Collections and knowledge

The Norwegian Aviation Museum collects and cares for artefacts, photographs, archives and other materials that concern Norwegian aviation from the beginning until today. As a national museum, we cover the entire country, as well as both civil and military aviation. The military part of the collection is owned and managed by the Armed Forces Museums.

Aircraft are the main focal points of our collection. The exhibit includes, in total, approx. 40 “intact” aircraft and helicopters from both the military and the civil sections. In addition, there are several aircraft, wrecks and smaller artefacts in storage.

The collections span several disciplines. In addition to history, the collection also concerns aerodynamics, meteorology, defence and security policy, the Cold War, geographical exploration and cartography, astronomy and aurora research, the aeronautical industry, tourism and the natural sciences.

Recent times have been documented by a Boeing 737-300, which was donated by Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Intake freeze

The museum is no longer accepting additional aircraft or other large artefacts until a future storage solution has been established and we have enough room. Exceptions may be made for artefacts that are deemed especially valuable and of great national significance.

Loans

The Norwegian Aviation Museum loans artefacts to other museums and cultural institutions in accordance with agreements.

Availability

Object in our collections are registered continuously in the database solutions Primus and Asta. The contents are made available online through Digitalt Museum and Arkivportalen. We also have a research library available through online searches.

Aircraft and other artefacts

The Norwegian Aviation Museum’s artefact collection comprises approx. 17,000 artefacts. The collection spans the entire history of aviation in Norway, from the early days in the early 1900s until today.

The collection documents a significant aspect of the development of modern Norwegian society. It shows how important the developments in aviation have been to a people living in a country with vast distances, where travelling between regions used to take days, weeks and even months.