Haslemoen Airport

Historie

Haslemoen Airport is an airport situated at Haslemoen in Våler, Norway. Since 2003 the airport only features a 500m grass runway used by ultralight aircraft. This is located next to a closed 1800m formerly military runway.The airport was planned by the Norwegian Army Air Service as a main air station during the late 1930s, but the plans were stopped by the break-out ofh the Second World War. Haslemoen was built as a labor camp in 1943 and then taken over by Luftwaffe, who built the airport. Opening in August 1944, its main purpose was to station a squadron of Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors. Haslemoen was rebuilt and opened as the base of the Artillery Battalion in 1955. Operation of the airport resumed in 1960 with the delivery of Cessna O-1 Bird Dog observation aircraft. They remained in service with the artillery until 1992. The grass ultralight runway was established in 1990 and was sold to Våler Municipality in 2007.HistoryThe interest to establish an airfield and military base at Haslemoen was first articulated by the Norwegian Army Air Service in the late 1930s. Their two main air stations in Eastern Norway, Kjeller and Gardermoen, were both too small. They therefore proposed that the relatively flat, forested areas at Haslemoen would be a suitable site for a main air station. Grants to expropriate 5.7km2 was granted by Parliament in February 1940. Clearing of 2.0km2 was completed by April. A planned meeting om 9 April concerning further construction was, however, interrupted by the German invasion.