Aarne Lakomaa (1914–2001) was a Finnish aircraft designer. Born in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, Lakomaa graduated from

Helsinki Polytechnics Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; fi, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; sv, Tekniska högskolan) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in ...

. He fought as an Army Lieutenant in the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

(1939–40) and the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

(1941–44) against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. There he became famous for fitting captured Russian engines to the obsolete French fighter Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, thereby creating a first rate fighter, the Mörkö-Morane ("mörkö" being Finnish roughly for "bogeyman" or "hobgoblin"). Aarne Lakomaa first replaced the original Hispano-Suiza 12Y 31 liquid-cooled V-12 rated at 860 hp with a 1,100 hp Soviet engine— the Klimov M-105P—which was a war booty.The Axis Air Forces: Flying in Support of the German Luftwaffe
Retrieved 8 January 2018. This engine was installed under the cover of a more aerodynamic cowling and fitted with a different pitch propeller. The French M.S.406's airframe was strengthened, and an oil cooler from a Messerschmitt-109 replaced the old one. In this way over-heating problems was finally solved. As a result of these modifications, the improved version of Morane had a 36-mph speed advantage over all previous versions. Lakomaa was recruited to

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

in 1944 as an aircraft designer. He was involved in the development of the fighters

Saab 35 Draken The Saab 35 Draken (; 'The Kite' or 'The Dragon') is a Swedish fighter-interceptor developed and manufactured by Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget ( SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of the Saab 35 Draken started in 1948 as the Swedish air f ...

and

Saab 37 Viggen The Saab 37 Viggen ( Swedish for ''"the Bolt"'' or ''"the Tufted Duck"'' ( see name)) is a retired Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range combat aircraft. Development work on the type was initiated at Saab in 1952 and, follow ...

, and later headed R&D at Saab where he designed a number of prototypes, including a rocket propelled interceptor, nuclear weapon carriers, replacements for the Draken and Viggen, which was initially developed to substitute the Saab 32, and a supersonic

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...

. Aarne Lakomaa was a part of team that first began studies on this theme in 1952–57. They were aimed at producing an aircraft with excellent short runway performance.

Aircraft designs

Civilian projects

Saab 90 Scandia The Saab 90 Scandia was a civil passenger aeroplane, manufactured by the Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB), in Linköping, Sweden. In 1944, as it was becoming clear that hostilities in Europe (the Second World War) would soon be at an end, SA ...

, airliner 1946 * SuperSonic Executive (SSE), a sort of a large Viggen with twin J 93s for 4–6 passengers, 1968 * Saab 108 Turboprop airliner * Saab 115/108-6: Three-engined jet commuter * Saab 107 (STOL/RTOL) field transport aircraft * Saab 108 MULAS, 1977: *

Saab 109 Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a f ...

Twin engined business jet * Saab 110 As 109 but three engines and up to nine passengers *

Saab 111 Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a ...

Single engine agricultural turboprop *

Saab 112 Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a f ...

Twin jet corporate aircraft, 15 passengers, 1969 * Saab 113 Three-engined corporate jet, 25 passengers, 1969 * Saab 190 Super Scandia, twin ALF 502 commuter jet (over the wings for grass field capability), 1975 *

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different o ...

Military projects

* Saab 1319 missile-armed fighter with two de Havilland rocket engines * Saab 1325 was a Draken replacement fighter with Gyron jets with partial afterburners on the wingtips and an (automatically starting in case of engine failure) rocket in the tail (the rocket motor is still in use on sounding rockets) *

Saab 1350 Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a f ...

was a larger attack variant of 1325, with full afterburners * Saab 1352 single engine (Olympus) of 1350 * Saab 1372 was an unstable double delta (did not proceed far, in fact, not even a wind tunnel model was produced) * Saab 1376 was the A 36 nuclear strike bomber * Saab 1377 like 1376 but with a dorsal air intake *

Saab 1421B Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab AB, Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automob ...

was a M 2.8 Draken replacement in 1956 *

Saab 1500-01 Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab AB, Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automob ...

, which was similar to a Harrier * Saab 1504 in 1961 looked very much like Viggen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakomaa, Aarne 1914 births 2001 deaths Saab 20th-century Finnish engineers Finnish expatriates in Sweden