Swedish Air Force Museum Photo Album

This collection consists of a photo album, Flygvapnet: 50 år, 1926-1976 [Air Force: 50 Years, 1926-1976], containing 69 color photographs documenting a collection of historic aviation artifacts assembled by Flygvapnet (the Swedish Air Force) at Malmen Airbase in Malmslätt, just outside Linköping, Sweden. The aircraft are all pictured outdoors (presumably at the airbase); smaller artifacts are seen close up, indoors. This collection of artifacts formed the core of Flygvapenmuseum (the Swedish Air Force Museum), established in 1977 as part of the Statens försvarshistoriska museer (SFHM, Swedish Defense History Museums) , and opened in Malmslätt to visitors in 1984.

The Swedish Air Force, Flygvapnet, was created on July 1, 1926, when the aircraft units of the Swedish Army and Navy were merged. As aviation technology developed, older aircraft types in service were replaced with newer models; in the 1940s, two of the Flygvapnet commanders at Malmen Airbase began to save the old aircraft rather than scrapping them, eventually adding engines, cameras, and other aircraft equipment to the collection. In the late 1960s, a new storage facility was built in the Ryd district of Linköping, to allow the public to come and view the growing collection of airplanes and other artifacts which had previously been located in a restricted military area. This collection of artifacts formed the core of Flygvapenmuseum (the Swedish Air Force Museum), established in 1977 as part of the Statens försvarshistoriska museer (SFHM, Swedish Defense History Museums) (SFHM, Swedish Defense History Museums), and opened in Malmslätt to visitors in 1984.