F 6 Karlsborg

Air Force Wing
emblem=
officialname=Kungliga Västgöta Flygflottilj
locatedin=Karlsborg,
Karlsborg Municipality
founded=1939
closed=1994
wingcommander=John Stenbeck (1939-1941)
Gösta Hård (1941-1950)
A Söderlind (1950-1960)
N Hansson (1960-1971)
H Sjövall (1971-1977)
Gunnar Hovgard (1977-1986)
Göran Tode (1986-1989)
Sten Öhlander (1989-1994)
typesofaircraft=Light bomber 1939-1946
Attack 1946-1994
maintypes=B 4, B 5, B 17A,
A 21, A 29B,
A 32A, AJ 37
othertypes=
other=

F 6 Karlsborg, Kungliga Västgöta Flygflottilj, "Royal Västergötland Air Force Wing", or simply "F 6", is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Karlsborg in south-central Sweden.

History of the airbase

The airfield "Lusharpan" had been used by the army air corps of Karlsborg Fortress since 1915 to practice strafing and bombing at the artillery range. In 1936, the first steps was taken towards a permanent base by constructing hangars for two squadrons. In 1937 the grass field was extended to 1600 m x 1200 m and a maintenance shop was also put up.

The Air Wing was officially commissioned in July 1 1939 but with only 19 staff and three officers with one Sk 9, one Sk 11 trainers and three other aircraft on loan from other wings.

With World War II breaking out in September 1 1939, F 4 Frösön regrouped their B 4 bombers to Karlsborg and transferred them to the F 6 wing at the same rate as F 4 Frösön received their new B 5 bombers. The B 4 bombers were kept until 1941 when they were transferred to F 7 Såtenäs in favor of new B 5 bombers.

Between 1943 and 1947 the wing was equipped with B 17 dive bombers.

In 1947, the wing was redesigned as an attack wing and replaced the B 17s with A 21 aircraft, even though the tactical use of the new aircraft was the same as with the B 17s. Some of the A 21s were transferred from F 7 Såtenäs. There were a total of 70 A 21s at F 6, but a staggering 30 planes were lost due to the poor condition of the grass field which was paved in 1950.

The Saab Tunnan was briefly in service for four years from 1954 to 1957 until the Saab 32 Lansen was introduced and served for 20 years until 1977. The jet noise of the Saab 32 Lansen was so high that the base was forced to buy the property of complaining residents.

In 1977 the AJ 37 replaced the A 32 and was in service until the base was decommissioned in June 30 1994. The airfield was reopened in 2007 under the control of the control of K 3 Life Regiment Hussars.

References

[http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/text/fv26-.html1 Webpage listing all air force squadrons in Sweden] (in Swedish)

[http://www.k3.mil.se/?lang=E 3rd Cavalry regiment homepage]

See also

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