Twenty years ago, in September 1999, most things pointed upwards for F10 in Ängelholm. Then the first JAS-gripped plane rolled into the area. Thus, F10 would become the second JAS fleet in Sweden.
Jobs were perceived to be secured for a long time to come.
But the following year, despite huge investments in, among other things, a new JAS hangar, the decision came that the entire fleet would be wound up. It was part of losing the Swedish defense.
Want to tell about the life behind the gates
What remains of the old airbase today is partly to be seen at Ängelholm Airport Museum, which is run by F10 Kamratförening.
- We want to tell you about the life and the people behind the gates, which were closed to most, says Ulf Ohlsson, former fighter pilot and one of the initiators of the Ängelholm Air Museum.
At the museum you notice a new interest in the defense of the public. Many want to know more about the military and civilian armament in the decades after the end of the Second World War.
One team behind the flight
The years after the Second World War until 1991 came to be characterized by race armor and the balance of terror between the great powers Soviet and US.
They were also during the decades that Sweden built up its air defense.
The aircraft fleet F10 in Ängelholm, with approximately 1,000 employees, was tasked with protecting the entire southern Sweden from attack. Two fighter planes were in constant readiness, around the clock, to discourage intruders.
- We were the border guards. We would make sure that no military aircraft flew over our borders, says Urban Möhrén.
In order to keep the aircraft in the air, there were a number of occupational groups - aerospace engineers, engineers, telecommunications, meteorologists, conscripts and pilots - a number of occupational groups worked inside the fences.
- It was a teamwork, says Ulf Ohlsson.