F 16 Uppsala

Air Force Wing
emblem=
officialname=Kungliga Upplands Flygflottilj
locatedin=Ärna,
Uppsala Municipality
founded=1943
closed=2003
wingcommander=Bengt Jacobsson (1943–1944)
Knut Lindahl (1944–1952)
Karl-Eril Karlsson (1952–1964)
Björn Hedberg (1964–1967)
Gösta Norrbohm (1967–1971)
Sven-Olof Olson (1971–1973)
Jan-Henrik Torselius
(1973–1976)
Bertil Nordström (1976–1978)
Karl-Erik Fernander (1978–1985)
Rolf Gustafsson (1985–1989)
Arne Hansson (1989–1990)
Stig Dellborg (1990–1994)
Ulf Sveding (1994–1997)
Mats Nilsson (1997–1999)
Tommy Pålsson (1999–2002)
Christer Olofsson (2002–2003)
typesofaircraft=Fighter
maintypes=J 22, J 26, J 29, J 35, JA 37
othertypes=Hkp 3
other=

F 16 Uppsala, Upplands Flygflottilj, "Uppland Air Force Wing" or simply "F 16" is a Swedish air force base located just north of Uppsala on the east coast of Sweden. The airbase was mainly used for fighter squadrons but have no active squadrons since 2003.

The motto of the 16th wing is: Labor-Effectus-Vigor

History of the airbase

F 16 was established by buying farmland from Ärna gård and Bärby gård in 1943. The grass fields were used as runways for the air base that was founded in 1944.

The airbase was well outside the city limits of Uppsala at the time of the founding, but because of city growth, it later was adopted in as a suburb under the name Ärna as the population near the base and the city grew together.

The original emblem of F 16 was a golden sheaf of grain on a blue shield, but when F 2 Hägernäs airbase was decommissioned in 1974, F 16 took over its coat of arms of Uppland.

The Swedish government decided in 1996 that the air force wing with the squadrons would be decommissioned on December 31 2003. The base is still active with various military schools.

The base was also home to F 20 Uppsala Air Force Academy.

The airfield is now known as Ärna or Uppsala Airport (ICAO: ESCM)

External links

[http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/text/fv26-.html Webpage listing all air force squadrons in Sweden]
[http://klassikerforbundet.org/dokument/Latinska%20valsprak%20for%20flygflottiljer%20m%20fl.pdf Latin mottos of Swedish Armed Forces units] (in Swedish)

See also

* Swedish Armed Forces
* Swedish Air Force
* List of military aircraft of Sweden