholm and Svedinos Bil- och Flygmuseum near Falkenberg or the Malmö Museum.

The various exhibitions

The Air Force Museum does not only have a lot of airplanes but also a huge collection of about 100,000 objects related to aviation as well as a large archive of books, documents, records and photographs from the history of Swedish military aviation.

The exhibitions are divided into different epochs in which the respective situation in Sweden and in the world is documented in addition to the respective aircraft, engines, turbines and other technical equipment. Another exhibition deals with technical developments in aircraft construction over the last 100 years.

The DC-3 reconnaissance aircraft, which was shot down over the Baltic Sea in 1952 during a secret operation and only recovered from the bottom of the sea more than 50 years later, has its own exhibition in the Flygvapenmuseum. It displays wreck parts, special equipment and devices as well as personal belongings of the eight crew members who died during the attack.

In addition, this exhibition provides background information about the secret mission of the DC-3 as well as the political aftermath of the operation. You get insights into the reconstruction of the events and interviews with the relatives who were left unclear about the fate of their loved ones for decades because of the classified operation.

Things to know about the Flygvapenmuseum

The Air Force Museum is open all year except for a few public holidays and admission is free. Only for the use of the flight simulator in the recreated cockpit of a JAS 39, which is located in the Science Center Flyglabbet, you have to pay.

The museum is completely barrier-free. The individual floors can be reached via lifts, doors open automatically or via large push-buttons and the toilets are wheelchair accessible. Assistance dogs are allowed, other dogs are not permitted in the museum.

The museum shop offers related books, toys, decorative items and souvenirs. The museum restaurant offers Swedish home-style food as various dishes of the day as well as drinks, coffee and pastries. If you wish, you can also bring your own food and eat in the designated area of the Science Center Flyglabbet.