Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hoping our Norwegian members might take a look at the words below and provide a descriptive definition. On-line translators and Norwegian-English dictionaries don't seem to have these, all of which refer to types of construction of runways on Luftwaffe bases in wartime Norway. The first is undoubtedly a type of wooden plank runway, the second is some sort of solid or liquid covering applied over the top of concrete runways and the third is a complete mystery.

plankedekke
treseksjoner
trelemmer

Thanks,

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hello L.
plankedekke = Wooden cover (As you write a "wooden plank runway"
treseksjoner= wooden sections
trelemmer= wood limbs

I guess you are at Trondheim Vaernes airport in April 1940?
Br/Goran

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Thanks for that, Br/Goran. Actually, nearly all of the airfield runways in Norway had at least some connection with these materials in one way or another.

Could you please expand a little more on treseksjoner (wooden sections)? I am still unclear on this one. Many of the airfields had concrete runways with treseksjoner. Does this mean wooden sections were placed between the sections of concrete, probably to reduce or eliminate damage due to upheaval and cracking of the concrete during the bitter cold winters?

Thanks,

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

I believe the meanig in this context in the direction you indicate above; Namely that the runway was partly made of sections of wooden planking, possibly over areas soaked wet by the thaw of snow and consequently to soft for heavy aircraft to land on or take off from.
G.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Thanks for the additional comments.

I was surprised to discover the number of wartime airfields in Norway that had concrete runways, sometimes 2 and 3 of them. The percentage was many times greater than for the airfields in Germany. The great majority of the larger airfields in the Reich had grass surfaces and only the hangar aprons and taxiways were paved.

This is why I was puzzled to read in the source noted below that Norway's concrete runways were almost all with treseksjoner. Why would you use wooden sections or pallets with a concrete runway? If they were placed on top of the concrete, aircraft could neither take off or land. Anyway, that's what the authors of the book say in their one-paragraph write-up for each of the 28 airfields described (pages 313-20).

Hafsten, Bjørn, Ulf Larsstuvold, Bjørn Olsen and Sten Stenersen. Flyalarm: Luftkrigen Over Norge 1939-1945. Oslo: Sem & Stenersen A/S, 1991. ISBN: 82-7046-058-3. Hb (oversize). Dj. 328p. Heavily illus. Maps. Tables.

Here's an example:

Kjeller: ".........Rullebanen ble utbygget til 1 200 x 100 meter og fikk betongdekke med treseksjoner."

So this is why I thought treseksjoner might be lengths of sawmill lumber inserted between the sections of poured concrete for the reasons I stated earlier.

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Books on the Bf109T mention the aircraft being chosen for operation from Herla, with its short wooden runway. Possibly it was not the only one.

I suspect the ground conditions in northern Norway would make grass airfields unusable for much of the year, hence the need for solid runways.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Yes, that's right. There were a few wooden runways and a few grass runways, but the majority were concrete. Although the Norwegian book I cited did not specifically state that Herdla had a wooden runway, it evidently did as you noted:

Herdla (NOR) (60 34 N – 04 57 E)
General: airfield on an island 29 km NW of Bergen in SW Norway. Constructed during 1940-41 as a fighter strip and eventually had a 1,000 x 50 meter north-to-south runway and a 850 x 50 meter south-to-east runway. The units stationed there mainly flew fighter cover for shipping along Norway’s west coast. Ration strength 1 Mar 43: 161 Boden, 39 Ln., 433 Flak, 53 Wehrmachtgefolge.
Air Units:
Station Units: Fl.H.Kdtr. E Herdla (1941-42); Fl.H.Kdtr. E 15/III (1942-44); Fl.H.Kdtr. A(o) 104/III (1944-45).

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Can be worth trying sending a mail to Kjeller Flyhistoriske Forening (KFF): kff@luftnett.com
Homepage:
http://www.luftnett.org/index.php?op...tpage&Itemid=1

Br/Goran

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Excellent, Br/Goran! I will send them an e-mail.

Thanks,

Larry

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Br/Goran -

I think something is wrong with the e-mail address you provided. I just received this:

Leveringen mislyktes til disse mottakerne eller distribusjonslistene:
mkff@luftnett.com
Finner ikke mottakerens e-postadresse i mottakerens e-postsystem. Microsoft Exchange vil ikke prøve å sende denne meldingen for deg på nytt. Kontroller e-postadressen og prøv å sende denne meldingen på nytt, eller send følgende diagnosetekst til systemansvarlig.

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

......believe it shall be kff@luftnett.com
Skip the "m" in the beginning.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Thanks, Gladiator, I will give it another try.

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hi Larry. Iinteresting question and observations.

I may be able to add a few points.

While the translation are essentially correct it should be noted that "treseksjoner" does not refer to the wood sections inserted betwween concrete blocks (although they were there), but is more of a synonym of "plankedekke" in this contect.

Many Luftwaffe airfilelds in Norway were made in this way; first a concrete runway was laid down which was then covered by "treseksjoner" thus forming a "plankedekke"! Does that make sense?

Perhaps this seems odd to you, but there is now enough photogrpahic and anecdocal evidence to show that this was done. There is a collection of photos on the following website which shows what can be termed "treseksjoner" being made and prepared for placing down on what I believe is Forus airfield near Stavanger, sometime in 1941., but unfortunately the photosection of the webiste seems to be down. There are also several photos showing this being done at Herdla, but as I am at an airfield myself at the time of writing (with concrete runways only!) I don't have these available. I can post later if you are interested.

http://www.norgeslexi.com/krig.html

The reason for using wooden top deckings on the runway was partly because of the immense levels of rain, I think, and also because it would reduce damage in case of bombing and be cheap and easy to replace. It was not popular amongst pilots however, as can be expected, many pilots remember the distinctive sound made when taking off and landing and such runways tended to get very slippery when wet. There is a reason why there are so many photos of Luftwaffe aircraft on the beach at the end of Herdla's north-south runway, it is not just due to the short runway!

Perhaps Andreas Brekken and me should take our idea of making a series of books on Luftwaffe airfields in Norway during WWII beyond the talking stage???:-)

Best regards,

Kjetil

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Thank you very much, Kjetil, that's a wonderfully comprehensive answer and, I might add, an answer I was not expecting! I never would have thought of wood planking on top of concrete in a thousand years. It still does not make a lot of sense to me and I am not aware of Luftwaffe airfields being constructed with a wood cover over concrete elsewhere outside of Norway and probably Finland. There must have been some danger of blown tires from large, sharp wood splinters puncturing them during landing, I would think. I cannot help but suspect that there must have been some other reasoning involved besides rain drainage and protection for the concrete in case of air attack. If not, then it is strange that the Luftwaffe would not have used this method for other airfields in Europe where heavy rain and air attacks were a problem. There certainly was no shortage of wood and sawmills in the rest of Europe at that time so the raw materials (trees) and the means of production were available. This all comes as a strange surprise. I am enlightened yet still puzzled! :):confused::)

Larry

P.S. I am quite sure your book idea would be welcomed by many!

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hi,
I have followed this discussion with some interest, and I am surprised at the answer as well. German runways in Denmark had a distinctive slope from the centerline to both sides (crown ?) and there was a gutter along the entire length of the runway. This was connected to a very effective drainage system, at Aalb-West even augmented with pumps (which incidentally are still hard at work). But I can offer no alternate explanation to wooden planks on top of a concrete runway.
I for one would also welcome a book on German airfields in Norway, but if I remember correctly concrete is not one of your favorite topics Kjetil ;).
bregds
SES

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Not unless it has castings of arachnids! ;)

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

There are many different concrete mixes varying with the ratio of the fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and cemant used and also with the cement/water ratio in the mix. It would be interesting to know the specification of the concrete mix used. Were the runways constructed with a strong reinforced mix or with a leanmix (low cement content). The leanmix type would tend not to break its back if subject to ground movement due to wet/clay type conditions which are subject to a large temperature variation. But would tend to undulate with ground movement. Was the concrete laid some 150mm below ground level and then the runway bought back to ground level with the timber decking, this would have given the concrete some protection from the elements and provided good surface drainage. If a leanmix type was used this would have minmum curing time before use, as opposed to the use of a stronger reiforced type of concrete needing 28days+. If a runway had to go down fast a leanmix type with a timber decking could be constructed much faster than a traditional reinforced concrete one.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

You must be a contractor or a retired contractor, Brian. You know your stuff about concrete.

I want to go with lean mix because the runway construction season in central and north Norway was mid-May to the end of September and a bit longer than that in south Norway. The concrete runways were in some cases constructed by Lw.-Bau-Btle. using Norwegian civilian labor, Norwegian political prisoners, Russian POWs, etc., and in other cases by the Organisation Todt with the same variety of labor. Some of the concrete runways were put down in a single season while others were under construction for 2 and 3 years before they were completed. Some were even started in 1940-41, abandoned from 1941-44, and then restarted and completed by the end of the war.

Coastal ships carrying timber from sawmills in the Trondheim area were continually sailing back and forth to ports serving the airfields in northern Norway, and some also had steel matting listed on their manifests, at least that's how Bletchley Park translated it.

So it looks like your strong reinforced mix was used in some cases and your lean mix in others. But your thoughts on how the treseksjoner sections might have been used in conjunction with a lean mix runway are very interesting.

The airfields north of Trondheim (Bardufoss, Banak, Alta, Kirkenes and some others) had a permafrost problem that plays into the drainage issue because it would have been quite difficult and time consuming to dig down below the peat outer layer and penetrate the permafrost to lay any kind of a foundation for the concrete that was deeper than a few inches. Unlike the others, Kirkenes had gravel runways which the Luftwaffe bomber guys hated because the He 111s and Ju 88s could not use Kirkenes to fly torpedo strikes. The gravel would kick up and damage the torpedos.

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Larry, Alas now retired, I worked in the construction industry and later for local authorities on Highway Maintenance. Practical side not on the design side. Its only my thoughts Larry I would have thought these runways would have to go down pretty quick and could not see the reason for bringing a concrete runway to ground level then putting a decking on top. However we live and learn, it would be interesting to see if this type of runway construction was unique to Norway,

Regards

Brian Bines

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hi, guys.

Was a bit surprised myself by parts of this discussion.

With regards to the translations I feel we should divide the runway types used in Norway in the following way:

Sand-filled 'egg-carton' (German Eierkasten) type. This was a construction based on wooden grids which was laid on leveled ground and then filled with sand, thus being kind of a wooden psp plating runway

Concrete runways - no further explanation necessary

Wooden plank runways - just large wooden planks placed side by side on wooden support beams

I believe the combined concrete/planked runways as described was a result of the necessity to extend some of the runways (for example at Vaernes near Trondheim) faster than possible with concrete. The ground were the extensions were constructed was simply to uneven or the drainage system took too long to lay down, so as a temporary solution a wooden plank runway was constructed. We have photos from Vaernes showing that this runway was indeed at places constructed at a level well above ground level and the runway planking supported by large timbers, at several places substantially above ground level.

Regards,
Andreas B

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hi,
We know the precise composition of the concrete used to build bunkers right down to DIN standards, but runways - I'm not sure we have the documentation. However on the airfields in Denmark the runways seems to have been constructed sub-surface. The three runways at Grove (1.200 x 80 m) were laid in less than three month using a moving concrete mixer.
bregds
SES

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

This afternoon I received a much appreciated reply from Knut Kinne of kff (Kjeller flyhistoriske forening) in Oslo regarding betong rullebanen med treseksjoner. Below is a paraphrase of his key paragraph, which I do because I did not ask his permission to quote from his e-mail. If anyone would like to know his exact words, PM me and I will contact him for permission. The paraphrase faithfully represents what he said.

“Your second to last paragraph ("A combination of concrete and wood.........") makes the most sense so far of all the explanations that have been offered. I think the word treseksjoner in this context does indeed mean a grid or cross-hatch of wooden squares using 2' x 4' (two-by-four) boards into the center (centre) of which the concrete was poured. This method gave the concrete squares support on all four sides and allowed the concrete to expand and contract in warm and cold weather and prevented upheaval and cracking.”

He did not say that this is the absolutely definitive answer, but he thinks that it is what is meant by using treseksjoner with a concrete runway.

Thanks Andreas B. for your description of some of the construction methods, and thanks SES for that super photo of the tracked cement mixer! I just knew they must have had some sort of machine to speed up the pouring of all that concrete. At Bardufoss, an 1,180 x 80 meter runway was quickly completed in 1941 using two companies of Lw. construction troops and 1,558 Norwegian laborers. That's pretty fast without one of those machines, but just look at how labor-intensive it was!

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

There appears to be a few of possibilities with this one including the use of timber as a shuttering into which the wet concrete is poured, permanent use as the main running surface or in the short term during the construction stage.. As Kjetil has said wooden runways were in use which were not liked by Luftwaffe aircrew, this suggests the use of heavy timbers to support the weight of an aircraft. These timbers one would assume would be placed over a more solid sub-base, ie concrete or gravel (aggregate). The other use of timber could be in the short term to protect the concrete after its initial pour. After it is first laid the concrete has to be protected from either drying out too quick or from frosts, in the UK damp hessian has been used to achieve this. After an intial set of a few hours or less fresh laid concrete could support a light weight timber covering to protect it from the elements.
Interesting one both from the aviation and construction side.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Yeah, Brian, you are right on as it does seem like there are a growing number of possibilities as you more knowledgeable guys begin peeling back the outer layers of this question and take a look at the various options. The decision on what to use must have been made after a careful survey of the land by engineers and construction supervisors and was based on the pecularities prevailing at each location. Building a 1,550 x 80 meter runway was no small undertaking as it required a lot of resources. So I doubt if there was one pro forma method of constructing a concrete runway that was used for all locations.

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hi,
The Wehrmacht indeed had a group of land survey experts "Wehrgeologen" who surveyed the environment before any construction was contemplated.
bregds
SES

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

True, but the survey work for Bardufoss and Banak was carried out by personnel from Luftgaukdo. Norwegen's Bauamt and the regional Lw.-Bauamt at Trondheim. They had civilian ranks, e.g., Reg.Bau-Inspekteur, etc., but they were Luftwaffe civilian employees. It could be that they relied on the geological survey work done by the Norwegians before the war because both of those airfields already existed prior to the arrival of the Luftwaffe in fall 1940.

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Hi all.

As far as the nature of runways in Norway are concerned I think we ned to look at a few photos to see what they looked like.

First, some photos showing the construction and storage (and what I beleive are containers of wooden nails?) used to contruct these so-called "Eierkisten" Andreas mentioned.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...a/photo1-1.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...a/photo2-1.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...a/photo3-1.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...a/photo4-1.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...a/photo6-1.jpg

These photos come from the aformentioned website and there were many more showing the same scenes, even how the wood aririves by boats! The presence of Bf 109Es from II./JG 77 date these photos to no later than November 1940, if memory serves.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...dLsch1JG5_.jpg

Secondly, here's the Eierkisten in use, note how the space is filled with dirt. Photo from Herdla, probably in 1943-43.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...l_Aakra/30.jpg

Part of the runway at Herdla showing the unpopular wooden planking (this would be the "plankedekke"). There may be a concrete part of the runway in the upper left corner but it is hard to make out.

As parts of the runways at Herdla still exist it is know that they were concrete and I would beleive they were covered with these wooden elements. At least that's how the Luftwaffe pilots remember Herdla!

We all have much to learn about runway construction in Norway, but I for one are swamped with a few other projects at the time so I guess any in-depth studies and/or books must wait for the time being. Attending the Norwegian aviation literature seminar at Gardermoen this weekend didn't exactly lessen my workload!!!

All the best,

Kjetil

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Your photos are impressive, interesting and instructional, Kjetil! The grid squares are about the size I would have imagined but the wood is much thicker and stronger and the spacing much closer together than I thought. It must have taken at least 4 men and more probably 6 to 8 to lift one of the sections and carry it a short distance. They were very sturdy creations and must have been good for many years if placed on a solid foundation. Very interesting, indeed.

When you are able to get through some of your accumulated work and can find a little time, a photo or two and some information on the building of the concrete runways would be great.

Thanks again,

L.

Re: Airfield Runways in Norway
 

Kjetil,

Thanks for posting the photos. The Eierkisten laid on the ground with the holes filled with soil would certainly minimize water run-off. the soil infill would help stabalise them and stop differential settlement between adjacent panels. Would the Planking system be used on apron/parking areas or was it also used on runways ? The photo of the FW190 on Eirkisten looks like the panels were finished to ground level runways? while the planking photo seems to show use as a hard standing area by the concrete? runway,

Regards

Brian Bines