Roma

57°31'11"N 018°27'41"E

Runway: n/a - 1100x1100meters - grass

Roma airfield (Swedish: Flygstation Roma) was an airfield on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
The airfield was built in 1938 in anticipation of war in Europe on a 1000x200 meter grass strip.
To complete the airfield, about 12,000 trees had to be uprooted.
It was completed in the summer of 1939 and inspected by Crown Prince Gustav Adolf in September.
It was built on a field next to the royal farm (Kungsgård) and opened in the summer of 1940.
The farm itself was used for quarters, staff and hangar space.
In May 1941 a dozen Seversky J-9 fighters were stationed at the airfield from F8 in Stockholm.
That same year Roma was assigned the role of intervention base, meaning it was to receive Finnish and German aircraft that were intercepted over Swedish territory.
from 1942 until 1943 the airfield was expanded to a 1100x1100meter field.
In 1943 Roma, like Bunge received S16 (Caproni Ca313) and S17 (SAAB-17) reconnaissance aircraft from F1 Vasteras and F11 Nyköping.





US built Seversky J9 fighters at Roma, 1941 (tjelvar.se).





SAAB-17 reconaissance aircraft in front of the Kungsgård in 1941 (tjelvar.se).


When World War II was over in 1945, the base was brought back to training status.
The military finally left the base in 1988, returning it to the Royal family.
Kungsgården currently consists of over 300 hectares of land most of which is arable land.
The land and farm buildings are engaged in crop production and rearing of beef cattle.





The former Roma airfield in 2010 (Google Earth).





Kungsgård in 2011, very little has changed compared to the SAAB-17 photo above (tjelvar.se).


Many thanks to Per Jelkne for pointing out this airfield!