Bengt Nordenskiöld

General Bengt Gustafsson (G:son) Nordenskiöld (6 September 1891 – 28 January 1983) was a Swedish Air Force officer who served as Chief of the Air Force from 1942 to 1954. In 1910 Nordenskiöld started his military career as a volunteer in the Svea Life Guards (I 1), later attending the Royal Swedish Army Staff College. In 1928, he was made a captain in the General Staff. During 1931 he went through aircraft recognition training at the Swedish Air Force Flying School, after which he was trained as a pilot. In 1936, Nordenskiöld started to serve in the recently created Air Staff under general Torsten Friis, later becoming a lieutenant general. He was appointed in Chief of the Swedish Air Force in 1942 as the first Chief of Air Force with pilot training. Nordenskiöld was promoted general and retired from active service in 1954.

Bengt Nordenskiöld
Birth name	Bengt Gustafsson Nordenskiöld
Born	6 September 1891 Sundsvall, Sweden
Died	28 January 1983 (aged 91) Österhaninge, Sweden
Allegiance	Sweden
Service/branch	Swedish Air Force
Years of service	1910–1954
Rank	General
Commands held	Chief of the Air Staff Royal Swedish Air Force Staff College Air Group Chief of the Air Force
Relations	Claës-Henrik Nordenskiöld (son)

Career

Nordenskiöld was born on 6 September 1891 in Sundsvall, Sweden, the son of managing director, baron Gustaf Henrik Nordenskiöld and his wife Ester Laura (née Andersson).[1] He was a sea cadet from 1907 to 1908 and passed mogenhetsexamen at Lunds privata elementarskola on 10 June 1910 before enlisting as a volunteer at the Svea Life Guards (I 1) the day after.[2] He enrolled at the Royal Military Academy on 19 October 1911 and graduated and became an officer of 19 December 1912. Nordenskiöld became an became underlöjtnant at the Svea Life Guards on 31 December 1912 and löjtnant there on 28 November 1916.[2] He was then educated at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 1922 to 1924,[1] where he graduated first in his class in the staff course.[3] He wan an aspirant at the General Staff from 15 April 1925 to 1927 and was promoted to captain at the Sve Life Guards on 9 December 1927. Nordenskiöld served at the General Staff from 1 January 1928 and was educated in aerial reconnaissance in 1931 and served as a General Staff Officer at the Eastern Military Division (Östra militärfördelningen) from 9 October 1931 to 1933.[2] He was a teacher of tactics at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 28 December 1933 to 1934 and major at the General Staff from 27 April 1934 and underwent sergeant pilot training from 1934 to 1936. Nordenskiöld was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Swedish Air Force and was appointed Chief of the Air Staff on 1 July 1936.[2]

Nordenskiöld was promoted to colonel on 1 July 1937 and was head of the Royal Swedish Air Force Staff College from 1 October 1939 to 30 September 1941 and commanding officer of the Air Group (E 1) from 1939 to 1942. He was promoted to major general on 6 June 1941[2] - as the youngest officer in modern Swedish history - which received great attention in the media.[3] Nordenskiöld was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Chief of the Air Force on 1 July 1942.[2] He was the first pilot trained Chief of the Air Force and during the air wing visits, he flew a J 9 aircraft no. 19, which was to become his "personal" aircraft. It was with this aircraft he crashed during a start from the Swedish Air Force Flying School (F 5), and was badly injured but survived.[3] When the post of Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces would be appointed in 1951, Nordenskiöld was one of the candidates that were considered by the government. According to Tage Erlander's diaries, his name was dropped because of his impetuous temper and his propensity to make own foreign policy statements.[4] Instead the army general Nils Swedlund became the new Supreme Commander. Air Vice Marshal Ralph Cochrane visited Nordenskiöld and the Swedish Air Force 8–13 June 1952. What was discussed during the visit are not known. Cochrane left Svea Air Force Wing (F 8) north of Stockholm in an English Electric Canberra on the morning of 13 June, the same day as a Swedish radio and radar signals intelligence-gathering DC-3 aircraft was shot down by Soviet Air Force fighter jets.[5] Nordenskiöld was promoted to general on 30 April 1954, two months before his retirement on 30 June 1954.[2]

Other work

Nordenskiöld was vice chairman of the Royal Swedish Aero Club from 1937 to 1944 and board member of Skånska cement AB and AB Iföverken from 1939 to 1966. He was also chairman of the board of AB Salén & Wicander and Wiklunds bil AB from 1954 to 1972 and AB Godslagring from 1960 to 1972.[2][1] Nordenskiöld was vice chairman of the board of AB Ekensbergs varv from 1955 to 1972.[2] He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 1936 (president 1948-49) and became honorary member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences in 1954.[1]

Personal life

Gravesite of General Bengt Nordenskiöld at the Southern Cemetery (Södra kyrkogården) in Kalmar.

On 16 October 1916, Nordenskiöld married Dagmar Werner (1897–1978), the daughter of the wholesaler Carl Linus Werner and Severina (Inez) Natalia (née Jehander).[2] They had two children, Claës-Henrik Nordenskiöld (1917–2003), who also became an air force general, and Brita Christina (1919–1971) who was married 1940–1948 to Prince Ferdinand Aloys Andreas Joseph Anton Maria of Liechtenstein (1901–1981) , a descendant of Prince Eduard Franz of Liechtenstein.

Nordenskiöld and Dagmar Werner divorced on 12 September 1934[6] and on 31 October 1934, he married Marie-Louise Elsa Eva Hanna Augusta Lambert-Meuller (1909–1996), the daughter of managing director August Fredrik Lambert Meuller and Elsa (née Flygare). The marriage was childless.[1][2] He was the grandfather of Louise Nordenskiöld and grandfather of Prince Hanno von Liechtenstein.

Nordenskiöld died on 28 January 1983 in Österhaninge and was buried in Southern Cemetery next to Kalmar Castle accompanied by his parents and later his two children.[7]

Dates of rank

Nordenskiöld in 1941, just before an exercise that he led from his airplane.

Nordenskiöld's dates of rank:[2]

Rank	Date
Volunteer	11 June 1910
Underlöjtnant	31 December 1912
Lieutenant	28 November 1916
Captain	9 December 1927
Major	27 April 1934
Lieutenant Colonel	1 July 1936
Major General	6 June 1941
Lieutenant General	1 July 1942
General	30 April 1954

Awards and decorations

Nordenskiöld's awards:[1]

• King Gustaf V's Jubilee Commemorative Medal (1948)
• Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (5 June 1943)[8]
• Knight of the Order of the Polar Star (15 November 1938)[6]
• Knight of the Order of Vasa (30 June 1936)[6]
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog
• Grand Cross of the Order of Menelik II
• Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau with swords
• Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav
• First Class of the Order of the Cross of Liberty
• Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
• Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Commander First Class of the Order of the British Empire
• Commander of the Legion of Merit (9 July 1946)[9]
• Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
• Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
• Commander of the Order of the German Eagle
• Knight First Class of the Crosses of Military Merit, with White Decoration (1926)[6]
• Knight of the Order of the Black Star (1926)[6]
• Cross of Merit (1928)[6]
• Danish Medal of Freedom (Dansk Frihetsmedalj)
• ? (SLGM)
• Royal Swedish Aero Club's medal of merit in gold (Kungliga Svenska Aeroklubbens förtjänstguldmedalj)
• ? (SvARHt)

References

1. Harnesk, Paul, ed. (1964). Vem är vem?. 2, Svealand utom Stor-Stockholm [Who is Who?. 2, Svealand excluding Greater Stockholm] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Bokförlaget Vem är vem. p. 595.
2. Böhme, Klaus-Richard (1990–1991). "Bengt G Nordenskiöld". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). 27. National Archives of Sweden. p. 292. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
3. Nordenskiöld, Louise (11 September 2006). "Bengt Nordenskiöld (1891 - 1983)" (PDF). www.nordenskiöld.se (in Swedish). ÄTTERNA NORDENSKIÖLDS SLÄKTFÖRENING. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
4. Agrell, Wilhelm (2002). Svenska förintelsevapen: utvecklingen av kemiska och nukleära stridsmedel 1928-1970. Lund: Historiska media. p. 281. ISBN 91-89442-49-0. SELIBR 8415678., quoting Erlander, Tage, Dagböcker 1950-1951 (2001), p. 218f.
5. Lokind, Christer (20 May 2014). "DC-3:ans flygning var provocerande" [DC 3rd flight was provocative]. Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 2016-07-25.
6. "Nordensköld nr 394". www.adelsvapen.com (in Swedish). Adelsvapen. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
7. "BENGT GUSTAVSSON NORDENSKIÖLD" (in Swedish). Finngraven.se. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
8. Sveriges statskalender för året 1955 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1955. p. 8.
9. "AMERIKANSK UTMÄRKELSE TILL NORDENSKIÖLD" [AMERICAN AWARD TO NORDENSKIÖLD] (in Swedish). Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå. 9 July 1946. Retrieved 7 December 2017.