The Swedish Saab 21 was without a shadow of doubt the greatest fighter of World War II. It endured zero combat losses, was armed to the teeth, and boasted a raft of future technologies that put it in a league of its own. Unlike any other single-engined fighter, it protected its family legacy to this day and was morally impeccable in export use. By the end of this article you will agree with me.

The Saab 21 took its first flight on the 30 July 1943, the same day as the world’s first jet bomber, the Arado Ar 234. Not only was the 234 strategically (and indeed tactically) irrelevant to the War, it was build by a company dirtied by the evils of slavery. Arado, beneficiary of the labour of Jewish slaves, would crumble in less than two years time. Meanwhile Saab, with its free well-treated workers would go from strength to strength, growing to become the desirable partner every ambitious nation of the 2020s is trying to get into bed. Meanwhile, today the last vestige of Arado is a bus company in Serbia while Saab is riding high. The same fall from grace can be seen with all the great single-engine fighter aircraft builders of World War II. While some of the wartime fighter houses could claim their products helped saved their nations, none could save their manufacturer. Other than Mitsubishi (trotting out over-priced F-16 derivatives and looking to burn money with the British on the Tempest moneypit) – all the great fighter producers of World War II are gone. The greatest fighters were unable to defend their own manufacturer. One-hit-wonders Supermarine created a series of terrible jets until 1957, and flirted with hovercraft before disappearing into BAC in 1960. Hawker, creator of the Hurricane, managed to last three years longer, but hadn’t created a world beating fighter since the Tempest II of World War II. Focke-Wulf went in 1964, but the name came back as a Swiss creator of watches (arguably offering a ‘dog whistle’ as a built-in feature) distastefully celebrating the aircraft type that greatly helped Hitler’s forces. Messerschmitt was slowly diluted by various mergers by 1968, until finally bowing out in 1989 after working as MBB on helicopters, an unflown stealth fighter, and bits and bobs for Airbus and Panavia.

Its last true fixed-wing aircraft was the exceptionally cool Hansa jet, but it hadn’t created a new operational fighter type by itself since 1943. Fiat had a promising start in the jet age, before being attacked by the holy trinity that destroyed most fighter houses: obsession with VTOL fighters; getting sidelined into licence-producing US aircraft; and becoming a producer of components for larger enterprises (including the Harrier). Grumman went out of the fighter game with a bang, with the phenomenal F-14 Tomcat, before being led down a blind alley by forward swept wings. Republic, creator of the brilliantly survivable P-47 Thunderbolt created a whole ‘Thunder’ series of fighters, culminating in the F-105 and an unlikely attempt to make a variable geometry STOVL fighter with Fokker, which the US forces wisely avoided. In 1965 Republic suffered the indignity of becoming a division of Fairchild Hiller.

Despite its usage, the F-105 was their last true fighter-bomber, with the Thunder series name living on with the A-10 ground attack aircraft. North American Aviation, creator of the astonishing P-51 Mustang, had the best post-war career of a top tier fighter producer. After creating the abysmal FJ-1 Fury, they had the good sense to kick it into the shadows and quickly analyse what had gone wrong. Lessons learnt, they created the fabulous F-86 Sabre, followed by the brilliant F-100. Their last fighter, the F-107A lost a procurement competition to great wartime rivals Republic with their Thunderchief. The F-107A was the end of the fighter line for the company that had created the incredible P-51. Attempts to create the next generation fighter never went further than mock-ups.

What of the Soviets? There were two great Soviet fighter manufacturers of World War II, Lavochkin and Yakovlev. The former created the La-15 jet fighter, which was sensational in many ways but harder to manufacture than the rival MiG-15. It served in what was for the late 1940s limited numbers (around 230). akovlev leapt into the jet age a bit too quickly with the Yak-15, essentially a jet-powered Yak-3. A series of mediocre fighters followed, though the Yak-23 had great promise: test pilots praised it as highly maneuverable, with good acceleration and take-off and climb capabilities thanks to a high thrust-to-weight ratio. Lavochkin diversified into spacecraft, missiles and UAVs, and lost a series of fighter requirements to rival bureaus. Its last ambitious fighter, the dreadful Lavochkin La-250 heavy interceptor of 1956, was cancelled in 1959.  Yak’s last attempt to produce a world-class conventional fighter was the fast agile Yak-45. The Yak-45 was a Bristol 188 that decided to drop out of uni and join a New York punk band.

But as good as it could have been it could not compete with the brilliance of the rival MiG-29 design. Yakovlev were seduced by STOVL, and created the first naval jump-jet, the Yak-38 as a stepping stone to the remarkable Yak-141. A 1,100 mph agile STOVL fighter that influenced the F-35B, the death of the Yak-141 saw Yakovlev leave the fighter game in style, though the 141 was binned soon after the USSR disintegrated. Mad plans to make a stealthy derivative, the Yak-201, were clearly not going to happen in 90s Russia. Which leads us back to the true surviver, SAAB (upper or lower case as you wish). Saab kept making utterly brilliant fighters, the match of anything in their class flying. Particularly exceptional for its time was the Draken. But there is much more to boast about.

Not used in any invasions or shady colonial actions

To judge a fighter merely on combat effectiveness is to rob much of its meaningful context, this is acknowledged in canonical thinking, and the Spitfire’s morale-boosting is well known. There are also technological, political-industrial, and even moral, dimensions that it would irresponsible to ignore. The Spitfire’s legacy as a defender of freedom was repeatedly dirtied in a series of repulsive acts by Britain and various export operators in the late 1940s and ’50s. Not so the squeaky clean Saab 21.

*Lockheed are not included as I am talking about single-engined fighters and the P-80 was irrelavent to World War II.

Tricycle undercarriage

“I do have the slightest doubt that the number of Spitfires, Bf 109s, Typhoons, Beaufighters, Mosquitoes, and many other types that were written off because of swinging and ground-looping was greater than the number written off as the result of air combat.” – Bill Gunston, Plane Speaking

The conventional ‘taildragger’ undercarriage arrangement was a bad idea for high power fighters, with shocking numbers of swinging and ground-looping incidences. Bad undercarriages were the Achilles’ heel of most of the fighter types, most notoriously affecting the 109 and Spitfire. The fighters were designed to win in air combat but were often defeated by a bumpy field. The Bell Aircraft P-39 proved the tricycle solution in the harsh conditions of the Soviet Union, and the Do 335, one of the few types that could rival even the 21 for innovation, also adopted the tricycle. The fixation with performance and armament was only part of keeping your pilot alive. The 21 was one of the first fighters to holistically approach the concept of survival, and the prioritising of keeping an air force’s most precious asset, its pilots, alive.

Ejection seat

In 1941, Saab of Sweden applied for their first ejection seat patent, and in 1942 their first airborne ejection tests using compressed air took place aboard a Saab B 17 aircraft (not to be confused with the American Flying Fortress) using a test mannequin. The 21’s ejection seat was partly a response to the need of clearing the pusher propeller. The Saab 21 was designed with a pusher propeller, a unique feature that placed the engine at the rear of the aircraft instead of the front. This design allowed for a more streamlined fuselage, better cannon installation, improved pilot visibility, and reduced drag. It is likely that the J21 was the first operational series fighter to feature an ejection seat, a technology that soon become an absolute necessity.

The Saab 21 enjoyed zero combat losses.

Laminar flow wing

Much is made of the P-51’s smooth laminar-flow wing, but the 21 achieved this and didn’t even bother boasting.

Successful indigenous production

There’s a good reason not many nations do this: it is very expensive to make a combat aircraft and they are made in small numbers, so buying them off-the-shelf or sharing the effort with a friendly nation makes sense. Of course, no aircraft are completely indigenous in terms of design, production and all components – but some do come pretty close. Sweden’s policy of expressed neutrality across the Cold War has driven their indigenous combat aircraft projects. Sweden has been making its own warplanes for a long time, and they’ve generally been excellent. Whereas France’s industry has been fortified by a nationalist socialism forged in a traumatising military defeat, Sweden’s has been built on social democracy, tactical neutrality and the presence of a worrying superpower neighbour. And tradition.

Future proof

The 21 was astonishingly future proof. Along with the Yak-15, it was the only jet fighter to have been successfully converted from a piston-powered aircraft (no we don’t include the abysmal Attacker). This allowed Sweden to leap into the jet fighter age with alacrity: the SAAB 21R first flew in 1947, six months before the US’ F-86 Sabre. This was impressive – it was even one year ahead of the first French jet fighter, the Ouragan. Soon afterwards, in May 1954, a SAAB J 29B Tunnan broke the world record for the 310 mile (500 km) closed course. The record had been held by the F-86 Sabre at 590 mph (950 km/h) but the Tunnan raised it to 607 mph (977 km/h).* The Lansen was next, followed by the Draken which achieved a great deal on half the installed thrust of the British Lightning, then the Viggen – which was probably more survivable than mere top trumps stats might suggest. The contemporary Swedish fighter, the tiny but hard-hitting, Gripen, entered service in 1996, 5 years ahead of its French peer, the Rafale, and a whole eight years ahead of the European Eurofighter Typhoon.

Survivable, innovative, future-proof and brilliant, the J 21 was indeed the best fighter of World War II.

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