Joint exercises between the Army Air Company and the Army Artillery were held each summer 1915-1926 at the large artillery range at Skillingaryd. This wast facility was since the year of 1777 the training ground of A 6 - The Royal Army Artillery Regiment of Småland . The regiment moved in 1913 its barracks to the town of Jönköping, 40km to the North, but Skillingaryd kept its importance as a major artillery range.  In 1926, all remaining military balloon activity in Sweden was concentrated to A 6. Reconnaissance, target observation and fire direction was - according to the general opinion by the Artillery officers - a task that best was solved with aeroplanes and balloons operating together.  

Until the birth of the Air Force in 1926, the Artillery was the branch of the Army that had co-operated most intensely with the Army Aviation Company. But now the conditions totally changed. The Artillery gained the direct command over the balloon activity, but had to go through the slow official channels when their artillery observers needed training from aeroplanes. The ideas of balloons and aeroplanes in tactical co-operations were never realized. The summer weeks of training observation and fire direction from aircraft and balloons became more and more irregular.  

Own aeroplanes for the Artillery was a natural and often repeated demand. But this was never meet with a positive response by the generals, mainly due to alleged economical reasons.  

A third alternative entered the scene - the autogiro. The pioneer of this kind of aircraft in Sweden was Rolf von Bahr (1912 -1988). In the summer of 1935, von Bahr, together with his autogiro, made trials at Skillingaryd. The test period was short - only three days. The intention of the trials was to investigate if the autogiro was suitable as an artillery spotter and as a suitable replacement for the vulnerable balloon. The autogiro won easily the first round, but the enthusiasm decreased when the trials were repeated the following summers. Instead, two German Fiesler Fi 156C Storch, were purchased for evalutation. The Storch was an aeroplane with exceptional good STOL capabilities. It definitively won the match. Further 18 Storch were ordered and got the Air Force designation S 14. The Artillery had good use of the S 14, but had no sole rights to them. S 14 was used for a lot of different duties. No special aircraft for artillery spotting was available to the Swedish Artillery during the years of WWII, although it was badly needed. 

The Korean War showed again the importance of an efficient artillery aviation. The helicopter had just been introduced, but it was still an expensive thing. The era of the fixed-wing aircraft was not over. In fact, the only forward air control available when the Korea War broke out were a few light artillery observation aircraft L-4 Cub and L-5 Sentinel based in Japan. Types like Stinson Sentinel, Cessna Bird Dog, DHC Beaver, North American Navion and the famous Pipers - Cub and  Super Cub - were used by the US Army forces. The UK used Austers.    

The Korean War proved that light artillery spotters made an invaluable work and also managed this with moderate losses. The Swedish government did not hesitate any longer. In 1954, the Army was granted means for the purchase of light aircraft. The activity started immediately. The first Army pilots were trained in hired Piper L-4 Cubs by colleagues from Jordbruksflyg AB - agriculture pilots with a great experience in flying at lowest altitudes.

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