Saab
4 types · 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
Narrative coming soon.
Aircraft Types
Saab J 21
The Saab J 21 was a Swedish single-seat fighter and attack aircraft of unconventional layout: a license-built Daimler-Benz engine behind the pilot drove a pusher propeller between twin tail booms, freeing the nose for cannon and giving the type one of the first ejection seats fitted to a production aircraft. First flown in 1943 and in service from December 1945, it was built in fighter and fighter-bomber versions and was later converted to jet power as the Saab 21R.
Saab J 21R
The Saab J 21R was Sweden's first jet aircraft: a jet-powered development of the piston-engined Saab 21, created by rebuilding the twin-boom pusher fighter around a de Havilland Goblin turbojet. First flown on 10 March 1947, it was, with the Soviet Yakovlev Yak-15, one of only two fighters successfully converted from piston to jet power. Sixty-four were built, but the type disappointed as a fighter and served mainly as the A 21R attack aircraft before retirement in the 1950s; no original example survives.
Saab J 29 Tunnan
The Saab J 29 Tunnan was a Swedish single-seat jet fighter that first flew on 1 September 1948, its round fuselage wrapped around a de Havilland Ghost engine earning it the nickname "the Flying Barrel". It was the first Western European production fighter with a swept wing after the Second World War. Saab built 661 between 1950 and 1956 in fighter, fighter-bomber and unarmed reconnaissance versions, and the type served the Swedish Air Force into the 1970s. Austria operated 30 from 1961 to 1972, and Swedish Tunnans flew combat missions for the United Nations in the Congo in 1961–1964. Today a single J 29F still flies with the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight.
Saab J 32 Lansen
The Saab 32 Lansen is a two-seat transonic jet designed and built by Saab in Sweden, first flown on 3 November 1952. Developed to defend Sweden's coastline, it was built in three main versions — the A 32A attack aircraft (287 built), the J 32B all-weather fighter (118) and the S 32C reconnaissance aircraft (45) — 450 production aircraft in all, with later conversions serving as target tugs and electronic-warfare aircraft. It was the Swedish Air Force's first twin-seat jet and the first Swedish type with a built-in search radar, and in 1953 it became the first Swedish aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. The front-line versions had retired by 1978, but converted aircraft flew on until 1997, and the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight still flies Lansens today.