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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 1810.PDF
*& F LI SWEDEN'S AIR POWER first cruiser destined for employment as an aircraft carrier, which carried a number of float seaplanes on a platform over the quarter-deck, and had one catapult forward of the platform. Finally, mention should be made of the government's aircraft works (Flygvapnets Flygverkstader Centrala) in Malmslatt and Vaesteras, which have been previously engaged on the construction under licence of some foreign types (Hawker Hart, Fokker C. V-E and the Focke-Wulf " Stieglitz "). These workshops, which are now a part of the air force ground organisation, are now mainly con- a rued with repairs arid maintenance. A third workshop which is being constructed for the air force in Arboga is reported to be an underground installation similar to the Bolinder-Munktell plant mentioned before. The Swedish Air Force forms part of the armed forces under a General assisted by an Air Staff, a Staff of Defence and a Royal Air Board. The tactical unit is the "grupp" or flight. Two or three of these form a "division" (squadron); normally three divisions con stitute a "flotilla" (wing) and two or more flotillas comprise an "eskader" (group). The Growing Air Force The Swedish plan for the expansion of defence forces provides also for a considerable strengthening of the air force. For the time being, the air force is to have a strength of 16 first line wings (flotillas), composed of the following branches: —6 bomber, 6 fighter, i torpedo- bomber, i long-range reconnaissance and i short-range nconnaissance, i naval patrol bomber wing. A seven- it (nth fighter wing for natfal co-operation is to be formed in 1944. Reporting these plans, the German daily Hamburger Fremdenblatt remarks significantly that this is "in present days a very long period. . . .'' As envisaged in the government programme, six new first-line wings will he added to the present strength of » twelve, out of which No. 12 Wing is a dive-bomber unit. The new wings are to be distributed in the following manner:—No. 13 fighter wing for Norrkoping ; No. 14 bomber wing for Halmstad ; No. 15 fighter wing for Soder- hamn ; No. 16 fighter wing for Upsala, No. 17 torpedo- An inside view of a signals room at a Naval Air Unit. Q H T AUGUST 27TH, 1943 IN DIVE : A B5 (Northrop 8A-1) two-seater attack bomber powered with a Swedish-built Bristol Pegasus engine of 875 h.p. bomber wing for Karlskrona and No. 18 fighter wing for naval co-operation The actual intensified training and expansion of the air force is best shown by a comparison of figures of the flying hours for the past few years:—In 1939, 47,311 hr. ; in 1940, 85,268 hr. and in the first nine months of 1941 133,660 hr. The equipment of the Royal Swedish Air Force was com posed prior to the war of imported types and aircraft built locally under licence. For training, British, American and German types were used. Bomber squadrons were equipped with Junkers J11 86K designated in the Swedish Air Force B3, B3A, and B3B ; Hawker Harts (B4) ; North rop 8A-r (B5) ; and Republic 2PA (B6). The fighter units were also flying a variety of British and America?*- machines. Cosmopolitan Equipment " In 1939 the Swedish government ordered hundreds < f Republic EP-i single-seater fighters ; 56 Republic 2PA 2- seater fighter-bombers ; and 114 Vultee 48 Vanguard single- seater fighters. The order was ultimately cancelled by the U.S. government for reasons of war priority and only a few types came into service with the Swedish Air Force: the Republic EP-i single-seater fighter; an export version now • named Republic Model 100 and designated by the Swedes J9; and the Republic 2PA two-seater general purpose and dive-bomber, probably experimental types designated B6 in Sweden. Both aircraft are powered with Pratt and Whitney "Twin Wasp" 14-cylinder air-cooled double row radial engines of 1,200 h.p. Orders were placed in 1939-40 with Germany for 18 Dor mer Do 215, 23 Heinkel He 114 and a number of He 115; • but according to reliable reports only two He 114 and a 4 quantity of the He 115 were delivered. In the Swedish-'T Air Force the He 115 twin-engined torpedo and recon naissance seaplane is designated S12 and the Fieseler " Storch " single-engine reconnaissance aircraft are known
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