Saab 29 Tunnan

The Saab 29 Tunnan, The Barrel, was an early jet-powered fighter designed and produced by Saab. It was the second turbojet aircraft developed in Sweden after the Saab 21R and the first Western European fighter built with a swept wing after the Second World War. Work began in late 1945 around the new de Havilland Ghost turbojet, whose size gave the fuselage its barrel shape and the aircraft its name. The first prototype flew on 1 September 1948, and the first production aircraft reached Bråvalla Wing in May 1951. Variants included the J 29A, B, E and afterburning F fighters and the S 29C reconnaissance model. Several J 29B fighters served in the Congo with a United Nations force, and Austria also flew the type. Swedish fighter versions left combat service in May 1967, with some kept for training and target towing into the 1970s.