Up and away at the Norwegian Aviation Museum

A bird’s eye perspective on Norway’s past, present, and future

Photo:  Tommy Andreassen  / www.nordnorge.com  /  Visit Norway
The Norwegian Aviation Musuem in Bodø is Norway’s national aviation museum and the largest aviation museum in the Nordic countries.

Cynthia Elyce Rubin
Travel Editor
The Norwegian American

Soar through Norway’s rich aviation history at the Norwegian Aviation Museum in Bodø. Inaugurated by King Harald V in 1994, it holds the distinction of being a one-of-a-kind cultural resource as the largest aviation museum in the Nordic countries.

Emphasis is on both military and civil aviation from the very beginning to the present day. The Cold War is also on the agenda in a collaborative project between the museum and Bodø24 in partnership with institutions in Estonia, Scotland, Germany, and Denmark, so-called “hotspot” locations. The project aims to explore how the Cold War is remembered from a comprehensive European perspective.

Photo: Norsk Luftfartsmuseum
At the Norwegian Aviation Museum, you enter into an exciting landscape filled with educational experiences for both young and old.Photo: Norsk Luftfartsmuseum
At the Norwegian Aviation Museum, you enter into an exciting landscape filled with educational experiences for both young and old.

It’s a museum full of airplanes, strange inventions, and vintage memorabilia. Join the flying journey in a spectacular exhibition landscape, with educational experiences for both young and old. See how aviation united Norway as a nation and experience icons such as the U-2 spy plane, Starfighter, and Spitfire. Try your hand as a pilot in a flight simulator at the Newton Flight Academy, situated outside the museum in the parking area. This is a complete flight experience. You take off from Bodø airport and fly around to take in the surroundings in the full-motion two-engine flight simulator.  Welcome to a thrilling experience for the entire family!

Inside, the exhibition “We’re Flying! — a journey through Norwegian aviation history” explores how Norwegians became a people who love to fly. Learn about aviation pioneers, Roald Amundsen and Hans Dons, about the development of passenger aviation, the efforts in World War II, and more. In the exhibition, you learn about the flight school in Canada where Norwegian pilots trained during the war.

Photo: Norsk Luftfartsmuseum
The Norwegian Aviation Museum is proud to be the owners of the only flying Norseman in Europe, nothing less than a historical treasure.

The exhibit showcases the emergence and growth of the country’s aviation and how it is fundamental to the present way of life. Air travel makes it possible to live in sparsely populated areas and small communities close to natural resources but, at the same time, with access to larger urban centers. The history of aviation in Norway is also the history of the development of modern Norwegian society.

Beginning with a dream inspired by birds, humans used their creativity to build a craft capable of flight. The museum celebrates early dreamers. For example, Eskil Amdal wanted to become either a farmer or a pilot and ended up a test pilot for F-35 fighter planes. The Grunau gang lived their dream with the Grunau glider built in their parents’ bedroom.

Photo: Norsk Luftfartsmuseum
Inside the Norwegian Aviation Museum, educational activities are offered for visitors of all ages, with special summer programs each year.

In the period between 1930 and 1975, aviation saw remarkable developments. In 1935, the government offered financial support and organization to make regular sea plane routes. New airports were built, and airlines formed; air routes completely changed Norwegian society. Although a seafaring nation, Norway soon depended on air traffic that eventually became mass transit with air routes to even the most remote locations. Aviation stitched the nation together and also connected Norway to the rest of the world.

Over the course of the 1970s, there were strong demands for better transport, a comprehensive rescue service, and frequent travel opportunities. Then came space with rockets used for both research and defense. Later, after oil in the North Sea made Norway a wealthy nation, air travel became public transport, central to Norwegian life. And now there are questions, such as how can we use our knowledge for increased safety? What are the future challenges?

Photo: Norsk Luftfartsmuseum
At the adjacent Newton Flight Academy, you can virtually take off in a flight simulator and experience the beautiful surroundings of the Bodø area.

This museum is not just about aircraft and technology. Here are exciting stories about people and their creativity. There is something to see and learn and experience for everyone. The good news for every armchair history buff? If you are not able to visit Bodø, you can visit two online exhibitions: “Gidsken Jakobsen” Norway’s second female pilot who received her license in 1929 and who ran a multifaceted business with her own planes; and “Yellow 3” about the German Messerschmitt Bf 109, Yellow 3 warplane that made an emergency landing in the sea off Trøndelag in 1943 and disappeared. The story of the search for the aircraft, its discovery in 2009 and its restoration with the help of volunteers is truly inspiring. Today it is on public view at the museum.

For more information, visit:

norwegianaviationmuseum.com (English)

norsk-luftfartsmuseum.squarespace.com  (Norwegian)

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of  The Norwegian American.