The
model I present to you today is from the Marivox kit (Swedish brand) and
shows the aircraft in the colours of a target tug that was in service from
1957 to 1963 at the airbase Langenlebarn in Austria.
The
kit was built OOB and only the wires for antenna are added. It is not easy
to find pictures of that aircraft in the Austrian colours, so I relied on
the data from Marivox. I hope you enjoy it.
Click on
images below to see larger images
In
1937 the Swedish SAAB Company was established as a consortium of AB Svenska
Jarnvagsverkstaderna and Svenska Fygmotor AB with the target to build aircraft
for military use. They started to build US and German planes under licence, and
in 1940 the first draft of their own aircraft was issued by Saab. It was a diving
fighter-bomber called Saab 17. It had a quite modern full metal design and in
some respects it had similarity to a Kingfisher or Helldiver. The reason for
that is likely the circumstance that at that time up to 40 employees in Saab
development department were US
engineers. The plane was designed to be a diving fighter-bomber, which caused
very strong structures in the wings with no space for hiding the landing gears
during flight. For that reason the wheels were only retracted underneath the
wings and protected against winds with an aerodynamic fairing. The fairing
component could also be used as a kind of brake flap. During winter time the
aircraft was able to be equipped with a pair of skis and there was also a
floatplane version available. In the cockpit there was enough space for 2
crew members, a pilot and a radio operator/observer. Two 8mm guns were
integrated into the wings and a third one was mounted in the back of the cockpit
and in case of need handled by the radio operator. A total of 325 planes were
built in various configurations. One of those was purchased in 1957 by the young
Austrian Airforce that was rebuilding after WWII to use it as a target tug for
training purpose.
Juergen
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images below to see larger images
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