SAAB  B18B

                              

                                   With the unstable political situation in Europe in the 1930s and with onslaught of WW II, neutral
                                   Sweden was forced, in order to stay neutral, to develop a viable air arm from its own resources.
                                   The incumbent Junkers Ju86Ks needed replacement and SAAB came up with the model 18 in
                                   answer to this requirement.   Some 250 of the aircraft were produced in several versions:
                                   a bomber, a dive-bomber (seen above) and a torpedo bomber, all basically the same but differing
                                   in armament and ordnance carried   The B-18B was powered by two licence-built 1,475 hp
                                   Daimler-Benz DB605s.  Only one SAAB 18 has survived (and this one had to be pulled out of
                                   the bottom of the Baltic Sea after resting there for 33 years).  This restored machine is now safely
                                   ensconced in the Flyvapenmuseum  at Linkoping.