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SAAB 21
	Saab A 21A-3
Role	Fighter and attack aircraft
Manufacturer	SAAB
First flight	1943
Introduced	1945
Retired	1954
Primary user	Swedish Air Force
Produced	1945-1949
Number built	298
Variants	Saab 21R

The SAAB 21 was a Swedish fighter/attack aircraft from SAAB that first took to the air in 1943. It was described as a very efficient weapons platform. It was designed as a twin boom pusher configuration, where the propeller is mounted in the rear of the fuselage, pushing the aircraft forward.

[edit] Design and development

Sweden wished to ensure its continued neutrality through a policy of armed strength during World War II but were effectively denied access to foreign weapons. In response Sweden undertook an indigenous rearmament programme including an advanced fighter, and for this task the Saab 21 was ultimately designed round a license-produced version of the Daimler-Benz DB 605B engine as a low-wing monoplane with tricycle landing gear, heavy forward-firing armament, a pilot's ejection seat, and a twin-boom pusher layout that later allowed the type's revision with a turbojet engine as the J 21R.

The advantages of a "pushprop" are that the view forward is unobstructed and armament can be concentrated in the nose, while a major drawback is difficulty in escaping from the aircraft in an emergency, as the pilot could get drawn into the propeller blades. SAAB 21 pilots would even jokingly refer to the aircraft's "skjutande propeller" (pushing propeller) as "skivande propeller" (slicing propeller). These issues eventually led to the development of an early non-patented ejector seat, which later created problems with Martin Baker who acquired the patent themselves.^{[citation needed]}

In 1947, the aircraft was extensively redesigned with over 50% of airframe, tailplane and wing changes and fitted with a De Havilland Goblin turbojet, acquiring the new designation Saab 21R.

[edit] Operational history

The first of three J 21 prototypes flew in July 1943, and 54 J 21A-1 fighters were delivered from December 1945, followed by 124 and 119 examples respectively of the J 21A-2 with revised armament and the J 21A-3 fighter-bomber. Utilized mainly in the bomber role, the limitation of the design led to a re-evaluation of the airframe to accommodate a jet engine. While production line J 21A series aircraft were first selected for conversion, the initial piston-engine version continued in production in five series "batches" that were completed in 1948–1949. In service use, the J 21A was phased out after 1954.

[edit] Variants

Saab A 21A-3

J 21A-1: First production series of fighter version. 54 built between 1945 and 1946, retired in 1949.
J 21A-2: Second and third production series of fighter version (62 aircraft each built between 1946 and 1947). Aircraft had better avionics and was armed with a Swedish 20 mm gun. Retired between 1953 and 1954.
A 21A-3: First and second production series of attack version (66 aircraft each built between 1947 and 1949). Aircraft was basically J 21A-2 equipped with bomb aiming sight, was able to use two RATO rockets, and was armed with unguided rockets and bombs.
J 21B: Planned version armed with three 20 mm nose guns, radar in the starboard boom, improved aerodynamics and Daimler-Benz DB 605E or Rolls-Royce Griffon engines.^[1] None built.

[edit] Operators

Sweden

Swedish Air Force

[edit] Survivors

Three aircraft are preserved;

A 21A-3, serial 21286 rebuilt into a A 21R, on permanent static display at the Swedish Air Force Museum
A 21A-3, serial 21311, on permanent static display as a J 21A-3 at F 15 Söderhamn Flygmuseum
A 21A-3, serial 21364, on permanent static display at the Swedish Air Force Museum

[edit] Specifications (Saab 21A-3)

This aircraft article is missing some (or all) of its specifications. If you have a source, you can help Wikipedia by adding them.

Data from {Billing, Peter. "A Fork-Tailed Swede"}

General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot
Length: 10.45 m (34 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 11.6 m (38 ft 0 in)
Height: 3.97 (13 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 22.2 m² (238.87 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,250 kg (7,165 lb)
Loaded weight: 4,150 kg (9,149 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 4,413 kg (9,730 lb)
Powerplant: 1× Daimler-Benz DB 605B, built by SFA. liquid-cooled, supercharged, 60° inverted V12 engine, 1,085 kW (1,455 hp)^[2]

Performance

Maximum speed: 640 km/h (343 knots, 398 mph)
Cruise speed: 495 km/h (308 mph)
Range: 750 km (466 mi)
Service ceiling: 11,000 m (36,090 ft)
Rate of climb: 15 m/s (2,950 ft/min)

Armament

1× 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 or Bofors cannon
2× 13 mm Bofors-built Colt machine guns in the nose
2× 13 mm Bofors-built Colt machine guns in the wing
Various bombs and rockets

[edit] See also

Related development

Saab 21R

Comparable aircraft

Related lists

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

^ Saab 21
^ 1,475 PS in original

[edit] Bibliography

Billing, Peter. "A Fork-Tailed Swede." AIR Enthusiast Twenty-two, August-November 1983. Bromley, Kent, UK: Pilot Press Ltd., 1983.
Erichs, Rolph, Kai Hammerich, and Gudmund Rapp et al. The Saab-Scania Story. Stockholm: Streiffert & Co., 1988. ISBN 91-7886-014-8.
This Happens in the Swedish Air Force (brochure). Stockholm: Information Department of the Air Staff, Flygstabens informationsavdelning, Swedish Air Force, 1983.
Widfeldt, Bo. The Saab 21 A & R (Aircraft in Profile number 138). Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1966.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saab J-21

SAAB 21 story

[0] Saab 21

[1] 1,475 PS in original

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