Aircraft "SAAB": characteristics, reviews and photos

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The Kingdom of Sweden is one of the countries in the world that are capable of producing high-class aircraft themselves. Military aviation and civilian liners of this country are a special event in the aircraft industry. Machines can not be confused with any other. They are distinguished by a special sophistication of forms and elegance of design solutions.

The beginning of the story

SAAB was founded over 70 years ago, in 1937. Its main task was the production of military aircraft. The abbreviation "SAAB" (SAAB) stands for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, which in Swedish means "the company of Sweden that manufactures aircraft."

The first SAAB aircraft

The Kingdom at that time had German, Dutch, American and British aircraft, but the government decided to start building its own aircraft under the license of the American company Norton and the German Junkers. For this, a plant was built in the city of Trollhättan.

Almost at the time of the creation of the plant, the Second World War began, while Sweden, remaining neutralcountry, aside from the production of military aircraft did not remain. In 1940, SAAB produced the first SAAB B-17 bomber. At the same time, the development of the J-21 attack fighter began at the plant.

Contemporaries note that the SAAB bombers proved to be excellent during the war. They were considered the fastest aircraft among similar ones in class. Photos of SAAB aircraft of that time already allow us to appreciate the originality of the design solutions of the development specialists of this Swedish company.

Despite the fact that Sweden did not participate in the hostilities on its territory, SAAB continued to develop new military aircraft models, thereby establishing a tradition of training talented engineers, designers and production specialists. Before the end of the war, aircraft were already being produced at two factories in Sweden, but the end of hostilities led to a sharp decrease in requests for military aviation.

First post-war aircraft

After the defeat of Germany, SAAB, among other firms that had previously been involved in the production of weapons, faced a problem - what to do next? Since 1949, the company began to produce cars. However, work on the creation of "SAAB" military aircraft did not stop. The enterprise continued to produce aviation equipment for both military and civilian purposes.

Statistics show that over the entire history of the company, more than 4,000 aircraft of 13 different types were produced at the main production of SAAB.

Sweden has always been a countryarmed neutrality. As a result, its developments in the field of aircraft construction were based on its own technologies. The company created its own combat aircraft, which have been in service with the Royal Air Force since the mid-fifties of the last century.

Swedish aircraft industry in the post-war period originates from the SAAB J-21 aircraft. This machine was remarkable in that it was the only military aircraft in the world that was produced both with a piston engine (during the war) and with a jet engine.

However, the first true jet aircraft to hit the world stage was the swept-wing J-29 jet. The first flight took place in September 1948. During mass production from 1950 to 1956, 661 cars were produced.

For its specific shape, the aircraft was nicknamed "Tunnan", which means "bull" in Swedish.

He is also known for the fact that in May 1954, on one of the production aircraft, a Swedish pilot broke the world speed record, flying a 500-kilometer circle at a speed of more than 970 km / h - this is more than the record of the American aircraft F- held for two years 86 Saber.

Confirmation of the level among world aircraft manufacturers

Later, the J-32 Lansen and J-35 Draken began to replace the J-29, but the replaced Tunnan left a glorious page in the history of Sweden. He is the first fighter of the Swedish Air Force, which took part in hostilities outside the country - in the Republic of the Congo (Africa) in 1961-1962.

Furthermore, J-29became the ancestor of another tradition. These are the first aircraft that began to be delivered to other countries: in 1961 they were put into service in Austria, having won the competition against the MiG-17 and F-86 Saber.

The next SAAB plane was the J-32 Lansen. It took off for the first time in the fall of 1952. And a year later, in 1953, he broke the sound barrier when diving. It was supposed to be released as an attack aircraft, naval reconnaissance, all-weather fighter-interceptor.

The adoption of the J-32A took place in 1955. This aircraft marked the beginning of the active re-equipment of the Swedish Air Force. Modern jet aircraft began to arrive to replace the old piston ones. In total, between 1955 and 1958, SAAB transferred 287 fighters of this type for the needs of the Royal Air Force.

Supersonic aircraft

By the end of the fifties of the last century, aviation powers were actively working on the creation of supersonic fighters. SAAB also joined this race.

Designing a new fighter with unique, new for that time forms, led to the creation of an aircraft that put Sweden on a par with the leading aviation powers.

This plane was a fighter named "Draken".

The first sample was shown to the public in the summer of 1955. In October of the same year, the fighter made its first flight. The series was released as the J-35A "Draken", full-scale production began in mid-1959.

Total SAAB produced 612aircraft. They were also exported, they were bought by Austria, Denmark, Finland and Switzerland.

In the late fifties, SAAB began to develop the SAAB-105 training fighter. He presented himself as a high-wing aircraft with a swept wing. 2 seats were installed in a row with the possibility of expanding to 4. Two turbojet engines provided excellent traction. The SAAB aircraft, intended for training purposes, subsequently became one of the most versatile military vehicles of this type in the world. The first SAAB-105 flew in June 1963.

It could be quickly transformed into a combat vehicle. Since 1964, the Royal Swedish Air Force officially adopted it as the main training aircraft.

In the mid-60s of the last century, the company began to develop a machine to provide ground support for troops. It was assumed that the characteristics of the SAAB aircraft were to ensure the fight against enemy high-speed water weapons and sabotage groups. For these purposes, they developed the shock Sk.60G, which was put into service in the spring of 1972.

Given the landscape of Sweden, one of the main requirements for aircraft manufacturers by the Royal Air Force was high takeoff and landing characteristics of aircraft. They had to land and take off in the absence of prepared runways. These requirements had to be met by a third-generation fighter, which they wanted to replace the Lansen and Draken.

To perform the assigned tasks, constructorsproposed to use a special airframe configuration - "double triangle". The design provided the desired characteristics at low speeds and maintained high performance at supersonic speeds.

First prototype built in November 1966 and first flown in February 1967. The name of the aircraft is J-37 Wiggen.

However, the aircraft did not immediately go into production, as some shortcomings were identified.

The production aircraft took off for the first time in February 1971, and was put into service the same year. Used by the Royal Air Force until 2005. A total of 110 Viggen fighters were built.

New generation aircraft

At the beginning of the seventies of the last century, development work on a new fighter began in Sweden. It was supposed to subsequently replace the J-37 Viggen, which turned out to be too expensive to manufacture, and the obsolete SAAB-105 aircraft. The new aircraft was to be developed by an industrial group that included SAAB.

The prototype Grippen 39-1 flew in December 1988, but its first tests were unsuccessful. In early February, the first copy crashed during landing. The accident led to a serious slowdown in work, which was completed only at the end of 1991.

The Royal Air Force received the first serial fighter "Grippen" in the late autumn of 1994. These aircraft were also distinguished by the fact that they fully correspondedstandard presented by NATO. This made it possible to use them in the combat operations of this organization.

Grippen fighters were supplied to the air forces of Hungary and Czechoslovakia (14 aircraft were leased), 26 aircraft were delivered to South Africa, and 6 to Thailand.

Currently, the Swedish Air Force has more than 330 SAAB aircraft.

The Swedish Air Force is also armed with long-range radar surveillance aircraft, created on the basis of the SAAB-340 civilian experience.

Passenger aircraft for regional traffic

The company began designing the first passenger aircraft in the late 70s and early 80s of the last century, together with the American company Fairchild. It was known by the abbreviation SF-340. The first flight of the liner took place in 1983. The following year, he entered the series and began to perform commercial flights.

After Fairchild ceased cooperation with SAAB, the company continued to independently produce the SAAB-340 A aircraft. It was a fairly popular car with those airlines around the world who needed a small aircraft that could accommodate 30 to 40 passengers.

Since 1989, the production of a new aircraft with a more powerful engine, excellent soundproofing system and improved horizontal tail began. The new aircraft was named "SAAB-340 B".

Subsequently, the company began to work on the development of this model. As a result of the work carried out in 1994, a new SAAB-2000 aircraft was produced. Its fuselage has been lengthened andcapacity increased to 50 people. He received a larger wingspan and new engines with six-bladed propellers. It became the fastest turboprop aircraft in modern history, but after some time it was seriously competed with the Bombardier CRJ and Embraer ERJ aircraft, which led to a sharp drop in SAAB-2000 sales. Demand for them was reduced to almost zero, and in 1999 production was completely discontinued.

In total, 456 SAAB-340s and 60 SAAB-2000s were produced between 1983 and 1999.

End of story

In 2011, SAAB was declared bankrupt. The Swedish-Chinese structure NEVS bought it, but the rights to use the abbreviation "SAAB" were not transferred to it, so it is more likely that this brand has gone down in history completely.