Planning of an airfield at Ørland was started in January 1941 and the decision was announced by the "Wehrmacht" on 22 April 1941. Within ten days work on expropriation for 45 landowners started. The airport was planned to have a runway, although this had been lengthened to by the time the runway was completed in late 1941. The runway was aligned roughly east–west at 228.4 degrees and made of wood. Construction of a second, concrete runway commenced in 1942. This work took much longer time and was not completed until mid 1944. This runway is part of the northern end of the current runway. A third runway was also planned, but no more than some leveling had been completed by the end of the war in April 1945.