Saab Tunnan
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SAAB J 29 Tunnan (The Barrel) was a Swedish fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by SAAB
History
In the wake of the Second World War it was decided that Sweden needed a strong air defense and it should be built around the hottest new technology around, jet engines. Project "JxR" began in the final months of December 1945 with two proposals from the SAAB design team. The first, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft somewhat similar to the American P-80 Shooting Star. But the design that came out on top was the "barrel" design, codenamed R1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile.
At first R1001 had an almost straight wing but after the Swedish engineers had obtained some German research data on swept-wing designs the prototype was altered. It now had a 25 degree sweep. Where and how this data was obtained is still a bit of a mystery since all research papers were supposed to have ended up in Russian or American hands. The SAAB 29 prototype that flew for the first time on 1 September 1948 was a small, chubby aircraft with a single central air intake, a bubble cockpit and a very thin swept-back wing. Because of its rotund appearance it was quickly nicknamed "Flygande Tunnan" ("The Flying Barrel"). J 29, as it was to be called, was the first production fighter with a swept-back wing. Tunnan was generally regarded as one of the finest fighters of its time, it was fast and supremely agile. During a short time in the 1950s the Swedish airforce ranked as the fourth most powerful in the world. It is the only Swedish jet aircraft to see combat. In 1961 five J 29Bs were stationed in Congo as part of a UN peacekeeping mission. Most of the missions were ground-attack using the internal cannons as well as unguided rockets. No aircraft were lost despite heavy AAA and the general consensus of the crews as well as the foreign observers was that Tunnan's capabilities were excellent.
A total of 661 Tunnans were built from 1950 to 1956 making it the largest production run for any SAAB aircraft. 30 Tunnans were sold to Austria in 1961 where they remained in service until 1972. Tunnan held the world speed record for about a year in 1954 when it set the record at 977 km/h; the record was beaten by an American F-86 Sabre.
Technical Data
Length: 11.00 meters
Wing Span: 10.23 meters
Height: 3.75 meters
Thrust: 2800 kp (27 kN)
Weight: 4845 kg (empty)
Speed: 1060 km/h
Engine: Volvo Aero RM2B (De Havilland Ghost)
Radar: No
Armament
Air to Air: 4 x Hispano Mark V 20 mm cannon, 75 mm unguided rockets, Rb 24 (AIM-9 Sidewinder)
Air to Ground: 145 mm anti-armor rockets, 150 mm HE (high-explosive) rockets, 180 mm HE antiship rockets.
Sources
[1] (http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/) Military aviation: Swedish and worldwide
[2] (http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-76412/saabj29.htm) SAAB J29 Tunnan
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