Model Aircraft – August 2019

I

n the aftermath of the Second World

War, Sweden required a strong air

defence utilising the newly developed

jet technology, thereby Project ‘JxR’ was

initiated in the inal months of 1945, with

requirements being drawn up in October

1945. This led to a pair of proposals being
      issued by the Saab design team, led by Lars
      Brising. The irst of these, codenamed R101,
      was a cigar-shaped aircraft which bore a
      resemblance to the American Lockheed P-
      Shooting Star. The second design, which was
      later picked as the winner, was the barrel-
      shaped design, codenamed R 1001, which
      proved to be both faster and more agile upon
      closer study. The original R 1001 concept had
      been designed around a mostly straight wing,
      but after Swedish engineers had obtained
      German research data on swept-wing designs,
      the prototype was altered to incorporate a
      twenty-ive-degree sweep. Saab also elected

to locate the retractable undercarriage in

the aircraft’s fuselage rather than in the

wings. Extensive wind tunnel testing

performed at the Swedish Royal University of

Technology and by the National Aeronautical

Research Institute had also inluenced aspects

of the aircraft’s aerodynamics, such as stability

and trim across the aircraft’s speed range.

For reasons of lateral stability during take-of

and landing, automatically-locking leading

edge slots, which were interconnected with

the laps, were also deemed necessary. In order

to further test the design of the swept wing,

it was decided to modify a single Saab Sair,

which received the designation Saab 201, with

a full-scale wing for a series of light tests.

The originally envisioned powerplant for the

type was the de Havilland Goblin turbojet engine.

However, in December 1945, information on

the newer and more powerful de Havilland

Ghost engine became available. This was

deemed to be ideal for Saab’s in-development

aircraft as not only did the Ghost engine have

provisions for the use of a central circular air

intake, the overall diameter of the engine was

favourable for the planned fuselage dimensions,

thus, following negotiations between de

Havilland and Saab, the Ghost engine was

selected to power the type instead. Despite

Barrel-Shaped Swedish J 29

Saab

Tunnan

THE TUNNAN WAS THE FIRST SWEDISH JET AIRCRAFT TO

PERFORM COMBAT OPERATIONS

COMB

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FIGHTIN

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(^12) COMBAT ZONE – SAAB J 29 TUNNAN COMBFIGHTING AT ZONECOLOURS WWW.MODELAIRCRAFTMAG.COM