Bulltofta

55°36'14"N 013°04'07"E

runway: 06/24 - 1900x60m - asphalt
runway: 13/31 - ...x..m - grass

Bulltofta air field was an airfield northeast of Malmö (Malmen).
The airfield was built in the early 1920s as a military airfield. In 1924 AB Aerotransport (ABA) began to provide service on the Malmö-Hamburg route using single-engine Junkers F13 aircraft. The service was expanded in the following year to Amsterdam and Gothenburg.
In 1926 Bulltofta handled nearly 2,000 take-offs and landings and 6,000 passengers, 30 per cent more than Stockholm. Expansion continued throughout the 1920s, with nightly postal flights to Stockholm, Amsterdam and London. By the early 1930s passenger services had expanded to Berlin, Paris and London. Airlines such as Air France, KLM and the Danish-based DDL also served Bulltofta. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the airport was handling some forty flights per day.


Bulltofta airfield (Flygfält) on a map published in the book 'Svenska Orter' in 1932 (justus.ownit.nu).


Overview of the airfield lighting in 1934. Notice the antenna lighting in the upper right corner (justus.ownit.nu)


The airfield as seen from the air in the 1930s (justus.ownit.nu).

Although the number of passengers decreased during the period 1939-1945, a new terminal opened in 1943. 
During the war it also became the home of the Swedish Air Force Fighter Wing F10. As an air force unit in a neutral country during war, the pilots spent most of their time in patrol duties and flying reconnaissance missions along the southern Swedish coastline in the county of Scania. The Allied strategic bombing campaign over Germany brought a lot of damaged heavy bombers to neutral countries. A distance of no more than 250-300 miles between the German and Swedish coasts made Bulltofta airfield a good alternative. Especially during the hot summer months of 1944, F10 fighters could often be seen escorting American heavy bombers over the flat country of Scania to Bulltofta. The escorts were the result of an agreement made between the U.S. Bomber Command and the Swedish government in early 1944. It stated that no more force landed aircraft would be destroyed by their crews, as had happened in 1943. This was a problem for the Swedes because wrecks would sometimes occupy the landing strips for several days. In exchange, information was given to the Americans about which airfields would be suitable for force landings, one of them being Bulltofta.


A Swedish Air Force J-20 (Reggianne 2000) at Bulltofta during World War II (britmodeller.com).

With the exception of nine fighters (one RAF Mosquito and eight P-51s), only B-24s and B-17s force-landed in the south of Sweden. Only two came down in 1943, but the main amount came during the spring and summer of 1944. A total of 131 B-24s and B-17s landed or crashed in Sweden between July 1943 and May 1945, of which Bulltofta received 33 B-24s and 29 B-17s. The peak was reached on 20 and 21 June 1944 when no less than 25 heavies landed at Bulltofta after very large bombing raids on German petrochemical plants in Politz and Ostermoor. Around 300 heavy bombers started in the raid and after the raid 34 planes were missing, having been very heavily attacked by German forces consisting of Bf 110s, Me 410s and Ju 88s, which shot down no less than nine B-24s from the 492nd BG between Rugen and the Danish Island of Bornholm. In the space of an hour (between 09:27 and 10:30) 16 B-24s had landed or crashed at the Bulltofta airfield. A local newspaper that had described the event ended the article with:
With such a great number of Liberators and Flying Fortresses force-landed in Malmö, it's hard to find an empty spot at Bulltofta.
It's not without concern that you think of what's going to happen during the next few days if similar invasion waves, as we've seen today, continue.


A war damaged B-17 landing at Bulltofta while escorted by a Swedish Air Force J-20 in 1944 (britmodeller.com).

As such heavy air activities had never been seen before at Bulltofta, there was soon complete chaos on the airfield. Without hardened runways, it was only a large grass field, the Americans made their landings from different directions. Some of them had to make belly landings. Another problem was that there was no time to tow away damaged aircraft. F10 personnel were organised into several groups in order to take care of force landed aircraft and their crews, but as the number of aircraft and crews greatly exceeded the number of these groups, the organisation soon collapsed.
In spite of this most of the planes and their crews managed to land safely. Unfortunately the landing of B-24H "Take it Easy" from the 93rd Bomb Group ended up a complete disaster. Having been been hit by flak over Germany, resulting in the loss of its two right engines and a severely wounded navigator, the crew made a decision not to bail out, but to try to reach Bulltofta. Upon the final approach, the sudden appearance of a hill forced the pilots to apply full throttle to the good engines in an attempt to clear the hill. However, applying full power to only one side caused the plane to yaw violently, the right wing hit the ground, the plane rolled over and ended up as a burning wreck, up side down in the middle of the field. Three men of F10s emergency service managed to rescue all but three of the crew, in spite of exploding ammunition and oxygen bottles. Unfortunately, of the seven rescued men, two later died due to their injuries. The three rescuers were later awarded silver medals by the Swedish King 'for outstanding work'.
Most of the crews were interned in barracks in Malmö. They were guarded, not to keep the crews in, but to keep the curious Swedes out.
After VE day the bombers that were still in flyable condition were flown back to England, often by the same pilots that hat spent their final months in Sweden.


A diverted and damaged USAAF B-24 Liberator at Bulltofta in 1944 (britmodeller.com). Diverting to Sweden was not without danger, as Robert Wilcox of 731Sqn/452BG recalled in Sweden After the Flak. Just before they reached the airfield they met with some accurate Flak. On the eairfield however, they were met with milk and sandwiches. As Mr. Wilcox recalled later: Pretty soon, a Swedish captain drifted near me, and I said, "Captain, could I ask you a question?" "Certainly," he said, in perfect English. I then told him about the Swedes firing on us, when we were at 3,000 feet, with our gear down, an engine feathered, and an engine trailing smoke. "They did?" he said, looking surprised. Then, obviously concerned, he asked, "And did they hit you?" "They sure did," I replied. "Well," he said, wagging his head slowly, "That's very unusual. They often fire. But they very seldom ever hit anything."


The 1943 station building at Bulltofta, photographed for a postcard around 1950 (Cardcow.com).

After the war the airfield was returned to civilian use. Around 1950 the decision was made to build a 1900m long runway at the airfield, which was completed in 1953. A new terminal was opened in 1959 to cope with the increased amount of traffic. 
In 1960 Transair made Bulltofta its new main center of operations. In 1961 the company began building a new hangar and workshops to support its fleet. In 1964, Bulltofta handled 90,000 passengers a year. At the same time the authorities began looking for a new location for the airfield in an affort to reduce noise in Malmö. In 1968 the decision on the new location was taken, and construction began in 1970.
Operations transferred to the new airport in 1972. Before it closed there was a hijacking at the airfield on 15 September 1972.


A Swedish map of Bulltofta airfield in 1969 (Svenskt Flyghistoriskt Forum).
Legend:
1, 2, 3: Hangars, built in 1923, 1926 and 1929 respectively
4. F10 camp, Swedish Air Force, after 1945 Malmö aircraft industry
5. Airport terminal building (1943), later offices for Transair
6. Aeroclub building
7. Aeroclub hangar
8. Passenger terminal (1959)
9. Freight terminal
10. Transair hangar (1963)
11. MFI premises


Climbing out of the old Malmo Airport in the suburb of Bulltofta, with the city of Malmo in the background, 23 July 1971 (Alexander Cunningham on Flickr).

In 2011 the airfield had still not completely disappeared, although it was largely built over by the Bulltofta traffic intersection. Several buildings and part of the runway have found a new role. The station building and control tower still exist. At least two hangars are also still in use. A part of the runway is now in use by a driving school.


Monument at Bulltofta dedicated to the men of F10.


The old ATC radar at Bulltofta, photographed in 2007.


Hangar 2 at Bulltofta, photographed in 2007.


The former treshold of runway 24, photographed in 2007.


The passenger terminal and control tower at Bulltofta, photographed in 2007.


The location of Bulltofta, photographed in 2009 (Google Earth).