Air Weapons

Light Bomber (1942)

Saab

Saab 18

Designed in the late 1930s as a reconnaissance platform, the Saab 18 ended up entering service only until World War II was well underway due to the changing requirements of Swedish authorites which demanded the aircraft also be used for conventional and dive bombing missions. In the event, it would perform all of these roles with different variants equipped additionally with rockets, heavy forward firing cannon and reconnaissance units with cameras and even radar. Like most contemporary Swedish aircraft, the Saab 18 was fitted with locally-copied versions of foreign engines, in this case the Twin Wasp although later models were fitted with the more powerful DB 605 which creatly improved performance. Production of the Saab 18 continued post-war up until 1948 and remained in service until the 1950s most being used for reconnaissance by then.

First flight of the Saab 18A prototype took place on 19 June 1942 after numerous years of development. It entered service as the B 18A bomber and the S 18A photo-reconnaissance platform. The main production version, however, was the B 18B dive bomber with rocket armament followed by the T 18B which began life as a torped bomber but ended up being an attack aircraft with a massive 57-mm Bofors gun.

Preceded by:

None

Succeeded by:

None

Datafile

DesignB 18A
TypeLight Bomber
Year1944
Crew2-3
Dimensions
Length13.23 m
Height4.350 m
Wing Span17 m
Wing Arean/a
Weight
Empty5,488 kg
Maximum8,140 kg
Wing Loading186.1 kg/m²
Performance
Speed465 km/h
Ceiling8,000 m
Range2,200 km
Powerplant
Engine2 x R-1830-S1C3G
SFA
794 kW
Thrust/Weight0.35
Armament
Guns2 x 13.2-mm
1 x 7.9-mm
Payload1,500 kg
Production
Built60
Total245