The FFVS J 22 was a Swedish single-engine

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

developed for the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the es ...

during World War II.

Development

At the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the

(''Flygvapnet'') was equipped with largely obsolete

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

(J 8) biplane fighters. To augment this, Sweden ordered 120

Seversky P-35 The Seversky P-35 is an American fighter aircraft built by the Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in United States Army Air Co ...

(J 9) and 144

P-66 Vanguard The Vultee P-66 Vanguard was a United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft. It was initially ordered by Sweden, but by the time the aircraft were ready for delivery in 1941, the United States would not allow them to be exported, designating ...

(J 10) aircraft from the United States. However, on 18 June 1940 after the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, the United States declared an embargo against exporting weapons to any nation other than Great Britain. As the result, ''Flygvapnet'' suddenly faced a shortage of modern fighters. Several other foreign alternatives were considered: the Finnish

VL Myrsky The VL Myrsky ("Storm") is a Finnish World War II fighter aircraft originally developed by Valtion lentokonetehdas for the Finnish Air Force. The models of the aircraft were Myrsky I, Myrsky II, and Myrsky III. It was designed by Edward Wegeliu ...

and Soviet

Polikarpov Polikarpov Design Bureau was a Soviet OKB (design bureau) for aircraft, led by Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov. Dux Factory was acquired by the USSR and became part of Polikarpov. After the death of Polikarpov on 30 July 1944 at the age of 52, ...

I-16 were unsatisfactory, and while the

Mitsubishi A6M The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

Aichi D3A The Aichi D3A Type 99 Carrier Bomber ( Allied reporting name "Val") is a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber. It was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was involved in almost all IJN actions, including the at ...

was available, delivery from Japan was impractical. A batch of

Fiat CR.42 The Fiat CR.42 ''Falco'' ("Falcon", plural: ''Falchi'') is a single-seat sesquiplane fighter developed and produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione. It served primarily in the Italian in the 1930s and during the Second World ...

Falco (J 11) biplanes and

Reggiane Officine Meccaniche Reggiane SpA (commonly referred to as ''Reggiane'') was an Italian industrial manufacturer and aviation company. Reggiane was founded during 1904 by its parent company Caproni, which was in turn owned by the aeronautical eng ...

Re.2000 ''Falco'' (J 20) were eventually purchased but this was clearly an interim solution. With ''Flygvapnet'' facing a serious shortage of aircraft and

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 ...

running at full capacity building its single-engine

Saab 17 The Saab 17 is a Swedish single-engine monoplane reconnaissance dive-bomber aircraft of the 1940s originally developed by ASJA prior to its merger into Saab. It was the first all-metal stressed skin aircraft developed in Sweden. Design and dev ...

and twin-engined

Saab 18 The Saab 18 was a twin-engine bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, designed and built by Svenska Aeroplan AB (SAAB) for use by the Swedish Air Force in response to a 1938 design competition. Due to delays, it did not enter service until 1944, bu ...

bombers, a new firm and factory were established specifically for the new fighter — ''Kungliga Flygförvaltningens Flygverkstad i Stockholm'' ("Royal Air Administration Aircraft Factory in Stockholm", ''FFVS'') under

Bo Lundberg Bo or BO may refer to Arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre * Box office, where tickets to an event are sold, and by extension, the amount of business a production receives *'' BA:BO'', 2008 South Korean film * ''Bo'' (film), a ...

. The aircraft, designated J 22, was a monoplane with a plywood-covered steel

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

. Wing and fuselage layout were conventional, with the narrow-track main landing gear retracting rearward entirely within the fuselage. Power came from a Swedish copy of the

Pratt & Whitney R-1830 The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp is an American air-cooled radial aircraft engine. It displaces and its bore and stroke are both . The design traces its history to 1929 experiments at Pratt & Whitney on twin-row designs. Production began ...

Twin Wasp, manufactured without a license at the time, though license fees were paid later (a symbolic US$1). The J 22 first flew on 20 September 1942 from

Bromma Bromma () is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airport in Sweden and the th ...

airport, where the factory was located. It entered service in October 1943, at the F9 air wing at

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, with the last of the 198 aircraft delivered in April

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

. Sub-assemblies for the J 22 were made by over 500 different contractors.

Operational history

The J 22 was well liked by its pilots and possessed good manoeuvrability and responsive controls. Forward visibility on the ground left something to be desired and if the tailwheel was left unlocked and able to swivel during take-off there was the potential to ground-loop. In mock dogfights with

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

s (called J 26 in Swedish service) it was able to "hold its own" up to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) although, above 6,000 m (19,000 ft), without a good high altitude

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

, it became sluggish. J 22 pilot Ove Müller-Hansen: ''"This was one of the finest aircraft that I have ever flown. The responsiveness of the controls and overall handling was exceptionally nice. It was not a high altitude fighter but up to about 5000 m (16,000 ft) it could hold its own very well. We flew mock dog fights with P-51 Mustangs and they could not catch us below 4000 m (13,000 ft) but if the fight was higher than that we had to be very careful. At altitudes above 6000 m (19,500 ft) it was getting sluggish and at 9000 m (29,000 ft) it was not much power left. Stalls in turns and straight forward were usually not a problem. If you pulled really hard in turn it would sometime flip over on its back. The first version, the 22-A, did not have much fire power, but the 22-B was better."'' Because of its simple systems the J 22 was very easy to maintain and service. With 575 km/h (360 mph) from a 795 kW (1,065 hp) engine, the press called the diminutive fighter "World's fastest in relation to the engine power" (while not absolutely true, it was in the same class as the early marks of

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

and Zero).Comparison with fighters 1,000 to 1,1150 hp
Retrieved: 22 June 2008 The J 22 crews promptly modified this to "World's fastest in relation to the track width" (for which the Spitfire might also have competed), because of the very narrow wheel track. The aircraft was retired in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

Variants

; J 22-1 or J 22A : Originally called ''J 22 UBv "Ursprunglig Beväpning"'' (original armament). First production version, 2x 8 mm and 2x 13.2 mm machine guns, 141 built. ; J 22-2 or J 22B : Originally called ''J 22 FBv "Förbättrad Beväpning"'' (improved armament). Armed with 4x 13.2 mm machine guns, 57 built. ; S 22-3 or S 22 : Nine J 22-1 equipped for reconnaissance in 1946, restored to fighters in 1947. Used a spaningskamera Ska4 (recce camera Ska4) in the tail.

Operators

;

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Surviving aircraft

Three examples of the J 22 are preserved externally complete looking. Two are owned by the

Swedish air force museum The Swedish Air Force Museum ( sv, Flygvapenmuseum) is located at Malmen Airbase in Malmslätt, just outside Linköping, Sweden. Malmen is where Baron Carl Cederström, nicknamed the "Flyer Baron" founded his flying school in 1912. Malmen Airba ...

and one of them is on static display there with the other one being located at a nearby veteran airfield where it is able to taxi around by its own power. The third one is owned by Svedinoes bil- och flygmuseum but is currently in France being borrowed by a plane restoration company named Memorial flight so they can restore it to flying condition. Two more J 22 survive but are much less complete, and are for the most part just metal skeletons. One is owned by the Swedish air force museum with the other one being owned privately. They are planned to be combined with each other and restored to flying condition. The aircraft in the heading photograph is in the markings of Östgöta Wing (F 3), code 'L' and is displayed in the

Flygvapenmuseum The Swedish Air Force Museum ( sv, Flygvapenmuseum) is located at Malmen Airbase in Malmslätt, just outside Linköping, Sweden. Malmen is where Baron Carl Cederström, nicknamed the "Flyer Baron" founded his flying school in 1912. Malmen Airba ...

at Malmen near

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

Specifications (J 22A)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Andersson, Hans G. ''SAAB Aircraft since 1937; 2nd revised edition''. London: Putnam Aeronautical books, 1997. (Note: Although dedicated to SAAB aircraft, this book has a chapter on the FFVS J 22.) * Angelucci, Enzo. ''The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980.'' San Diego, California: The Military Press, 1983. . * Donald, D, Lake J. (eds.) (1996) ''Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft.'' AIRtime Publishing.

External links

*
IPMS Stockholm's J22 "walkaround" photo series

Retrieved: 23 June 2008 {{Authority control 1940s Swedish fighter aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1942