Stavanger Airport, Forus

Infobox Airport
name = Stavanger Airport, Forus
nativename = Stavanger lufthavn, Forus
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type = Joint
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city-served = Stavanger
location = Sola
built = 1940
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metric-elev = 1
metric-rwy = 1
r1-number = 14/32
r1-length-f =
r1-length-m = 5,000
r1-surface = Concrete
r2-number = 04/22
r2-length-f =
r2-length-m = 1,200
r2-surface = Concrete
h1-number = 11/29
h1-length-f =
h1-length-m = 120
h1-surface = Concrete
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Stavanger Airport, Forus ( _no. Stavanger lufthavn, Forus) is a closed airport located at Forus in Sola south of Stavanger, Norway. Build by the German occupational forces during World War II, it was closed due to the vicinity of Stavanger Airport, Sola. After the war Forus was mostly used as a heliport until it was closed in 1989.

History

The construction of the airport started in 1940 by the German forces, who saw strategic advantages with two airports close to each other. The construction was demanding due to varying groundwork, and large areas of bog. Ditches were dug to Gandsfjord and Hafrsfjord. Most of the airport was finished in 1941, but due to difficult weather conditions Forus was not used as an operative base by the German forces, and used mostly for test flights and maintenance. The airport consisted of three runways in concrete, including one 5,000 meter main runway. Three large hangars were built, as was a 5,000 m taxiway between Forus and Sola Airport.

From 1944 Jagdgeschwader 5 was stationed at Forus with Messerschmitt Bf 109G and Focke-Wulf Fw 190A aircraft. In 1945 a squadron of Arado Ar 234 was also moved to Forus. After the liberation on May 8, 1945 the Royal Norwegian Air Force used the hangars at Forus for maintenance, with the stationing of F84 Thunderjets. The Air Force was originally planning on only using Sola until Forus was expanded, but the latter never happened.

At the end of the 1960s the offshore oil platforms in the North Sea started needing helicopter support, and Forus was chosen as helicopter base. Helikoper Service was the largest operator at Forus, and in 1968 they rented the one large hangar to house its two Sikorsky S-61N helicopers. Helicoper operations were moved to Sola in 1989 when the new heliport was opened there, and Forus was then closed.