Major General Åke Mangård (21 January 1917 – 24 March 1998) was a

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( or just ) is the air force Military branch, branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the escalatin ...

officer. His senior commands include commanding officer of the

Göta Wing Göta Wing (), also F 9 Säve, or simply F 9, was a Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Gothenburg in south-west Sweden. History The decision to set up the air wing was made in 1936 to defend the import/export harbours on the w ...

(F 9) from 1959 to 1960, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff from 1960 to 1961 and commanding officer of the Fourth Air Group from 1964 to 1966. After retiring from the military in 1966, Mangård worked for

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and for

SKF AB SKF (, 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing (mechanical), bearing and seal (mechanical), seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication an ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He settled in Madrid where he lived until his death in 1998.

Early life

Mangård was born on 21 January 1917 in

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

, Sweden, the son of Carl Mangård, an editor, and his wife Märtha (née Isaacsson). His brother was the

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Nils Mangård who late became chairman of the National Board for Consumer Complaints. He passed ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968, ...

'' in Västerås in 1936 and started his flight training at the

Swedish Air Force Flying School Swedish Air Force Flying School (), also F 5 Ljungbyhed, or simply F 5, is a former Swedish Air Force training wing with the main base located in Ljungbyhed in southern Sweden. History The moor at Ljungby was adopted for military use in 1658 by t ...

Ljungbyhed Ljungbyhed is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Klippan Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden, with 2,046 inhabitants in 2010. History Ljungbyhed was and is located in Riseberga ''socken'' and was part of the Riseberga ''landskommun'' af ...

where he graduated at the top of his class as a fighter pilot.

Career

Mangård was commissioned into the

as a second lieutenant in 1939. He did not leave Ljungbyhed but stayed another couple of years and trained to become a flight instructor. Mangård was promoted to lieutenant in 1941 and to captain in 1946 after passing the General Course at the Royal Swedish Air Force Staff College. He then passed the Staff Course from 1946 to 1947. Mangård was promoted to major in 1951 and served as commanding officer in the Operations Command of the Air Staff from 1953 to 1956. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1955 and served as commanding officer of the Royal Swedish Air Force College (''Flygkadettskolan'') from 1956 to 1959 when he was promoted to colonel and appointed commanding officer of the

(F 9) at

Säve Säve is a locality situated in Gothenburg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 743 inhabitants in 2010. The origin of the name ''Säve'' is the Old Swedish word "sjöe" (Modern Swedish "sjö"), meaning "lake". See also * F 9 ...

airbase near

. One year later, in 1960, Mangård attended the Swedish National Defence College and was then appointed Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, a position he held for one year before being appointed commanding officer of OpL II (War Planning) section of the Defence Staff' Operations Command in 1961. In 1964, Mangård was appointed commanding officer of the Fourth Air Group (''Fjärde flygeskadern'', E 4) in

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; ; ) is a Cities in Sweden, city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the County Administrative Boards of Sweden, capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban ...

and in 1965 he was promoted to major general. He left the military in 1966. After retiring from the military, Mangård was appointed Corporate Director of International Programs of

(later North American Rockwell Corporation) in

in 1961, in charge of international marketing of North American projects. In 1970, Mangård started working for

in Gothenburg. He then worked for SKF in

from 1971 to 1974 and in

from 1974 to 1985 when he retired. Mangård then continued working for Empresa Nacional de Electronica y Sistemas SA (INISEL) in Madrid from 1985 to 1988.

Personal life

Mangård was married 1939-1967 to Anna-Lisa Hedberg (born 1918), the daughter of ''

ryttmästare ''Ryttmästare'' (from the German word ''Rittmeister'') was a military rank in the Swedish cavalry in the Swedish Army. The rank corresponded to the rank of captain in other service branches. The rank was abolished in 1972. History The military ...

'' Axel Hedberg and his wife Lisa (née Zickermann). He was the father of Kerstin (born 1942), Gunilla (born 1943) and Carl-Axel (born 1946). In 1968 he married Rosemary Menzies-Whigham (born 1929), the daughter of William Menzies-Whigham and Honoria (née Bewicke).

Dates of rank

*1939 – Second lieutenant *1941 –

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

*1946 –

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

*1951 –

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

*1955 – Lieutenant colonel *1959 –

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

*1965 – Major general

Awards and decorations

Swedish

Royal_Order_of_the_Sword_-_Commander_BAR

Commander of the

Order of the Sword The Royal Order of the Sword (officially: ''Royal Order of the Sword''; Swedish: ''Kungliga Svärdsorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry and military decoration created by King Frederick I of Sweden on 23 February 1748, together with the Or ...

(6 June 1963) * Knight of the

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry founded on 29 May 1772 by Gustav III, King Gustav III. It is awarded to Swedish citizens for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. His ...

* Stockholm Defense Committee's silver medal (''Stockholms försvarskommittés silvermedalj'')

Foreign

* Portuguese Order of Military Merit * French Air Force Aeronautical Badge * Turkish Air Force Aeronautical Badge

Honours

*Member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences () is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden and was founded on 12 November 1796 by Gustaf Wilhelm af Tibell. The academy is an independent organization and a forum for military (army and air force) and de ...

(1959)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangard, Ake 1917 births 1998 deaths Swedish Air Force major generals People from Västerås Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences Commanders of the Order of the Sword Knights of the Order of Vasa Swedish expatriates in the United States Swedish expatriates in Japan Swedish emigrants to Spain