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Air Force
Museum Linköping Pictures from 2004, 2007 Link to official Air Force museum Consist of 2 parts. Page 1-19, 20-38 |
since 060105 Updated 2012-01-10 © Björn Bellander |
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Air Force
Museum Linköping Pictures from 2004, 2007 Link to official Air Force museum Consist of 2 parts. Page 1-19, 20-38 |
since 060105 Updated 2012-01-10 © Björn Bellander |
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SAAB J35 Dragon
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 The history of the Swedish fighter J35 Dragon started with the knowledge that Sweden must have an aircraft which was able to fight high flying bombers which were under development in the Soviet. It had to be able to fly at 13000 level with over sound speed, land on war fields like roads. Short take of and landing length, about 800 and 600 m. The designer was Erik Bratt at SAAB. This aircraft was projected already 1949. It was before the Swedish J29 Barrel was delivered, 1951. This aircraft was designated J35 and later with the nickname Dragon. It's first take of was in October 1955 and delivering to air wings 1960. The development letter reach F and production ceased 1974. Some aircrafts were exported to Finland, Denmark and Austria. In Austria they are still in service 2004. NASA has got some for testing and it is also at least one aircraft in private ownership. At Duxford there is one donated by Swedish Air Force. In Denmark outside the car museum of Aahlholm is one sad copy exhibited. The Dragon was in service for 46 years and 615 were build. To test this idea of so called super sonic character a small version was build, Little Dragon, which also can be seen at museum. I remember that in the the 50th there was an air jubilee over Stockholm. At this opportunity the Air Force had sent the Little Dragon. It flew rather high and made some rotations before it disappeared. There is also a so called trainee mockup for education of pilots. The design of this aircraft was a double delta wing where the inner thick part gave the fighter high speeds and also place for landing gears weapon and fuel. The outer part of the wing gave it good low speed qualities. The following picture is from Roll Out at Västerås Flying museum 2007. It is one renovated Dragon by Swedish Air Force. It is in mint condition and is nice to see closely. Something for an enthusiast. Generally the J35 was a lucky construction and had good development potential.  |
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SAAB J29 Tunnan |
 Saab J29 was projected 1945. Serial production started 1950 and the last aircrafts were delivered 1956. It first replaced the A21 propeller version 1953. The design of the J29 is from the beginning a German project for a arrow wing fighter, Messerschmitt P1101. The winning forces shared and took what they wanted from the defeated Germans. The project P1101, a Swedish engineer from SAAB got (bought?) drawings and reported in shady ways, in Switzerland. These were handed over to the border of SAAB. Lars Brising at that time chief designer at SAAB put several suggestions with this as the base. In this way it became a J29 of the Messerschmitt beginning project. The Swedish J29 Barrel became the national pride in Sweden. In spite of this hidden origin the J29 became a very potent fighter for it's time and was in service till 1965. 661 copies were build. The Swedish pilots were not used to these advanced aircrafts and there were high efforts on education. With this new kind of flying 230 J29 were crashed and many of them with the lost of the pilot. These accidents were believed to be caused by the fact that there were no 2 seat school version. For this time the project was complicated that in Sweden there was no qualified Swedish test pilot to find. Saab hired an English pilot, Bob Moore for this job. The first take of was 1948. The J29 was well known for at least two things. World record on track in speed and service in Kongo. At one fighter visit in Italy one J29 was damaged and it was presented to Italy because it was to expensive to repair in place. The Swedish Air Force leader didn't realized the future value of old historical fighters. Shoot or fire them in pieces. I can never understand that it was a better schooling for pilots to shoot at an old fighter on ground. This was only showing the way of thinking at that time. If enough copies could have been stored the air force Museum today 2007 could have money enough to have an air force museum of a high level. This would be good for Swedish history. Lucky enough there are several of these aircrafts left for enthusiast with money to be put in order again. In Sweden there was for a long time no flying Barrel. When the old mechanics and engineers realized this they got money from SAAB, firms and donations to put a good copy in order. This was a job that was completed 2007. Only one country bought J29 and it was Austria. They bought used aircrafts which got a complete renovation. The Austrian pilots were trained in Sweden. Up to this day the Swedish people speaks with a proud voice about J29 Barrel which made the Swedish air industry well known in the world.
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SAAB J28 Vampire
Links
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 The air force realized according there troubles with J21 to try to buy fighters from England. Although they bought some Spitfires in order to convert to night flights and some P51 Mustangs. Through good contact with the English producers Sweden was the first country to buy Vampire. 70 from the series J28A were delivered from 1946 to 1956 equipped with Goblin engines. Later model J28B with considerable stronger engine, the Ghost-engine, was bought in 310 examples. Sweden also got one 2 seat training aircraft. J28 was considered easy to fly and was commonly popular. This was the second generation of jet air-aircrafts. It showed that the producers had succeeded to bring up the engine effect without mounting a after burner. The first generation like Me 262 and Gloster Meteor had to carry 2 engines to get sufficient power. Only the German model was action ready before war ended. Vampire was projected early 1940 and was flown first time 1943. The body was made of marine plywood. Just like the night fighter Mosquito. According to jet engines England and Germany was just like ahead in the construction of jet engines. Their biggest problem was heat resistant materials. This was never needed before. There were 2 different types of jet engines. One with large diameter. Their centrifugal compressor had only one row. Because of this it had to be a large diameter. The J29 fighter had this engine. Both J28 and J29 were recognized by the belly. The other construction model, that became leading, was the one with considerable smaller diameter. This was made with several rows for the compressor. Because of this the engine became longer. Sweden wanted to start an industry for developing jet engines. Of this reason a license for building Vampires engines was bought. Goblin. This was developed for a Swedish variant for J29, J33 and later the Lance. J28 came for the first time to Sweden in three examples. They were flown to Sweden by Swedish pilots and landed at F13 in Norrköping. Another 2 were also on the way but had to stop in Germany for refuelling and bad weather. They landed a few days later. On of the first 3 with Swedish id number 28001 is on show at air force museum. After 22 years of work in Sweden 50 were sold to Austria and Dominican Republic. A last word is that J21 which had the same configuration as J28 was not able to be used like J28. It was the first attempt for Swedish industry to construct a jet fighter. |
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J34 Hunter
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 The Swedish air force was in a trouble because the new aircraft they were waiting for J35 Dragon was several years delayed. To fill this gap they decided to buy from England Hawker Hunter. In Sweden it was named J34. The fighter Sweden had at this time was the left over of J29 Barrel and latest fighter version of Vampire. The progress had a tremendous speed in the world. J28 and J29 were at this time no match for foreign fighters. The cold war became more serious as time went on. Hawker Hunter had been delivered to RAF since 1950, but not to any other country. It was not equipped with radar and after burner. The contacts between Sweden and England were very good and the Air force ordered 120 aircrafts. Believe it or not but all these were delivered in time. A very unusual happening at that time. J34 was not fully developed when they arrived to Sweden. The canons of the aircraft destroyed the air stream for engines air intake. That made the engine to loose power. Furthermore the empty patrons from the gun had the possibility to enter the air intake. They could destroy the compressor. This was later solved in the way that a container was build for the patrons. The gunpowder gases made the compressor wings dirty. I have not been able to know how they solved this problem unless many question to old mechanics at museums I have visited. Look further A32 Lance. This was of course a military secret of large dimension. Sweden made a trial to build in an after burner, but this project was stopped because the near delivery of A32 Lance. Hawker Hunter was used till 1960 when it was taken away from war organisation of Sweden. Left over aircrafts are to be found at museum in Linköping, Söderhamn and also at Svedino's museum in Ugglarp. There are several private flying Hunters in the world. Most of them bought from the Swiss air force. From these there are at least one in Sweden. |
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A32 Lansen |
 In the beginning of the 50th the air forces distinguish between military aircraft for different missions. The night mission had its Venom. The fighters had their Hunters. Sweden had also the B18 and B17 which were bombers. Propeller aircrafts were too old fashioned. The air leading group had also decided in order to make a bomber effective, it had to be able to carry heavy bombs, fly fast and high. Little Sweden could not afford such an investigation. They decided to put money in attack or as it was named during the war dive bombers. Besides they had used J21A for this. This type was although not a good one. See earlier text. Attack air aircraft could defeat goals with high sure in aim. Saab got the task 1946 to design a suitable aircraft. This suggestion was ready 1949 and SAAB started to build. In order to build a modern jetfighter SAAB realized that the designer no longer could sit and draw and count by hand with the stick. The stick didn't deliver accuracy enough. It should take too long time. It would be difficult to make the pieces changeable. The construction office went over to a coordinate system. Every measure was counted from zero. In order to get help for this SAAB and Ericsson designed the computer power of that time. Later SAAB build computers with the name D22. This computer was used for the dragon. Although the development of computers went so fast that SAAB could not hang on and later sold the whole concept. This early design was at the time proved to be Saab A32 Lance and it first test flight took place in November 1952. It was common in Sweden, after the war, to baptize a military aircraft with a nickname. Different wing angles was tested on a Saab Safir. This was done in half scale with 35°. During this time STAL in Finspång was working to design a jet engine. It was called Dovern after a lake in the Finspång area. This engine was tested on a hill just near the city and also mounted on a Avro Lancaster which was bought from England. They worked with the testings 24 hours and the people living in town had certain difficulties to sleep. Although they accepted these problems for the good sake. There were lots of demo testing to show how good the durability of the engine was. The test people threw ice cubes into the air intake of the engine. This could be done because the rotor blades were made of a special stainless steel. Further development showed that they could not reach a satisfactory power output and for reaching this cost should go to high. It was decided to buy a licence for Rolls Royce Avon instead. The Lance was equipped with 4 20 mm canons. Big trouble was encountered because the intakes suck gun powder gases which made the rotor blades dirty. Although the patrons could be a bad factor. These canons were sparely or not at all used during training. Compare problems with Hawker Hunter. Patron exit was done through holes for each canon. Trial was done for air control with plates outside the front wheel. See picture. Gun powder gases was led further back to exit holes. I have not succeeded to get the ultimate l:st solution. Picture from F15 Söderhamn (Ref 1). But principle the time was gone for guns. The fighters were equipped with all different types of rockets. Canons could be placed under the wings. In the middle under the place a bulb was added. This was an extra petrol tank. It had to be covered with neoprene to be protected for the patrons. As all military aircrafts A32 Lance was continuously developed with different versions as night attack, fighter with different types of armaments. This type was not sold to other countries but 3 aircrafts came to America in different ways. 1 aircraft was given to France and one to Spain. In Sweden there is one flying recently renovated and one at the museums in Linköping and Söderhamn. Read my links. Between the years 1955-58 297 Lance were delivered and they replaced B18. The lance became a long lived aircraft and was very much liked by the pilots and it flew in service till 1987 lastly used as target tower. To be a tower is the fate for all military fighters when time has over rolled them. |
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J20
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 It is in the turbulent time when the order from Sweden of Northrop Seversky only had delivered 60 of the 264 aircrafts and USA joined the war and called back all engineers which were on lend to Sweden and annulated the rest of the air crafts. In Italy Reggiane had just finished a good project which was called Re 2000 Falco 1. They had shown this aircrafts ability to compete that times well known fighters. Regianne was sure that the Italian air defence should order lots of them. Production was already started when the message came that the aircraft was rejected, but it was free to export. Sweden put at once an order for 60 aircrafts and all were delivered. Falco 1 was an all metal aircraft equipped with two machine guns 12,7 mm, a 14 cyl 2 row star engine at 1020 hk from Piaggio and retractable landing wheels. This air craft was an unsupported copy of Seversky. It had good performances but as all Italian deliveries many weaknesses. Among them the engine which was not to trust. It was two Italian designers who were working at the Caproni owned factory north west of Milano. They developed, copied Seversky, the aircraft with the support of owner count Caproni. England ordered 300 and Hungary 70. The English order were cancelled when Italy went into war with France. All Falcos were stationed at Bulltofta F10 Malmö. Their mission was to show the way for all injured aircraft from Germany, where they could land. From the beginning it was the 60 Seversky air craft that came to Sweden that had this job but Swedish government thought it was bad diplomacy to have American built aircrafts meeting the Americans bombers. Totally 158 aircrafts were produced in different series. Falco 1 made service during the time 1941 to 1945. It was a established fact that only 37 aircrafts was left air worthy and also badly worn out. All the aircrafts were out of service and scraped but one. |
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J11
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 During the 30th the Swedish government didn't seem to have the slightest thinking that it ever more should be a conflict in Europe. For this reason they had disarmed just for using the money for other things. This meant that the Swedish Air Force was tremendously out of air aircrafts and material. The Air force hade only some old Fiat Cr 32 and other biplane aircrafts from WWI. Also there were only one wing flight in Stockholm area. 1938 they started to understand that this was not the right way and began to investigate were to buy fighters. They had orders in USA but they didn't want to deliver because of embargo. Japan and Russia could deliver. Although Russia offered old Polikarpov fighters and Japan the successful Zero aircraft. The air force leaders didn't want the Polikarpovs and the transport of Zeros were to long and could easily be destroyed. The country that at last got the first order was Italy with the Fiat Cr42. This was the best that for the moment could be bought. It had a proportionately modern star engine with 14 cyl. and 840 ps. Quite high speed for a biplane. It was old fashioned with an open cockpit and a weak armament with 2 12.7 machine guns. It had a generally low material standard and this caused many crashes with the lose of the pilot and also already 1939-40 they were hopeless antiquated. The first order with 12 aircrafts was initiated from the pulpit in Christine Church in Gothenburg. The vicar Isaac Been who had big feelings for Finland, thundered that "What Finland needs against the Russians are fighters." Quickly a collection was started and the Swedes gave in a short time enough with money to buy 12 Cr42. These were to be delivered 1940. As a private person Isaac Been could not buy them so the Swedish Air Force got that job. During the time Finland had got peace and had better use of the money so Sweden bought them an gave Finland the money. Later Sweden bought another 60 Cr42. Many things can be said about Italian industry but they always delivered in time. These aircrafts were quickly worne out because of the bad material standard and already 1943 they were to be replaced by the Swedish J22. Some of the surviving Cr42 were placed at F13 Norrköping, and some air worthy were sold within the country. Only 2 aircrafts are still left in the world and the one at museum in Linköping is one. |
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SK-16
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 This trainer was named to North American AT in America. It was also produced in two plants Inglewood and in Canada. It was a training aircraft with advanced facilities. That's why it had the add on AT (advanced trainer). It was produced in large numbers from 1935 till 1945. Every country that used it had their own name and in Sweden it got the name Sk-16A/B. This type had compared to other training aircrafts closed cockpit, main wheel were able to be retracted, adjustable prop and a powerful engine giving 600 hp. This was the famous PW Wasp engine which was almost the same as for DC-3, Junkers B3 and with doubled cylinders for the Swedes Italian fighters and B17. The training aircrafts which Sweden had were the German Sk-25 Bestmann and some older German aircrafts like Klemm 35, Sk-12 Stieglitz and the English Sk-11 Tiger Moth. All were license built in Sweden. None of these trainers could live up to what was needed for the modern fighters which were bought and built in Sweden after the war. 1947 it was decided to buy the well approved AT16. This type was built in the same factory that was responsible for P51 Mustang J26. With some imagination you can see that the J26 and Sk-16 have some similarities. Compare the tail wheel mounting and the connection of the body to the end. Most of the total 17000 were placed in storage after the war and could be purchased for a small amount of money. Sweden ordered 175 aircrafts. They were flown to New Jersey where they were dismantled and pack in large boxes In Sweden CVA in Arboga put them together again. All of the Swedish wings got some but most went to the Swedish training center in F5 Ljungbyhed. Buying these aircrafts were a late initiative because jet power was knocking on the door. Also one can wonder if not the air force commanders had more thoughts to use this aircraft because the total of 287 aircrafts. Sweden had not such a large fly education. Sk-16 was out of active duty in two steps. First 1957-58 and lastly 1972. |
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SK-15 Klemm
Meeting in
Hahnweide 2007
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 Hans Klemm was one of the great air aircraft designers in Germany during the interwar period. He was born already 1885 and started his career at the Zeppelinwerke. After this he worked with several well known designers like Heinkel. This led to that he opened his own factory. With the help of his chief designer Friedrich Fecher they built what later was known as Klemm 35. This sport aircraft become at once very popular at a show in Milano 1935. It was an excellent aircraft for aerobatics. During this period it was very popular to compete with aircrafts. Already 1936 a Swede, Simonsson, bought one and won a competition in Sweden. But selling to private persons was not the way to earn much money. That's way Hans wanted to sell to Luftwaffe. It could be used for training. But Göring didn't like the small aircraft and called it "papier fleugzug". It was built with a steel pipe central frame with wings and rear end of wood covered with fabric. Only small amount of aluminium was used. It was equipped with a Hirth 4 cyl engine at 105 ps. Hirth's name is still alive as a producer of 2 stroke engines in Germany. The selling to RLM was established because of contact with one of the flying ace from WWI, now general Udet. RLM bought 1300 Klemm 35. Totally 2000 were produced. Sweden needed traning aircrafts and ordered 74 year 1939. These were delivered 1940-41. They were very easy to fly and the new pilots liked them very much. Klemm 35 was used till 1948 when it was replaced by Sk 15. After this the air force Klemms were sold to different flying clubs in Sweden and abroad. This is the reason why there still are so many surviving copies. All existing aircrafts in Germany were destroyed or captured during the war. A good link is the Vintage Aircraft Meeting in Hahneweide 2007. In that site there are much to see if you have the strength to click. One copy is to be found in Linköping museum. |
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SK-25 Bestmann
Bücker today Webbsite about Bücker aircraft
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 Carl Clemens Bücker was one of the many talent designers who were notable during the inter war period. He was educated to navy lieutenant and pilot in German Fleet during WWI. After the war he worked at Heinkel/Caspar-Werke in Warnemünde. During this period he came to Sweden an was employed as consulting engineer by Swedish Navy department. He took care of testing and delivery of aircrafts. Sweden wanted to buy from Heinkel, Caspar and Albatross. In order to take care of problems with the Versailles treatment, which didn't gave Germany the right to sell military equipments even produce, Bücker and in the beginning Heinkel, started a company in Sweden, Svenska Aero AB 1921. This was placed at Hästholmen Lidingö outside Stockholm in a shipyard. This company delivered more than 15 different types of aircrafts to the Swedish Navy and Army. Though the Swedish authorities normally only wanted one aircraft and the license to build, he didn't earn much money. This was because the marine and army had their own workshops. Bücker was forced to sell his company to the new established ASJA for 250000 Skr. Much can be written about this affair. Bücker returned to Germany and opened his own factory outside Berlin. After a while he got one of his earlier designers to Germany. This was Anders Johan Andersson who before this time was employed at Svenska Aero and also had worked at Messerschmidt. Together with Clemens Bücker and Anders they designed several popular training aircrafts like Bü131 Jungman and Bü181 Bestmann. Sweden was in urgent need of trainers for the pilots and Bücker 181 had a good reputation because it was the standard trainer in German Luftwaffe. The 181 had new thinking in design when the pupil and teacher sat side by side in a closed cockpit. For this reason they could communicate much better. In training aircrafts, like Klemm, the pilots talked through a pipe. One Bestman was ordered from the German Luftwaffe. This flow to Bromma and then direct to Ljungbyhed F5. Sweden wanted to buy this type but as usual only one and the right to build copies. This work should be transferred to Saab in Trollhättan, but Bücker didn't want to give it to Saab because he had been badly treated and forced to sell Svenska Aero to ASJA. Today united with Saab. Different solutions were discussed, even an own company, but at last Hägglund & Söner in Örnsköldsvik got the order. 120 aircrafts were ordered and they had their test fly on a small field outside the factory. This was done by Anders Gernandt, know all over Sweden for his special voice in radio and interests of horses. These aircrafts were then flown direct to Ljungbyhed. The whole delivery was ready 1946. After the war the training in Sweden was reduced and some Bestmann were moved to the wings. 1952 they were replaced by Sk 50 and the Air Force started to sell left over Bückers on the civil market and several were sold to Germany. Four copies stayed in Sweden. Bückers factory outside Berlin Rangsdorf growed during the war and had as most as 1600 workers. 1/3 were Russian prisoners and forced labours. After the war this factory, which had escaped from bombings, was classified as war indemnity and dismounted by the Russians. At this moment most of the workers and Bücker himself had fled to Hamburg. Carl Clemens Bücker died 1976. Anders Johan Andersson moved to Sweden 1939 and became a designer at Saab. He got later the job to design the Saab Safir which then became an updated copy of Bestman and even more popular then the original. |
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SK-12 Stieglitz
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 1936, this was the year when the Swedish Parliament decided to make a large increase of the Swedish air force. Up to this day the air force had only 80 air worthy air crafts, all more or less antiquated. This increase was supposed to expand the air force up to 450 aircrafts and of these 300 should be in the first line. This was an impossible wish because Sweden didn't want to buy ready made air crafts. It should be licenses to build the air crafts in Sweden. For this Sweden had to build up there own air craft industry first. At this time Sweden had no producer of thin aluminium plates. There were some producers like ASJA, SAAB AFF (AB Förenade Flygverkstäder). The air force had also some support workshops of their own. These were only meant for this but they became important to build licence build air crafts. They were named CFM (Centala Flygverkstaden Malmslätt), CFV (Centrala Flygverkstaden Västerås). There was also Bofors/Nohab Flygmotor. For this expansion pilots were needed and for the pilots there must be enough with school trainers. One Focke-Wulf 44J from Luftwaffe was flown 1935 to Ljungbyhed for demonstration. This air craft was a development by a well known designer, Kurt Tank, who with the help of the famous aerobics of the time like Ernst Udet, Emil Kropf and Gerd Achegelis had changed the model to a good trainer. This air craft was used during the WWII in education of German pilots. The air force board decided to buy 2 airplanes to evaluate. After this 14 aircrafts were ordered. At the same time Sweden got license to build and ordered 20 planes at ASJA. 37 air crafts were ordered at CFV. This in spite of that the air force workshops were not meant for this. Later Focke-Wulf delivered another 12 aeroplanes. SK-12 (Swedish designation) was build by wood and had a frame of steel pipes and between covered with fabrics. Certain places where covered by plywood. The engine was a Siemens Bravo license manufactured by BMW and gave 145 ps. When this type was taken out of service in the end of the war most of them were sent to the wings. There they were in active duty up to 1960. Several of them were sold to Germany and some to the air clubs of Sweden for a symbolic sum. 2 planes are to be seen at Svedino Car and Airplane Museum and also one at Air Force Museum in Linköping. |
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SK-11 Tiger Moth
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 The history about the SK_11 Tiger Moth really started for the Swedish Air Force with Sk-8 Skolfalken. The Air board didn't buy enough with copies of this type because Svenska Aero couldn't produce them. In the year of 1931-32 there was hard feelings between Air Board and Svenska Aero. The Sk-8 could have been license produced at other air craft producers in Sweden. The Air Force had also the Sk-6. This air craft had serious problems with it's Mercedes engine. This made that the type was grounded. Later it got another type of engine. Well, the pilot school at Ljungbyhed had problems because no school trainer was available for 1931 class. No pilots could be trained. One solution was to buy 10 air crafts of the type Gipsy Moth from England. This plane got the designation Sk-9. It was a good air craft for training but .... with the disadvantage that the pilot in the front seat had big troubles to get out in an emergency situation. This was due to all stay wires under the upper wing plane placed around the cockpit. This was the reason way the English air force didn't buy this air craft before this thing was settled. It was changed in a typical English way at this time by trial and error. The upper wing plane was move forward twice. Such type of changes made that the centre of gravity point came in the wrong place according to the wings. Now it was time to change the wings into a slight sweep-back. This was done 3 times. At last the head designer decided to make the sweep-back even more for the upper wing plane. Now they had got a good result. The last changing was to raise the lower wing plane because it could touch the ground when landing. In order to complete all these changes they put a stronger engine in front. It became an inverted Gipsy III with 120 ps. Now it was time to put all this on drawings. The engine was later, 1931, changed to a even stronger one. The air craft was now named DH 82A Tiger Moth or Sk-11A. This engine Gipsy I had 130 ps. This type was imported to Sweden and also license built at ASJA factories. In England lots of pilots were needed because of the world situation. This forced a massive serial production and totally till end of war 8280 copies were built. This was done mainly at Morris Motors fabrics. Several countries, mainly in Europe, used it for first training of pilots. This meant that 1000:s of pilots have their roots in this type of trainer and because of that a special feeling for it. Many air clubs take a special care of this historical air craft. This means that there are many air worthy Tiger Moths in the world. In Sweden who had license to build Sk-11 and Sk-11A built 23 copies and totally 13 aeroplanes were bought from DeHavilland in England. At the end of 30th they were replaced by Focke-Wulf 44J SK-12. The last Sk-11 was taken out of service as late as 1958. In Sweden there are several air worthy aeroplanes at different air clubs. Also there are one of Sk-11A and one Sk-9 at air museum in Linköping. |
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SK-10 Tigerschwalbe
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 The history of Tigerschwalbe is one part of Gerhard Fieselers life as an aircraft designer. He was a son of a printer and it was expected that he should be such a one. Although Gerhard didn't have the feeling for this. He enrolled into the German Luftwaffe during the WWI. When the war was at the end he started as a printer but came in contact with Raab-Katzenstein aircraft factory. The owner needed a flight instructor. He was employed and during this time he learned all about how to construct an aeroplane. He was very talent in aerobatic and earned much money when performing in the air. For this with his experiences he designed and built his type of aircraft at Raab factory. This was the Fi-2 which was a forerunner for RK-26. Four RK-26 were built before Raab-Katzenstein was bankrupt and the owner had to fly according his antinazi opinions. He tried to start aeroplane manufacturing in Estonia and Latvia. Gerhard with his money bought a sailplane factory in Ihringshausen, by the owner Ackermann, near Kassel. This was renamed to Gerhard Fieseler Flugzeugbau. Here he started to design aircrafts. Gerard was invited through the Swedish Embassy in Berlin to show the RK-26 1930. He flow one of the remaining RK-26 to Ljungbyhed for a show. As he was a very good stunt pilot he had no difficulties to convince the spectators, with Lieutenant Nils Söderberg as high commander of the flight school, that this was the aeroplane for Sweden. One test copy was bought at once for further testings and 1932 ASJA got an order of 25 copies. ASJA had bought license rights to build this aeroplane. RK-26 had though only one cockpit so the Swedish board ordered some changes and the most important was building in another cockpit, strengthening it and a stronger engine, Walter Castor 240 hp. The stronger engine was needed when all changes had added another 200 kg. This showed that it was not the same aircraft and had no longer possessed those good qualities it had from the beginning. From the 25 copies that was delivered up to 1934 18 were crashed. It was established that this type separated the wheat from the chaff. This type was in use up to 1945. The copy at Museum in Linköping is the rebuild original test copy from Germany and also the only one left in the world. An interesting note about Gerhard Fieseler is that he was the constructor of the V1-bomb, named Fi-103, and other proposals of that type. See also S14 Storch. |
| Facts about these airplanes are gathered from: Gösta von Porat - Flyget blev mitt liv. Historien om Breguét. Max Immelman's papers. Anthony Fokker - The Flying Dutchman. Ernst Heinkel - Stormy Life. Gehard Fieseler - Meine Bahn am Himmel. Torsten Gullberg - Svenska Vingar. Nils Söderberg - Med Spaken i Näven. Lennart Andersson - Svenska Flygplan. Info plates from Air Museums and lots of links found in internet. |
| Links to other interesting sites Duxford Air Force Museum Brookland Museum Sinsheim aoroplane Robot museum Sweden Soderhams Air Museum Soderhams Air museum Thulin room Landskrona Svedino Air Museum |
| Pictures
from the following owners have been used in bjorns-story.se with the
necessary allowance: Reference 1: © Björn Bellander bjorn.bellander@telia.com Reference 11: © Goleta Air & Space Museum Brian Lockett Reference 12: © Roy Fröjdh Reference 13: © Sten Hjalmarsson Reference 20: © Gunnar Fahlgren |
Website deals with Air
Force Museum Linköping Sweden cover 38 pages in 2 sites. © Björn Bellander |
