2_Q9_ScanMag_78_July_2015_Text_JOE _Scan Magazine 1 07/07/2015 15:47 Page 55
Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Culture in Norway
above the Soviet Union it was impossible to shoot down, and Bodø was the perfect location to station it. However the infallible plane couldn’t stand the final test and was shot down on its way from Pakistan to Bodø in 1960, allowing the world in on the secret that the US had spy planes over the ‘The Big Bear’, and that Norway knowingly allowed them to use their airspace and ground to do so. The revelation created huge political debates on all sides of the Atlantic, which is probably one of the reasons the aircraft remains mystical and hugely popular. For more information, please visit: www.luftfartsmuseum.no
Excitement, understanding and reflection The points above will be further emphasised in the revamped museum, where visitors are encouraged to interact and communicate with the exhibition rather than just look at and register. “We aim to create excitement, understanding and reflection, by connecting the stories,” Jakhelln says. “The aviation industry and history is far more complex than people perhaps know. We want people to leave the museum with an un
derstanding of why there are so many airports scattered around Norway, and at the very basic level why we can actually fly. These are points we take for granted today, but which are parts of a very long and interesting history.” The spy plane that never left One cannot mention the museum without mentioning it’s biggest attraction, the Lockheed U-2 plane. The high-altitude aircraft from the United States was used during the Cold War to fly so high
Issue 78 | July 2015 | 55