Ålesund Airport, Sørneset
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Ålesund Airport, Sørneset () was a
water aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...
and later
heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...
situated at Nørvevika and later Sørneset in
Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Aspà ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. The
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
was, to a varying degree, used between 1929 and 1979. It has since been demolished. The first use of Nørvevika was in November 1929 as a temporary base for the
Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service () was alongside the Norwegian Army Air Service the forerunner to the modern-day Royal Norwegian Air Force. History The RNNAS was established on 1 June 1912,Official Norwegian Defence Force websiteThe first ...
. When
Norwegian Air Lines Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S (literally "The Norwegian Aviation Company") or DNL, trading internationally as Norwegian Air Lines, was an airline and flag carrier of Norway. Founded in 1927, it operated domestic and international routes from 19 ...
commenced scheduled flights along the coast in 1935, they also took the facilities into use. The Navy Air Service returned in 1939 and decided to build a base, but there was no time to carry out the plans before the German invasion the following year. The
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
used the base for two Arado Ar 196 from 1941 to 1943, moving the base to Sørneset during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Lufttransport moved to the base in 1946 and carried out commercial flights in 1948 and 1949. After shutting down, these were taken over by Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap in 1950. They were retained until 1957, and the following season
Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport (, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the Vigra (island), island of Vigra in Giske Municipali ...
opened. The final operator at Sørneset was Mørefly, who at first operated seaplanes and later focused on
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
s. They abandoned the site in 1979, moving to Vigra.


History


Establishment

Sporadic flights with seaplanes to Ã…lesund started in 1920, although not with more than a few private flights per year. From November 1929 the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service set up a base at Skutvika near the town center, which they used to search for
herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...
. This base was found to be unsuitable due to the amount of ship traffic. When they returned the following year, the Herring Association had instead selected a more suitable base at Nørvevika. There they established at wooden shed with a tin roof which acted as a hangar for two Hansa-Brandenburg W.33 aircraft. Due to harsh treatment the winter weather gave the aircraft, the air service terminated these operations the following year. Norwegian Air Lines carried out a trial postal route from Ålesund to
Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...
for four weeks in 1934, using a Junkers W 34 from 7 June to 3 August. The trials were successful and the following year the airline commenced flights with the larger
Junkers Ju 52 The Junkers Ju 52/3m (nicknamed ''Tante Ju'' ("Aunt Ju") and ''Iron Annie'') is a transport aircraft that was designed and manufactured by German aviation company Junkers. First introduced during 1930 as a civilian airliner, it was adapted int ...
.Hjelle: 12 The routes were summer-only; for instance in 1938 they lasted from 4 April to 30 September. These services continued until 4 September 1939, when all commercial flights were banned. The need for a naval seaplane base in Ã…lesund resumed in 1939. This was caused by the
Phoney War The Phoney War (; ; ) was an eight-month period at the outset of World War II during which there were virtually no Allied military land operations on the Western Front from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 3 Septembe ...
and the need to station aircraft along the
Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...
coast to maintain Norwegian neutrality. Nørvevika was found to be the most suitable location and selected. Funding of 225,000
Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...
was granted, which would include a hangar which could fit three
Heinkel He 115 The Heinkel He 115 was an all-metal twin-engined military seaplane designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. Early on its flying history, the He 115 established several new international records for floatplanes. The He 1 ...
seaplanes. However, the entire issue was stopped during the
expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
process. The site had several owners and one of these died in the process. No work had therefore been carried out upon the German invasion on 9 April 1940. Luftwaffe started looking for a site for an airport between
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
and
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
in January 1941. At first they suggested Spjelkavik, but this was changed and
Aukra Airport, Gossen Aukra may refer to: Places *Aukra Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *''Aukra'' or Aukrasanden, a village within Aukra Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway *Aukra Church, a church in Aukra Municipality in Mø ...
built instead. However, the Luftwaffe still needed a base for seaplanes to operate near Ålesund. For this they carried out the plans which the Naval Air Service had made and erected a seaplane base later in 1941. This was at first built at Nørvevika, but was later relocated slightly to Sørneset. The ships were anchored to a
buoy A buoy (; ) is a buoyancy, floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. History The ultimate origin of buoys is unknown, but by 1295 a seaman's manual referred to navig ...
and a barracks was built on land.Flatmark: 126 It was manned with two Arado Ar 196 of 2. Kustenfliegergruppe 406. One of these crashed on 18 March 1943 at Rambjøra in
Haram Municipality Haram is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative center is Brattvåg, the industrial center of Sunnmøre. Other important villages in the municipality include Austnes, Eidsvik, ...
, killing both on board. The second crashed at Volsdalen in Ã…lesund on 18 October.


Scheduled services

The airline Lufttransport was founded in 1946 with a base at Sørneset. It eventually operated a fleet of four aircraft, including a Grumman Widgeon and a
Fairchild 24 The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United Sta ...
. The airline built a hangar at the airport. It started a scheduled service to
Oslo Airport, Fornebu Oslo Airport, Fornebu was the primary international airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and the area has since been redeveloped. The airport was located at ...
three times a week in 1948, with stopovers in
Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...
and
Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county. The admin ...
using the Widgeon. It also made attempts to fly to Bergen and Trondheim. However, the company had difficulties making a profit and shut down in 1949. Ownership of the airport passed to Ålesund Bil og Flyservice.Hjelle: 13 Vestlandske Luftfartselskap took over the coastal services in 1950. They operated summer routes from Bergen to Trondheim and hand intermediate stops in Ålesund and Kristiansund, later also in Molde. At first they used a four-passenger Republic RC-3 Seabee, later a Short SA.6 Sealand with twice the passenger capacity. The routes operated until 1957. They were considered taken over by Widerøe and Solbergfly, but the 1958 opening of
Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport (, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the Vigra (island), island of Vigra in Giske Municipali ...
made this an implausible ordeal.


Mørefly

A group of enthusiasts bought a Luscombe 8 Silvaire and two years later they established the airline Mørefly. It took various general aviation contracted work, such as cargo transport, aerial photography and searching for
herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...
steams.Hjelle: 121 It also took over ownership of the airport. From 1957 they set up an air ambulance service out of Sørneset using a Seabee. Mørefly continued to operate various
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
services out of Sørneset. From 1966 it also became a heliport when Mørefly bought its first helicopter, a Bell 47G4.Hjelle: 123 Operations included air ambulance,
search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
, cargo transport, herring patrol, aerial photography and a
scuba diver Scuba, originally SCUBA, often expanded to scuba set, is any self contained underwater breathing apparatus, a source of breathing gas used for underwater diving which is carried by the diver. Scuba may also refer to: * Scuba diving Scuba ...
standby for the fishing fleet. The airline decided in 1977 that it would relocate to Vigra. It built a new hangar there and relocated in 1979, abandoning Sørneset as an aerodrome. For a while the hangar was used by Ålesund Last og Buss. The hangar and barracks were still in place in 1988, but were in the early 1990s demolished and the area used for housing.


Facilities

The water aerodrome was physically located at two different locations in the bay of Nørvevika. The first was named Nørvevik and the second Sørneset. Sørneset is a headland situated on the island of Nørvøya, between the Nørvevika and Nørvesundet. The water aerodrome consisted of a buoy, a
slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving smal ...
, a hangar and a barracks used for offices. In addition there was a small floating dock.Flatmark: 127 From 1966 the aerodrome also featured a
helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...
.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alesund Airport, Sorneset Water aerodromes in Norway Heliports in Norway Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service stations Luftwaffe airports in Norway Airports in Møre og Romsdal Defunct airports in Norway Buildings and structures in Ålesund Airports established in 1941 Airports disestablished in 1979 1941 establishments in Norway 1979 disestablishments in Norway Military installations in Møre og Romsdal