Aviation Photography - Linkoping, Swedish Air Force

Swedish Air Force - Flygvapnet
Flying Training School (FlygSkolan)
Linköping/Malmen, Sweden
August 2014

Four days on base and between flights I spent time wondering around the flight lines and hangars, here are some of the images which did not make the article.

Ten years later on June 18, 2024 the Swedish Air Force officially retired the Saab Skolflygplan 60, or SK 60. The decommissioning ceremony took place at the type’s home base of Malmen, near Linköping. "It has served us so well — we have had the SK 60 in the Swedish inventory since before I was born, but it is now old,"said Deputy Commander of the Swedish Air Force Brig. Gen. Tommy Petersso. The final military operator, the Flygskolan or Swedish Air Force flight school, which graduated its last group of students earlier in the month. Latterly, around 25 SK 60s were still active with the school.

Student pilots stepping out for the first mass launch of the day.

Left to right: To get the image above I had to work something out with the student pilots. Several times a day the Flying Training School (FTS) have mass launches which suits their operations at Malmen and fits in the FSVs operations which share the airfield. I wanted an image which depicted the mass launch. I had noticed in previous launches that the instructors and pilots wandered out on to the ramp in their own time but started up at almost the same time and taxied out over a five minute period. With the approval of the deputy FTS commander Major Mike Rosenquist (extreme right image) I addressed around 25 students and instructors at the end of the early morning briefing. I asked them to wait at the door to the ramp and the crew for the furthest Sk 60 to step out first when he reached the first yellow line then the second crew for the send furthest jet should then step out. This sequence was to be repeated so that I had equally spaced crews walking out to their jets. The plan worked perfectly and I got my shot.