Saab 21
Encyclopedia : S : SA : SAA : Saab 21
The Saab 21 was a fighter/attack aircraft from SAAB that first took to the air in 1943. It was described as a very efficient weapons platform. It was designed using the pusher configuration, where the propeller is mounted in the rear, pushing the plane forward. The advantage of a pushprop was that the view forward was unobstructed and armament could be concentrated in the nose. One drawback was difficulty in escaping from the craft in an emergency, as the pilot could get drawn into the propeller blades. This led to the development of an early ejector seat that was not patented and that led to some later problems with Martin Baker who did patent it.
When peace came in 1945, the aircraft was redesigned and fitted with a De Havilland Goblin turbojet and acquired the new designation Saab 21R.
Specifications (Saab 21A-3)
General characteristics
- Wingspan: 11.6m
- Length: 10.45m
- Engine: Daimler-Benz DB605B, 1475HP
- Armament : 1 × 20mm gun, 4 × 13 mm guns, bombs, rockets
Performance
- Max. speed: 640km/h
- Max. altitude: 11000m
Operators
- Sweden.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.