Design and development
Intended as a replacement for the Junkers Ju 86 in service with the Swedish Air Force, [1] the requirement that led to the Saab 18 called for a three-seat fast reconnaissance aircraft. [2]
AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädernas Aeroplanavdelning (ASJA), SAAB, and AB Götaverken (GV) submitted designs for consideration by the Swedish Air Force. [1] GV's GV8 appeared to be the best suited to the requirement; however, its cost and the departure of their chief designer resulted in SAAB — the company having merged with ASJA in the meantime — being awarded a contract for development of their design. [1]
As a number of Americans were on the design staff of SAAB and ASJA, [3] the Saab 18's design shared some similarities with American designs. [1] The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to a change of priorities by the Swedish Air Force, and production of the Saab 17 was accelerated, at the expense of work on the Saab 18, [1] which, along with a change of requirements that added the role of medium bomber to the specification, resulted in the first flight of the aircraft being delayed until 19 June 1942. [2]
Manned by a crew of three — a pilot and navigator under a glazed, offset canopy, and a bombardier in the nose [2] — the Saab 18 prototype was a mid-wing monoplane with twin vertical stabilisers, [2] and was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engines. [2] Armament consisted of three 13.2-millimetre (0.52 in) machine guns, one fixed firing forwards and controlled by the pilot, the others being in flexible defensive mounts for use by the navigator and bombardier. [1] Up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) of bombs could be carried in an internal bay, while up to eight 50-kilogram (110 lb) bombs could be carried on underwing hardpoints. [1]
Flight testing showed that the aircraft was underpowered. [2] However, as there was no immediate prospect for the acquisition of more powerful engines, the Saab 18 was ordered into production in both bomber (B 18A) and reconnaissance (S 18A) versions. [2]
Operational history
The B 18A entered service in June 1944, [1] and quickly became Sweden's standard medium bomber aircraft. [4] As license-built Daimler-Benz DB 605 liquid-cooled, inline engines had become available, they were incorporated into the improved Saab 18B, which first flew on 10 July 1944. [2]
Ordered into production as the B 18B dive bomber, the 18B design was further developed into the T 18B, which was planned to be a torpedo bomber variant. [2] Due to difficulties with the torpedoes, however, [1] the T 18B was instead developed into a heavy ground-attack aircraft, mounting a 57-millimetre (2.2 in) automatkanon m/47 autocannon under the nose. [2]
By the late 1940s, the third crewmember's position had been eliminated, reducing the crew of the aircraft to two; the provision of air-to-ground rockets and improved bombsights had removed the requirement for a bombardier. By this time the Saab 18 had established a reputation for suffering a serious rate of attrition, and this led to the decision to outfit all of the surviving aircraft with ejection seats for the pilot and navigator/gunner. [5]
Production of the Saab 18 totaled 245 examples, [6] with the last T 18B being delivered in 1948. Used in trials of early Swedish air-to-surface missiles, [1] the Saab 18 remained one of Sweden's frontline ground attack and reconnaissance platforms until the late 1950s, when it was replaced by the jet-powered, swept wing Saab 32 Lansen, [7] the B 18B and T 18B being replaced by the A 32A in 1958, [1] with the last S 18As being replaced by S 32Cs in 1959. [1]
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