The old airfield

The old air­field in Advent­da­len and the wreck of the JU 88 are not far away from Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

Ger­man Ju 88 at Adven­tel­va

Pla­nes used to land in Advent­da­len, about 4 km east of Lon­gye­ar­by­en, until the new air­port at Hotell­ne­set (the one we know and use today) was built in 1973 and ope­ned in 1975.

The first landing in Advent­da­len was made during the second world war, on Sep­tem­ber 25, 1941, by a Ger­man Ju 52 to land a recon­nois­sance pat­rol which should inves­ti­ga­te the situa­ti­on in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, which had recent­ly been evacua­ted. Soon theraf­ter, the Ger­man air force star­ted to estab­lish the wea­ther sta­ti­on Ban­sö in a Nor­we­gi­an hut in Advent­da­len, bet­ween End­a­len and Toda­len, which was ope­ra­ted over the win­ter 1941-42.

On June 14, 1942, a Ger­man Ju 88 from Banak in north Nor­way lan­ded on the airst­rip in Advent­da­len, but was dama­ged becau­se the ground was soft. 12 days later, it was addi­tio­nal­ly serious­ly dama­ged during an attack by an allied Cata­li­na, so it was left behind. Today, the wreck of the Ger­man Ju 88 is next to Adven­tel­va (-river), direct­ly behind the buil­ding at the old airst­rip.

The hori­zon in the last pan­ora­ma takes a bit of get­ting used to, but as the air­craft wreck can be seen well here from an unu­su­al per­spec­ti­ve, I deci­ded to include it here any­way.

Pho­to gal­lery: The old air­field in Advent­da­len: the wreck of the JU 88

A few pic­tures of the wrecka­ge of the JU 88 on the banks of the Adven­tel­va at the old air­field in Advent­da­len. The pic­tures are from 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2022.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

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