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History

29670/SE-DXB was originally built as a J 29B in 1955 and delivered to F9 “Göta flygflottilj” later that year with the markings 9-yellow R. In November 1956 it was transferred to F10 “Skånska Flygflottiljen” where it flew until December 1956 before being sent back to Saab where it was modified to ”F” standard. On the 11th of June 1957, it was returned to F10 “Skånska Flygflottiljen” before being transferred to F 3 “Östgöta flygflottilj” in March 1964. It was then transferred as a loan to F 20 on December 8th 1966, with markings 20-16. It was returned back to F 3 on the 13th of June 1968 and flew the last 2 years of its operational career as a target aircraft before being retired from the Swedish Air Force on the 30th of June 1970. After its military career, the Tunnan was transferred to the Swedish Air Force's aviation history collection in Malmslätt. In 1992 a group of enthusiasts from the F10 wing initiated a project called J29F Gul Rudolf (R Yellow) and on the 11th of July 1995, after almost 3 years of restoration, the Tunnan performed its first flight as SE-DXO. It was then transferred from F 10 to FMHS (formerly F 14) in Halmstad and later to F 7 in Såtenäs where it remains to this day.

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The Aircraft

Saab J29F Tunnan

The Saab 29 Tunnan, colloquially Flygande tunnan (English: "The flying barrel"), is a Swedish fighter that was designed and manufactured by Saab in the 1940s. It was the second turbojet-powered combat aircraft to be developed in Sweden, the first being the Saab 21R, and it was the first Western European fighter to be produced with a swept wing post World War II, only being preceded in Western Europe as a whole by the Me 262 built during the war. Despite its rotund appearance, from which its name is derived, the J 29 was fast and agile and served effectively in both fighter and fighter-bomber roles into the 1970s.

The Saab 29 Tunnan was the first Swedish aircraft to be specifically designed to use jet propulsion. Sweden's first jet fighter, the Saab 21R, had been modified from the piston-engined Saab 21. It is a small, chubby aircraft with a single round air intake in the nose, with the pilot under a bubble canopy directly above the air intake duct on the upper-forward section of the fuselage. It has a very thin mid-mounted moderately swept two-spar wing which is a single structure attached to the fuselage by four bolts. The undercarriage is hydraulically operated and was designed to be suitable for use from rough airstrips. To improve pilot survivability, the Tunnan used an ejection seat Saab developed in 1943, with an explosive jettisoning system for the canopy.

The Tunnan is powered with a single 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) de Havilland Ghost turbojet which has a top speed in excess of 650 mph (1,050 km/h), better performance than Sweden's de Havilland Vampires. The engine was bolted to the fuselage at three points and a special trolley was used to remove the engine for maintenance. The final version had an afterburner, the first successful one used with a British jet engine.

Improvements were made to the wing to incorporate a dog-tooth leading-edge, raising the critical Mach number. From 1963 onwards, all frontline J 29Fs were equipped with AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-seeking air-to-air missiles.

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