From: urf@icl.se (Urban F)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military
Subject: Saab 29 Tunnans in Kongo
Date: 15 Dec 92 19:57:20 GMT
Organization: None. On USENET I speak only for myself.
X-Alt.reply-Address: n.g.u.fredriksson.swe2001@oasis.icl.co.uk

Kongo became independent in 1960, the province Katanga attempted
to break loose, whereupon the United Nations sent troops which
stayed there for four years.

The Katangan air force consisted of one Fouga Magister and some
10 light aircraft, but as this meant total air supremacy, the
situation for transport aircraft and troops on the ground wasn't
very comfortable.

So in September 1961 the UN asked Sweden, Ethiopia and India for
units of combat aircraft. On Sept 30:th, five J 29B was
dispatched from Sweden. This was an early version, but it was
sent instead of the afterburner-equipped J 29F, as range was
slightly better and maintenance requirements lower.

The Swedish unit was bossed by colonel Sven Lampell (*), and got
the Swedish air force wing designation F 22.

When arriving at Leopoldville on Oct 4:th, the unit commander was
asked when the unit could be sent on its first mission, and
replied "It will take 10 min to refuel the aircraft".

On Oct 8:th they regrouped to Luluabourg, and in a typically
Swedish way based the aircraft in dispersed sites. As it was a
hot and high site, with only a 1950 m runway, it was impossible
to take off with a full fuel load. The external tanks could take
450 litres each, but with 4 * 170 rounds for the 20 mm guns and
8 * 15 cm rockets, only 200 litres per tank could be taken on,
together with the 2100 litres internally giving a take off weight
of 7500 kg. (Max take off weight on this version was 8170 kg.)
The Ethiopians didn't want to base their F-86:s there, as they
thought the runway too short.

They were give three main tasks:
- Air combat
- Airfield attack
- Close air support

As the UN had decided that Katanga was forbidden to fly their
aircraft, the first missions were mainly preventive patrols. Take
off orders actually could come from transport aircraft flying
along the border -- a _very_ primitive AWACS indeed.

As Katanga started an offensive in December, it was decided to
destroy their air force, which was done in a few days by the J
29:s together with Indian Canberras. The unit was then moved to
Kamina to shorten flying times and they continued with support of
the very pressed UN group troops and make it possible to operate
transport aircraft from the surrounded airfield in Elizabeth-
ville. The fighting stopped with success for the UN on Dec 16:th.

Availability figures for this time:
          Oct   Nov    Dec
J 29      100    97.5   82.6
Canberra   98    78     82.7
F-86       72.3  75     88.8

Not badly done for the Saab 29 as is was not even designed for
that environment. Partly it was also due to the training and
attitude the technicians and mechanics had gotten in Sweden,
which centered on aircraft available as much time as possible and
making field repairs. Of the two aircraft hit Dec 6:th, the one
that got three holes from one bullet through parts of the engine
took four days to return to service, as that was the time it took
to find welding apparatus for the critical hole, the others were
left for later.

The other took one hit in an external tank and one in a wing. The
latter broke up inside the wing and made a large hole in the rear
spar, removed a piece of skin and damaged internal mechanisms.
The hole in the wing was patched with material from a DC-4, the
wire to the slat was replaced by one from the handbrake of a
Volkswagen, the spar was left as was, and a sign put next to the
G-meter: "Max 3G" until it could be repaired with parts from
Sweden. It partook in a combat mission on Dec 7:th.

In March 1962, one J 29B was totalled by visiting Swedish
General, nobody hurt.

During 1962 the need for reconnaissance capability resulted in
two S 29C beeing air transported to Leopoldville where they
became operational on Nov 10:th. As they didn't have extensive
navigational equipment, they always had to operate togheter with
a J 29B.

The situation in Kongo worsened, with Katanga rearming. It was
considered to send J 29F:s as their better take off performance
would enable more air fields to be used and they would also have
a performace advantage if it came to air combat. As it were, four
J 29B:s were dispatched and arrived in Dec 7-16:th.

And a good thing it was too, as the Ethiopians left for home, and
the Indians only had one Canberra operational (and it didn't
partake in the fighting). Other reinforcments were supposed to be
Italian, Iranian and Phillipine, but they all arrived after the
fighting was over.

On Dec 24:th Katanga attacked the UN, on Dec 29:th and 30:th the
Katangan air force was wiped out on the ground at Kolwezi and
Jadotville. The final UN counter offencive was launched on
Jan 21:st 1963 with the J 29 Flying Barrels as air cover.

In Jan one aircraft crashed, and one in March. In April four
aircraft, including both S 29C:s, returned to Sweden, and when
the UN air operation was terminated in August, the remaining five
were scrapped in place.


Some basic Saab 29 Tunnan (Barrel) data:

Version  A/J 29B
Span     11    m
Length   10.23 m
Height    3.75 m
Weights
 Empty    4640 kg
 Normal   7520 kg
 Max TO   8170 kg
Fuel
 Fuselage 1400 l
 Wing      750 l
 External  900 l
Engine
 RR Ghost 2270 kp
Max speed 1035 km/h
Max alt. 13700 m
Time
 to 10 km  8.5 min


(*) If you visit our air force museum in Linko"ping, you actually
can touch his helmet as well as one of the J 29B:s from Kongo,
but please DON'T as then more things will probably be roped off.
Stupid people couldn't lay off touching the fabric on some of the
really old aircraft, so now there's a clear plastic screen
protecing some wing tips. The Venom and Vampire for example
aren't roped off at all, and you're allowed as close to them as
you want, but not touch them.

--
 Urban Fredriksson  urf@icl.se  
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military