I recall being in a school biology lesson when this noisily arrived in the Southend circuit on 13.6.67 - we all ran to the windows and forgot about reproduction or whatever. A total of 661 "Flygande Tunnan" ("Flying Barrels") were built from 1950 to 1956, the largest production run for any SAAB aircraft. An English test pilot described it as "on the ground an ugly duckling - in the air, a swift". Eventually displayed in the HAM which closed in 1982, 29640 landed up in the MAM at Coventry

Here in F13 marks, the J29 was aptly named Tunnan, Swedish for barrel. First time I've seen one in the air for 43 years. Great that the Swedish AF Historic Flight keep examples of all their old jets active.

Late production J29F interceptor version of the Tunnan, completed in 1954.

76 examples were built of the S29C photo reconnaissance version of Saab's famous Flying Barrel. This one is preserved at Kia dealer Kareby Bil in Kareby, near Kungälv.