For Saab car fans, Lance Cole brings us something surprisingly Saab - with wings: herein lie the roots of Saab design

All photos by the author. Click to enlarge.

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Beyond the advertising hype of ‘born from jets’ as a Saab strapline, the reality is in fact - born from props! Props - egg beaters, propellors, whisks, whatever you want to call them, Saab’s first aircraft had prop power, not jets at all.

Even after the Draken jet fighter and other, later jet fighters, Saab made prop powered craft- including the Scandia airliner and the Saab 340 airliner of the 1980s. Saab’s propellor aircraft are known for their balanced handling, good roll rates, nice aileron feel and have no nasty habits, yet remain sporty rathern than staid.

The Saab Tunnan - (barrel), may have been the quinessential small fighter, but the lovely Safir (sapphire), conceived in 1948, is pure Saab. Indeed, the swept wing of the jet Tunnan was tested on a unique, one-off re-winged Safir- which looked even more modern and then more so when the Saab Lansen fighter wings were also flight tested on the Safir airframe.

The elegant little Safir light aircraft are rare now. A British example - the only flying example in the UK, lives near me in southern England where its owner Alan House, of Sylmar Aviation Services, is well known for restoring and caring for his airworthy Safir. He also has another airframe in store.

Alan flew into the Great Vintage flying weekend show at Kemble airfield recently and he very kindly gave the author a tour around his 1957 Safir for the benefit of everyone here at Trollhattan Saab. His enthusiasm for his Safir was infectious, he is a proud Saab owner of an elegant little plane that flies with pure- bred handling.

“It’s a well built, beautiful aircraft that is a delight to fly.” says Alan.

Of note in design terms, the interior control panel design- two hooped panels with a centre console - the shapes were very leading edge design back in the 1940s and highly individual- not your normal light aircraft interior for the era - in fact very advanced in design and erognomic terms- pure Saab then. Sixten Sason is rumoured to have had a hand in the control panels - and I think it shows.

To me, today’s Saab 9-3 car fascia has clear echoes of these shapes and motifs.

The cabin glasshouse is curved and faired in - even if the designers lacked acceess to smooth moulded canopies and windscreens. The front seats are thick and comfy and there is room in the back for others too.

And which other light aircraft of this vintage features a nice strong metal rollover bar stuck in the middle of the cabin? Typical Saab safety - whatever the weight penalty.

The size of the tail fin and the shape of the wings are all balanced- proving that ‘if it looks right it will fly right’ - to quote an old adage.

Alan told me that en-route to Kemble, in company with an other craft he had to drop some flaps to keep the speed down- as his little Saab is sleek and slippery - even if she is now a grand lady of a certain age.

The 91 or Safir came in three versions as it was developed- early ones had British De Havilland Gypsy Major engines (125 bhp), but later models had American Lycoming powerplants with six cylinder 190bhp or four cylinder 180bhp on offer - as does Alan’s.

The Safir’s were built at Linkoping and later in the Netherlands to a design by Anders J. Andersson. 323 were produced after a first flight in 1945. Andersson had previously worked on the German Bucker 181 Bestmann design and the ‘look’ is evident in the Safir- albeit more modern - in fact very modern; this plane looks more 1960s than 1940s in its timeless Saab design: It has a lovely stance and visual graphic - just like Saab cars then.

Only the interuppted windscreen panels give its age away and just look at the front grille!

The Safir sold world wide- including in Ethiopia and to the Japanese air force as well as in Germany, France and beyond. It came in 3 or 4 seat versions and was midly aerobatic- an excellent trainer as well as being suitable for private use as a rather low-slung sporting carriage don’t you know…

Alan’s Safir served with the Dutch Rijksluchtvaartschool (RLS) in Eelde, near Groningen and has kept most of its Dutch registration - with the ‘PH’ code being replaced by a British ‘G’ reggo. He has flown her to Saab rallies across Europe too.

The maximum speed is a conservatively quoted 165 mph (265 km/h) with a range of 660 miles (1062 km).

As you can see in the accompanying photos, this little Saab is a real part of Saab history and we at Trollhattan Saab are honoured to have been given an exclusive tour by a Saab owner who clearly knows his stuff.

So, ‘born from props’ - and don’t let anyone forget it.

(C) cole 2008

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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