Trondheim Airport, Lade

Historie

Lade Airport was an air station and later civilian airport located at Lade in Trondheim, Norway which was in use from 1940 to 1965. It had a 1140m concrete runway.The facility was built by the Luftwaffe during World War II to provide air defense for Trondheim and as a temporary airport until Værnes Air Station was completed. After the end of the war in 1945 the airport was taken over by civilian authorities. Trøndelag Flyveselskap operated from Lade from 1946 to 1950. The airline folded and was replaced by Trønderfly, which lasted for one year. Widerøe then started operating at the airport and continued to do so until its closing, although they never operated scheduled services out of the airport. Aviation clubs at the airport were Trondheim Flyklubb and NTH Flyklubb.At first Trondheim was mostly served by water aerodromes and from 1952 Trondheim Airport, Værnes became Trondheim's main airport. Braathens SAFE operated scheduled flights to Oslo from 1952 to 1956, when they moved to Værnes. Lade Airport remained in use until 1965, when it was abandoned to allow for the area to be redeveloped for industry, shopping, and a sports venue.HistoryWorld War IIThe site at Lade was traditionally farming land. During the late 19th century it was proposed used as a site for the Norwegian College of Agriculture, but was instead located at Ås. Thus the area remained an agricultural area at the break-out of World War II in 1940. A Norwegian Simmonds Spartan school aircraft landed at the fields. Scheduled services to Trondheim started in 1937, when Norwegian Air Lines (DNL) started seaplane services out of the port at Ilsvika and the lake of Jonsvannet.