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.
Why It Mattered
The Tunnan was the first Western European fighter produced with a swept wing after the Second World War, and it put neutral Sweden in the first generation of jet-fighter design. It was Sweden's second jet combat aircraft, after the Saab 21R, but the first Swedish aircraft designed from the outset for jet propulsion. Saab completed 661 Tunnans between 1950 and 1956, the largest production run of any Saab aircraft, in fighter, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance versions. A decade after it entered service, the type became the first Swedish jet to see combat, flying ground-attack missions for the United Nations in the Congo. National Security Journal credits the Tunnan with laying the foundation for Saab's later fighters, from the Lansen and Draken to the Gripen.
Design Notes
Work began in late 1945 under the project name JxR, and Saab's chosen design, the barrel-shaped R 1001, beat a slimmer proposal that resembled the American Lockheed P-80. The round fuselage was shaped around the de Havilland Ghost turbojet, fed by a single intake in the nose; in Swedish service the engine was licence-built as the RM2. The design first had a straight wing, but German wartime swept-wing research, obtained through Switzerland, led Saab to adopt a thin wing swept back 25 degrees. To keep the wing thin, the undercarriage retracted into the fuselage instead of the wing, and it was designed for rough airstrips. The pilot sat under a bubble canopy above the intake duct, protected by an ejection seat Saab had developed in 1943, with an explosive system for jettisoning the canopy. Standard armament was four 20 mm cannon; the final J 29F added an afterburner and, from 1963, carried Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
Operational History
The first prototype flew on 1 September 1948, piloted by British test pilot Bob Moore, and flight testing showed performance beyond the estimates. Moore called it an ugly duckling on the ground but a swift in the air, and the fuselage's shape soon gave the type its nickname: Flygande Tunnan, the Flying Barrel. Production ran from 1950 to 1956: 224 J 29As, 332 J 29Bs with 50 per cent more fuel and underwing hardpoints, 76 unarmed S 29C reconnaissance aircraft and 29 J 29Es with an improved wing, while 308 B and E airframes were converted to the afterburning J 29F standard. The first production aircraft reached Bråvalla Wing (F 13) in May 1951. In 1954 a Tunnan set a world speed record of 977 km/h over a 500 km closed circuit; the next year, two S 29Cs set an international record of 900.6 km/h over a 1,000 km circuit. Early service was costly: with no two-seat Tunnan trainer, pilots came to the type from straight-winged Vampire trainers, and 99 pilots were killed in training flights in Sweden. In September 1961 five J 29Bs were sent to the Republic of Congo as the F 22 Wing, Sweden's contribution to the UN mission ONUC, reinforced in 1962 by four more J 29Bs and two S 29Cs. Their missions were mostly attacks on ground targets with cannon and unguided rockets; despite heavy ground fire no aircraft was lost in action, and crews and foreign observers agreed that the Tunnan's capabilities were exceptional. The only loss was an aircraft that crashed during an aborted takeoff on a test flight, and when ONUC ended in 1964 some of the Tunnans were destroyed in the Congo rather than brought home. Austria, the type's only export customer, operated 30 J 29Fs from 1961 until 1972.
Afterlife
The fighter versions were retired from combat service in May 1967, though some aircraft stayed on as countermeasures trainers and target tugs into the 1970s. The last official military flight was made in August 1976, during the Swedish Air Force's 50th anniversary air show. Survivors are held by museums in Sweden and abroad; examples are at the Swedish Air Force Museum at Linköping, and a J 29B is kept outdoors at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona. One Tunnan still flies: J 29F 29670, built as a J 29B and converted to F standard in 1957, was restored by the Gul Rudolf project, begun by F 10 enthusiasts in 1992, and flew again after 28 years on the ground. The Swedish Air Force Museum had donated the airframe to the project, and the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight now operates it, registered SE-DXB, as the world's only airworthy Saab J 29 Tunnan.