Saab 91 Safir

The Saab 91 Safir (Swedish: "sapphire") is a three (91A, B, B-2) or four (91C, D) seater, single engine trainer aircraft. The Safir was built by Saab AB in Linköping, Sweden, (203 aircraft) and by De Schelde in Dordrecht, Netherlands (120 aircraft).

Design and development
The Safir's first flight on 20 November 1945. The all-metal Safir was designed by Anders J. Andersson, who had previously worked for Bücker, where he designed the all-wood Bücker Bü 181 "Bestmann". The Safir thus shared many conceptual features of its design with the Bestmann.

The Saab 91A is powered by a 125 hp four cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Major 2c piston engine, or a 145 hp Gipsy Major 10 piston engine. The 91B, B-2 and C have a six-cylinder Lycoming O-435A engine with 190 hp. The 91D has a four-cylinder Lycoming O-360-A1A engine with 180 hp.

The "Safir" was later used as a platform to test at low speeds the new swept wing for the Saab 29 and Saab 32 jet fighters.

Operational history


323 units were built in 5 versions (A, B, B-2, C and D). The Safir was used by the Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Austrian, Tunisian and Ethiopean air forces as a trainer aircraft, and a single aircraft was used by the Japan Defense Agency as an STOL test platform.

Major civilian users were Air France, Lufthansa and the Dutch Rijksluchtvaartschool (RLS) on the Groningen Airport Eelde, near Groningen.

During development of the Saab 29, the initial Saab 91 prototype was modified with a scaled down version of the Saab 29's swept wings; this aircraft was designated Saab 201 Experimental Aircraft. This same airframe was later fitted with wings designed for the Saab 32 Lansen; this was designated Saab 202.

A single Saab 91 Safir was modified as the Saab X1G for research in Japan.

Variants

 * 91A - Original production version, powered by 145 hp de Havilland Gipsy Major 10 engine. Three seats.
 * 91B - Three seat version with 190 hp Lycoming O-435.
 * 91B-2 - 91B variant for Royal Norwegian Air Force with minor modifications, mainly a constant speed propeller.
 * 91C - Four seat version of 91B, with fuel tanks moved to the wings.
 * 91D - Four-seat version, powered by 180 hp Lycoming O-360 engine driving a constant speed propeller.

Military operators

 * Austrian Air Force
 * Ethiopian Air Force
 * Finnish Air Force Former operator
 * Finnish Frontier Guard Former operator
 * Technical Research and Development Institute
 * Royal Norwegian Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force
 * Technical Research and Development Institute
 * Royal Norwegian Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force

Civil Operators

 * Air France
 * Lufthansa
 * Paraguayan Aeroclub
 * Lufthansa
 * Paraguayan Aeroclub
 * Paraguayan Aeroclub
 * Paraguayan Aeroclub