Saab 18

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The SAAB 18 was a twin-engine bomber designed for the Swedish Air Force. Although designed in the 1930s, changes in requirements delayed the first flight until June 19, 1942. The aircraft entered service in 1944 and remained one of Sweden's frontline ground attack and reconnaissance platforms until it was replaced by jet-powered Tunnan and Lansen in 1958-1959. Around 240 SAAB 18 were built.

Contents

1 Variants
2 Specifcations (B 18A)

2.1 General characteristics
2.2 Performance
2.3 Armament
2.4 Operators

3 References
4 Related content

Variants

Saab 18A - Two prototypes only.
B 18A - The first production version, bomber aircraft powered by two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial piston engines.
S 18A - Photo-reconnaissance version of modified B 18A with PS-18/A (license-built AN/APS-4) radar.
Saab 18B - One prototype only.
B 18B - Dive bomber version, powered by two Daimler-Benz DB 605B piston engines. First flight June 10, 1944.
T 18B - Ground attack version with 2x 20 mm and 1x 57 mm cannons, fitted with Rb 302 anti-ship missiles on an experimental basis.

Specifcations (B 18A)

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 13.2 m (43 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 17.0 m (55 ft 9 in)
Height: 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 43.8 m² (471.3 ft²)
Empty weight: 5,550 kg (12,100 lb)
Maximum gross takeoff weight: 8,200 kg (18,040 lb)
Powerplant: 2x STWC-3 (Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp), 795 kW (1,065 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 465 km/h (288 mph)
Cruise speed: 400 km/h (250 mph)
Cruise ceiling: 8,000 m (26,250 ft)
Range: 2,200 km (1,370 mi)

Armament

2x 13.2 mm fixed machine guns, 1x 7.9 mm machine gun on a flexible mount
Up to 1,400 kg (3,080 lb) of bombs or 12 unguided rockets and LRMs

Operators

Sweden

References

Kopenhagen, W (ed.) (1987) Das groβe Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Transpress. ISBN 3344001620
Donald D., Lake J. (eds.) (1996) Encyclopedia of world military aircraft. AIRtime Publishing. ISBN 1880588242