Flygvapenmuseum at Malmen Airfield near Linköping

Updated: October 2026 – A few kilometers west of Linköping, in the Malmslätt district, lies one of Sweden’s most traditional airfields. Here the aviation pioneer Carl Cederström founded a flying school in 1912, from here an Air Force wing flew for decades, and to this day helicopters and jet trainers take off from Malmen. On the edge of the grounds stands the Flygvapenmuseum – the museum of the Swedish Air Force.

For spotters, it is the place where you experience the great Swedish in-house designs on a single tour: Tunnan, Lansen, Draken, Viggen and Gripen. Add foreign types in Swedish colors and a Cold War story that stays with you for a long time. This page shows you what to expect, how to plan your visit and what to watch for when photographing.

Malmen: aviation since 1912

The airfield is itself part of the history the museum tells. Carl Cederström, known in Sweden as the “Flygbaronen” (the Flying Baron), opened a flying school at Malmen in 1912 – at first with three aircraft. The street on which the museum stands today bears his name. When the independent Swedish Air Force was founded in 1926, Malmen became the home of the Östgöta Wing F 3, which stayed stationed here until 1974.

After that, responsibility changed several times until Malmen became the main base of the Swedish armed forces’ helicopter units from 1998. Since 2003 the Air Force flight school has also trained pilots here on the SK 60, the Swedish designation for the Saab 105 jet trainer. The field has two asphalt runways and the ICAO code ESCF.

Quite close, on the other side of town, lies Linköping/Saab airfield, the factory grounds of Saab. Linköping is thus the place where Swedish combat aircraft were created and where their history is on display today – a combination not often found in Europe.

From the Malmen collection to a national museum

It all began with officers of Wing F 3 who gathered retired aircraft in the 1960s. This “Malmen collection” was first shown in Ryd, a district of Linköping, and was open to the public from 1967 with 26 aircraft. In 1977 the state took over the collection and assigned it to the state military history museums.

On March 8, 1984, King Carl XVI Gustaf inaugurated the first exhibition hall right at Malmen airfield. In 1989 a second hall followed, opened by Prince Bertil; at the time about 60 aircraft were on display. The third big step came between 2008 and 2010: the museum closed in March 2009, was rebuilt and expanded, and reopened on June 12, 2010, with a good 6,000 square meters more public space. A year later it was named Sweden’s Museum of the Year.

The house is supported by the state today: since the beginning of 2026 it has belonged to the agency Statens museer för maritim-, transport- och försvarshistoria, which bundles several national museums on seafaring, transport and military history. The regional aviation history association in Östergötland, which helped build up the museum and supports it to this day, continues to play an important role. How volunteers keep such houses running is described in the article Volunteering at aviation museums. You will find more on the institution in the profile of the Flygvapenmuseum Linköping.

The collection: from the pioneers to the Gripen

The museum is spread over several levels reachable by elevator. The holdings comprise about 100,000 objects, from uniforms and design drawings to radio and medical equipment. The following overview is based on the museum’s information and the publicly documented holdings. Exhibits are rearranged, restored or put into storage – so take it as a guide.

Area	Typical exhibits	Interesting for spotters because …
Pioneer era	Albatros trainer, Nieuport and Bréguet aircraft	Aircraft from the time when flying was just beginning at Malmen
Interwar period and Second World War	Gloster Gladiator (J 8), Hawker Hart (B 4), Reggiane Re.2000 (J 20), Junkers Ju 86, Saab B 17, B 18 and J 21	foreign types under Swedish designations and the first Saab designs
Early jets	de Havilland Vampire (J 28), Venom (J 33), Saab J 29 Tunnan	the leap into the jet age, with the “flying barrel” as an icon
Cold War	A 32A Lansen, J 35D Draken, AJS 37 Viggen, Hawker Hunter (J 34), MiG-15, Catalina (Tp 47)	the big Saab jets next to opponents and partners from East and West
Present	JAS 39 Gripen, SK 60	the current generation and the trainer that still flies next door
Reconnaissance	Spitfire PR.XIX (S 31), wreck of the DC-3 (Tp 79)	the secret side of the Air Force between photo flights and signals intelligence

For most visitors, the star is the Saab line. The J 29 Tunnan was one of Western Europe’s first swept-wing fighters in the early 1950s, and the Lansen brought Sweden its all-weather attack aircraft. With the double-delta wing of the Draken and the canard layout of the Viggen, two silhouettes were created that you recognize at once even decades later. At the end of the line stands the JAS 39 Gripen, still in service today. If you also want to tell these types apart reliably in flight, the guide Identifying fighter jets in Europe helps.

It is also fascinating how many foreign types Sweden flew under its own designations. The Supermarine Spitfire served as the S 31 photo reconnaissance aircraft, the P-51 Mustang as the J 26 fighter, the de Havilland Vampire as the J 28 and the Hawker Hunter as the J 34. A special case is the Junkers Ju 86, regarded as the last surviving example of its type. And with the MiG-15, the other side of the Cold War also stands in the hall. How to place older types is explained in the article Identifying vintage aircraft in the sky.

“Om kriget kommer”: Sweden in the Cold War

The Cold War exhibition is the heart of the house. Its title means “If war comes”. It tells the period from 1945 to the end of the 1980s: the arms race of the superpowers, Sweden’s nonalignment with quiet cooperation with the West at the same time, fear of the Soviet Union, surveillance and submarine hunting.

About fifteen aircraft and helicopters stand in this area, including the Viggen, a Spitfire and the anti-submarine helicopter Hkp 4. In between, you walk through four furnished Swedish apartments, one per decade from the early 1950s to the late 1980s, with the radio, television and news of each period. In a recreated control center you hear how a reconnaissance aircraft was guided to its mission, and in a strategy room maps show how Sweden planned to react to various Soviet attack scenarios.

For spotters this mix works astonishingly well: you see the jets not just as technology but understand why Sweden put so much money into an aircraft industry of its own. If you then want to know more about the role of military aircraft in Europe, the article Tracking military aircraft online offers the transition to the present.

The DC-3 that disappeared

On the lower level lies the museum’s most moving exhibit. On June 13, 1952, a military Air Force DC-3, internally Tp 79, took off from Stockholm-Bromma with eight men on board for a strictly secret flight over the Baltic Sea. The aircraft was equipped with signals intelligence gear. About two hours after takeoff, radio contact was lost. At first only a life raft with traces of Soviet ammunition was found.

Three days later, on June 16, 1952, a Swedish Catalina searching for the DC-3 was also shot down by Soviet fighters; its crew survived. The incidents went down in history as the Catalina affair. For the relatives of the DC-3 crew, decades of uncertainty began. Only on June 10, 2003, was the wreck discovered with sonar at a depth of about 126 meters, and it was recovered in March 2004. Since May 2009 it has lain in the museum.

The exhibition “Hemliga handlingar – DC-3:an som försvann” (Secret Documents – The DC-3 That Disappeared) shows the wreck in a display case of its own, plus reconnaissance equipment, map fragments, emergency rations and the crew’s personal belongings such as wallets, shoes and keys. A second part explains the political background with news clips, interviews with relatives and a small cinema. In 2010 it was named Exhibition of the Year. The page on the Douglas DC-3 presents the type itself, and its history is told in the article Douglas DC-3 – the classic.

“Flygfärdig”, EFFEKT and the anniversary year

The exhibition “Flygfärdig – det svenska flygvapnet tar form” (Ready to Fly – The Swedish Air Force Takes Shape) shows how individual pioneers became an air force. It is divided into four themes and leads up to the threshold of the jet age. Most aircraft stand together with matching objects from the collection, films and photos. Portraits present well-known aviators, including women who were long overlooked in aviation history.

New since July 1, 2026, is the exhibition EFFEKT – Flygvapnets drivkraft under 100 år (Power – The Air Force’s Driving Force for 100 Years). It opened exactly 100 years to the day after the founding of the Swedish Air Force and runs until the end of 2029, according to the museum. The focus is on engines: from early radial engines to the RM 15, the powerplant of the SK 60. Interactive stations and specially composed soundscapes make the technology audible. Around the anniversary, the museum also offers themed days, special tours and talks in 2026 – the dates are in the calendar.

Simulators, Flyglabbet and Futuro

If you want to take the controls yourself, book one of the simulators. On offer are the JAS 39 Gripen E and the Saab 105 / SK 60; an instructor accompanies you through the whole flight. Booking is done in advance via the online system linked on the museum’s website. For the Gripen simulator, the museum states a minimum age of ten.

For families there is the science center Flyglabbet with experiments on flying and the play area Leklanda with pedal aircraft. An eye-catcher stands right outside the door: the Futuro, an oval plastic house by the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen from 1968. The Air Force put three such houses on concrete towers at firing ranges to observe target practice from there. The museum fetched one from the Norran firing range near Söderhamn in 2016 and placed it to the right of the entrance in 2021.

Photography in the museum

The Flygvapenmuseum is a hall museum on several levels, and that determines your gear. The jets stand partly close together and on different levels. A wide-angle is a must; for serials, national insignia and armament, a standard zoom is enough. What to keep in mind with short focal lengths is in the guide Wide-angle and normal lenses for spotting.

At least as important is a fast lens. In the exhibitions, daylight mixes with artificial light, and in the DC-3 exhibition in particular the light is deliberately dimmed. Shoot in RAW and adjust the white balance later. Also use the upper levels: from there you often have a view of the jets from above, which shows the shape of the Draken delta and Viggen canards especially well.

Whether tripods or flash are allowed, the museum doesn’t say on its website. When in doubt, ask at the desk and be considerate of other visitors – especially in the recreated living rooms it quickly gets tight.

Getting there and planning

The museum is at Carl Cederströms Gata 2 in Malmslätt, about seven kilometers west of Linköping’s city center. By car, take Exit 111 off the E4, follow the signs to Linköping and then the brown signs to the museum. The large visitor parking lot is free and also takes buses and caravans.

Without a car, take bus route 6 from the Linköping travel center toward Malmslätt to the stop “Flygvapenmuseum”, in about 20 minutes according to the museum. City buses are cashless; you buy tickets via Östgötatrafiken. You reach Linköping itself by train from Stockholm or Gothenburg; to Göteborg-Landvetter Airport and to Stockholm Arlanda, it is a longer train ride in each case.

The museum has an audio guide, also in German, which you use via the museum app. Guided tours of your own can be booked for groups, and public tours for children and adults are listed in the calendar.

What else belongs in your camera bag is covered in the Plane spotting gear checklist.

The active airfield next door

Malmen is not a quiet museum airfield. The armed forces’ helicopter units have their main base here, and the Air Force flight school trains with the SK 60. With a bit of luck, you hear the small jet trainers right from the parking lot. If you are interested in rotary-wing aircraft, the article Spotting helicopters has tips on types and technology.

There is no official spotter spot at the apron, though, and the grounds are military. Photos from the surroundings are possible if you stay on public land – but you will see more movements in better light at civil airfields. If you want to see the Gripen in flight, you need luck with test flights around Linköping or visit one of the airshows listed in the overview Airshows in Europe.

Combining Malmslätt with other destinations

Linköping lies conveniently between Stockholm and Gothenburg, and that makes the museum an ideal building block of a Sweden tour. In Stockholm you wait for scheduled traffic at the official spotter spots at Arlanda Airport, including the fleet of SAS. In the museum you then see which military types shaped Swedish aviation. By the way, Saab also built civil regional aircraft in Linköping, such as the Saab 340.

If you work through Scandinavia systematically, you will find more strong military collections in the north: the Forsvarets flysamling at Gardermoen near Oslo, the Suomen Ilmailumuseo at Helsinki Airport and the Danmarks Flymuseum in Stauning. The Draken, by the way, flew not only in Sweden but also in Denmark, Finland and Austria.

In European comparison, the Flygvapenmuseum plays in the same league as the German Air Force Museum in Berlin-Gatow or the Flieger Flab Museum in Dübendorf: a national air force museum right on a historic military airfield, focused entirely on one country’s history.

Conclusion

The Flygvapenmuseum is not a spot for movements but for history – and at one of Sweden’s oldest airfields. At Malmen airfield stand pioneer aircraft, warplanes in Swedish colors and the complete line of the big Saab jets from Tunnan to Gripen. Add one of the most impressive exhibitions on the Cold War in Europe and the wreck of the DC-3, which you won’t forget anytime soon.

The limits are clear: changing opening hours, partly tight halls and no official view of the flying next door. But if you build the visit into a Sweden tour with Arlanda, you experience at Malmslätt one of the most rewarding museum days Scandinavia has to offer spotters.