The Kingdom of Sweden is among the countries of the world that are capable of producing high-class aircraft themselves. Military aviation and civilian aircraft of this country are a special event in aircraft construction. You cannot confuse cars with any others. They are distinguished by a special sophistication of forms and elegance of design solutions.
The beginning of the story
The company "SAAB" was founded more than 70 years ago, in 1937. Its main task was the production of military aircraft. The abbreviation "SAAB" (SAAB) stands for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, which is translated from Swedish as "the company of Sweden, producing aircraft."
The first aircraft "SAAB"
The kingdom at that time had German, Dutch, American and British aircraft, but the government decided to start building its own aircraft under license from the American company Norton and the German Junkers. For this, a factory was built in the city of Trollhattan.
Almost at the time of the creation of the plant, World War II began, while Sweden, while remaining a neutral country, did not remain aloof from the release of military aircraft. In 1940, SAAB launched the first SAAB V-17 bomber. At the same time, the plant began developing the J-21 fighter-attack aircraft.
Contemporaries note that the bombers "SAAB perfectly established themselves during the war. They were considered the fastest aircraft among similar in class. Photos of the SAAB aircraft of that time already make it possible to evaluate the eccentricity of the design decisions of the specialist developers of this Swedish company.
Despite the fact that Sweden did not participate in hostilities on its territory, SAAB continued to develop new military aircraft models, thereby laying the tradition to train talented engineers, designers and production specialists. Before the war ended, aircraft were already being produced at two plants in Sweden, but the end of hostilities led to a sharp decrease in requests for military aircraft.
The first post-war aircraft
After the defeat of Germany, “SAAB”, among other companies that were previously involved in the production of weapons, faced a problem - what to do next? Since 1949, the company began to produce cars. However, the work on creating “SAAB” military aircraft did not stop. The company continued to produce aviation equipment, both military and peaceful.
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 country of armed neutrality. As a result of this, 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 Kingdom's Air Force since the mid-fifties of the last century.
The Swedish aircraft industry in the post-war era originates from the SAAB J-21 aircraft. This machine was notable for the fact that it was the only military aircraft in the world, which was produced both with a piston engine (during the war) and with a jet.
However, the first real jet aircraft to become known on the world stage was the J-29 jet machine with a swept wing. The first flight was carried out in September 1948. During mass production from 1950 to 1956, 661 cars were produced.
For its specific shape, the aircraft received the nickname "Tunnan", which in Swedish means "bull."
He is also known for the fact that in May 1954 a Swedish pilot broke a world speed record by flying a 500-kilometer circle with a speed of more than 970 km / h - this is more than the two-year record of the American F-86 Saber.
Confirmation of the level among world aircraft manufacturers
Later, J-32 Lansen and J-35 Draken began to be replaced with J-29, but the replaced Tunnan left a glorious page in Swedish history. He is the first Swedish Air Force fighter to take part in hostilities outside the country - in the Republic of Congo (Africa) in 1961-1962.
Moreover, the J-29 became the ancestor of another tradition. These are the first aircraft to be delivered to other countries: in 1961 they were adopted by Austria, having won the competition with the MiG-17 and F-86 Saber.
The next SAAB aircraft was the J-32 Lansen. The first time it took off in the fall of 1952. And a year later, in 1953, he overcame the sound barrier when diving. It was supposed to be released as an attack attack aircraft, naval reconnaissance, all-weather fighter-interceptor.
Adoption of the J-32A took place in 1955. This aircraft marked the beginning of the active rearmament of the Swedish Air Force. Modern jet aircraft began to come in to replace the old piston. In total, from 1955 - 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 in this race.
The design of a new fighter with unique forms that were new for that time led to the creation of an aircraft that put Sweden on a par with the advanced aviation powers.
This aircraft was a fighter with the name "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.
In total, SAAB produced 612 aircraft. They were also exported; they were bought by Austria, Denmark, Finland and Switzerland.
In the late fifties, "SAAB" began to develop a training fighter "SAAB-105." He was a high wing with an arrow-shaped wing. In a row, 2 seats were installed with the possibility of expanding to 4. Two turbojet engines provided excellent traction. The aircraft "SAAB", intended for training purposes, subsequently became one of the most universal in the world among military vehicles of this type. 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 to troops. It was assumed that the characteristics of the aircraft “SAAB” were supposed to ensure the fight against high-speed water assets of the enemy and sabotage groups. For these purposes, developed the shock Sk.60G, which was adopted by the spring of 1972.
Given the Swedish landscape, one of the main requirements of the Royal Air Force to aircraft manufacturers was the high take-off and landing characteristics of the machines. They had to carry out landing and take-off in the absence of trained runways. The third generation fighter, with which they wanted to replace Lansen and Draken, had to meet these requirements.
To perform the tasks, the designers proposed to use a special configuration of the airframe - the "double triangle". The design provided the desired characteristics at low speeds and maintained high performance at supersonic.
The first prototype was built in November 1966, and the first flight was completed in February 1967. The name of the aircraft is the J-37 Wiggen.
However, the plane did not immediately go into the series, as some shortcomings were identified.
The serial aircraft took off for the first time in February 1971, and in the same year it was put into service. Used by the Royal Air Force until 2005. A total of 110 Wiggen fighters were built.
New generation aircraft
In the early seventies of the last century in Sweden began the development of a new fighter. He was to subsequently replace the J-37 Wiggen, which was too expensive to manufacture, and the obsolete SAAB-105 aircraft. The new aircraft was to be developed by an industrial group, which included SAAB.
The prototype Grippen 39-1 flew in December 1988, but its first trials failed. In early February, the first instance crashed during landing. The accident led to a serious slowdown in the work, which was completed only at the end of 1991.
The Royal Air Force received its first production fighter, the Grippen, in late autumn 1994. These aircraft were also distinguished by the fact that they were fully consistent with standard NATO standards. This made it possible to use them in combat operations of this organization.
The Grippen fighters were delivered to the Hungarian and Czechoslovakian air forces (14 aircraft were leased out), 26 aircraft were delivered to South Africa, and 6 to Thailand.
Currently, the Swedish Air Force has more than 330 aircraft from the SAAB.
The Swedish Air Force is also equipped with long-range radar survey aircraft, created on the basis of the civilian experience “SAAB-340”.
Passenger aircraft for regional transportation
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 under the acronym SF-340. The first flight of the liner took place in 1983. The next year, he went into the series and began performing 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 for those airlines in the world that needed a small plane, accommodating from 30 to 40 passengers.
Since 1989, the production of a new aircraft with a more powerful engine, an excellent soundproofing system and improved horizontal plumage began. The new aircraft was called the "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 aircraft, the SAAB-2000 & raquo;, was launched. Its fuselage was lengthened, and capacity increased to 50 people. He got a larger wingspan and new engines with six-blade propellers. It became the fastest turboprop aircraft in modern history, but after some time it was seriously competed with Bombardier CRJ and Embraer ERJ aircraft, which led to a sharp drop in sales of SAAB-2000. Demand for them fell almost to zero, and in 1999 production was completely discontinued.
In total, from 1983 to 1999, 456 SAAB-340 models and 60 SAAB-2000 & raquo; aircraft were produced.
End of story
In 2011, SAAB was declared bankrupt. It was bought by the Swedish-Chinese structure NEVS, however, the rights to use the abbreviation “SAAB” were not transferred to it, therefore it is more likely to say that this brand has gone completely down in history.