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The Saab 29, popularly called Tunnan ("The Barrel"), was a Swedish fighter designed and manufactured by Saab in the 1950s. It was Sweden's second turbojet-powered combat aircraft, the first being the Saab 21R. Despite its rotund appearance, the J 29 was fast and agile, serving effectively in both fighter and fighter-bomber roles into the 1970s.

Design and development

In the aftermath of the Second World War, it was decided that Sweden needed a strong air defence built around the "hottest" new technology around, jet engines. Project "JxR" began in the final months of 1945 with two proposals from the SAAB design team led by Lars Brising. The first, codenamed R101, was a cigar-shaped aircraft somewhat similar to the American P-80 Shooting Star. The winning design however was the "barrel" design, codenamed R1001, which proved to be both faster and more agile.

The original R1001 was designed around a mostly straight wing, but after the Swedish engineers had obtained some German research data on swept-wing designs from the Me P.1101 project, the prototype was altered to incorporate a 25 degree sweep, first tested on a modified Saab Safir (designated Saab 201). Where and how the data for this wing design 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 flew for the first time on 1 September 1948. It was a small, chubby aircraft with a single central air intake, a bubble cockpit and a very thin swept-back wing. The test-pilot was an Englishman, Robert A. "Bob" Moore, who went on to be the first managing director of Saab GB Ltd UK, formed in 1960.

Moore described the aircraft as "on the ground an ugly duckling – in the air, a swift." Because of its rotund appearance, The Saab J 29 was quickly nicknamed "Flygande Tunnan" ("The Flying Barrel"). A total of 661 Tunnans were built from 1950 to 1956 making it the largest production run for any SAAB aircraft.

Operational history

The J 29 was one of the first production fighters with a swept-back wing. It was both fast and agile. The Tunnan set the world speed record on a 500 km (310 mile) closed circuit in 1954^[1] at 977 km/h (607.05 mph). The record was subsequently beaten by an American F-86 Sabre. Two S 29C (reconnaissance variant) additionally set an international speed record of 900.6 km/h (559.4 mph) over a 1,000 km (621 mile) closed-circuit course in 1955^[1]. For a short period in the 1950s, the Swedish Air Force, Flygvapnet, primarily flying the J 29, was ranked as the fourth most powerful in the world.

The crash record in early service was poor, mainly due to the lack of previous experience with high-speed, swept-winged aircraft. The fighter version was retired from active service in 1965, but some aircraft were used for target towing up to 1974. The last official military flight was completed in August 1976 at the 50th anniversary air show of the Swedish Air Force.

A total of 30 Tunnans were sold to Austria in 1961 where they remained in service until 1972.

Tunnan's African war service

The J 29 Tunnan is the only Swedish jet aircraft to have seen combat. In 1961, five J 29Bs were stationed in Congo as part of a UN peacekeeping mission (ONUC), organized as the F 22 Wing of the Swedish Air Force. It was reinforced by four J 29B and two S 29C (the photo reconnaissance version) in 1962. Most of the missions were ground-attack using the internal cannons as well as unguided rockets. No aircraft were lost in action despite heavy AAA. The general consensus of the crews as well as the foreign observers was that the Tunnan's capabilities were excellent.^[2][3] (Their secessionist adversaries used a few Fouga Magisters and other aircraft with relatively poor air combat capabilities.) The only aircraft lost was by a high-ranking officer, who made a trial-run and crashed during an aborted takeoff. When ONUC was terminated in 1964, some of the Swedish aircraft were destroyed at their base, since they were no longer needed at home and the cost of taking them all back was deemed excessive.

Variants

J 29

Four prototypes built in 1949-1950.

J 29A

Fighter, 224 built from 1951 to 1954; later series had wing-mounted dive brakes moved to the fuselage, ahead of the main landing gear doors.

J 29B

Fighter, 332 built from 1953 to 1955; featured 50% larger fuel capacity and underwing hardpoints to carry bombs, rockets and drop-tanks.

A 29B

Same aircraft as the J 29B, but different use.

S 29C

Reconnaissance ("S" was derived from Spaning; either scouting or reconnaissance in Swedish), 76 built from 1954 through 1956; five cameras mounted in a modified nose (no armament was carried). This variant primarily operated at low level and was differentiated by having dark brown and dark green camouflage on the topsides wherein other variants were unpainted.

J 29D

Single prototype to test Ghost RM2A turbojet with 27.5 kN (2,800 kgp / 6,175 lbf) afterburning thrust; project abandoned in 1961.

J 29E

Fighter, 29 built in 1955; incorporated a "dog-tooth" instead of wing slats.

J 29F

Fighter, 308 aircraft converted from available stocks from 1954 to 1956; featured the afterburning Ghost and dog-tooth wing; all remaining aircraft were further modified in 1963 to carry a pair of US-designed AIM-9B Sidewinder heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, built by SAAB under license as the "Rb 24."

Operators

 Austria

• Austrian Air Force

 Sweden

• Swedish Air Force
  • F 3 Malmslätt
  • F 4 Östersund
  • F 6 Karlsborg
  • F 7 Såtenäs
  • F 8 Barkarby
  • F 9 Säve
  • F 10 Ängelholm
  • F 11 Nyköping
  • F 12 Kalmar
  • F 13 Norrköping
  • F 15 Söderhamn
  • F 16 Uppsala
  • F 21 Luleå

 United Nations ONUC

• Swedish Air Force
  • F 22 Congo

Survivors

• J 29B, 29398 in the Flygvapenmuseum at Malmen, just outside of Linköping, Sweden
• J 29F, 29575 in the Swedish air force museum. See the picture in the infobox.
• J 29F, 29640 Midland Air Museum, Coventry, Only example currently in the UK.
• J 29F, 29657 National Air and Space Museum, Only example currently in the US.
• One example at the Italian AF museum at Vigna di Valle.
• One example formerly in the österreichisches Luftfahrt-Museum, Graz-Thalerhof in Austria.

Specifications (Saab J 29F Tunnan)

Data from The Great Book of Fighters^[4]

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)
• Wingspan: 10.23 m (33 ft 7 in)
• Height: 3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)
• Wing area: 24.15 m² (260.0 ft²)
• Empty weight: 4,845 kg (10,680 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 8,375 kg (18,465 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Volvo Aero RM2B turbojet, 6,070 lbf (27 kN)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,060 km/h (660 mph)
• Range: 1,100 km (685 mi)
• Rate of climb: 32.1 m/s (6,320 ft/min)

Armament

• 4x Hispano Mark V 20 mm cannons
• 75 mm (3 in) unguided rockets
• Rb 24 air-to-air missiles
• 145 mm (5.8 in) anti-armor rockets, 150 mm (6 in) HE (high-explosive) rockets, 180 mm (7.2 in) HE antiship rockets

References

• Berns, Lennart and Lindholm, Robin. "Saab J 29 Tunnan". INTERNATIONAL AIR POWER REVIEW, Volume 13 / 2004, 152:173.
• Erichs, Rolph, Hammerich, Kai, Rapp, Gudmund et al. The Saab-Scania Story. Stockholm: Streiffert & Co., 1987. ISBN 91-7886-014-8.
• Taylor, John W.R. "Saab J 29." Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the present. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. ISBN 0-425-03633-2.
• Widfeldt, Bo. The Saab J 29. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1966.
• Winchester, Jim. "Saab J 29". Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: The Grange plc., 2006. ISBN 1-84013-929-7.

External links

• [1] Military aviation: Swedish and worldwide
• [2] SAAB J 29 Tunnan
• [3] Me P.1101 similar German aircraft design
• The Saab 29 Tunnan on Vectorsite

Related content

Related development

• Messerschmitt Me P.1101
• Bell X-5

Comparable aircraft

• P-80 Shooting Star
• F-86 Sabre
• MiG-15

Designation sequence

• 18 - 21/21R - 29 - 32 - 35 - 37

Related lists

• List of fighter aircraft
• List of military aircraft of Sweden

See also