The Icelandic Aviation Museum

The Icelandic Aviation Museum ( ) covers the history of aviation in Iceland. It is housed at Akureyri Airport and was formally opened on 24 June 2000.

History

The museum was founded on 1 May 1999 and formally opened on 24 June 2000 by Halldór Blöndal, the Speaker of the Althing. It was initially known as the Aviation Museum at Akureyri; another aviation collection existed at Hnjótur in Örlygshöfn. It was renamed in 2005 to reflect its national role. Svanbjörn Sigurðsson, a principal figure in the foundation of the museum, was its first director.

Initially in temporary quarters in a hangar rented by Íslandsbanki, the museum moved in 2007 to a purpose-built building with of space, approximately five times what it previously had; the building was officially opened by Sigrún Björk Jakobsdóttir, the mayor of Akureyri. It celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2009.

The aircraft collection has been used for training by the .

Collection

The museum has many photographs of Icelandic aviation through the years and also a number of historic aircraft, many of which it maintains in airworthy condition and flies at least once a year on an annual fly day. These include:

• Klemm L.25e TF-SUX, built in 1934 and brought to Iceland by Germans in 1938; the first plane to land in the Vestmannaeyjar
• Waco YKS-7 identical to TF-ÖRN, the first aircraft operated by Flugfélag Akureyrar, later Flugfélag Íslands, when it began service in 1938
• a twin-engine Beechcraft identical to that first brought to Iceland in 1942
• Björn Pálsson's Auster V, with which he flew the first air ambulance service in Iceland
• a 1943 Douglas DC-3 that saw duty at Keflavík Air Base before transfer to civilian use by Flugfélag Íslands in 1946
• the cockpit of Gullfaxi, Boeing 727 TF-FIE, the country's first jet aircraft, recovered from the Mojave Desert
• TF-SIF, a Aérospatiale SA-365N-1 Dauphin 2 former Icelandic Coast Guard rescue helicopter that was in service for 22 years and is credited to have been involved in the rescue of around 250 lives
• Coast Guard Fokker F-27 TF-SYN
• Árnason JFP-2S-8, an experimental canard aircraft, making use of Blown flap propulsion.

See also

• List of aviation museums

References

External links

• Official website