Mustang in Swedish service
Mustang in Swedish serviceIn total, 161 Mustangs served with Swedish air force, where they served between 1944, when the first one were purchased from among Mustangs which had made emergency landings in Sweden, and 1954 when they were retired. The servicable ones were then exported.
The arms embargo during the war made the supply of aircraft to the Swedish air force problematical. Also the avialability of some of the inported fighters was rather low (only 25% of the J 20 Re 2000s at F 10 in Ängelholm were usually servicable in 1944).
Partly this was compensated by creating a large domestic industry, but it couldn't fully meet the demand.
In 1943, the air force inititated negotiations with, among others, the USA for the supply of fighters. In Oct 1944 a delegation was sent to England to study the different surplus aircraft available. They recommended a purchase of 70 fighters, either P-51D Mustang or P-47 Thunderbolt.
In Feb 1945, a preliminary contract for 50 P-47s or P-51s was signed, for a sum of SEK 30-40M (about USD 7M). The aircraft in question were stored in the UK and had few flying hours.
Ten North American Mustangs diverted and landed or crashed in Sweden during the 1939-45 war, the first on 1944 Apr 15, the last on 1945 Apr 19. Nine belonged to USAAF, the last one to RAF.
Four of these, P-51Bs and two P-51Ds, were in good condition and were purchased by the Swedish air force, one in Oct 1944, the others in Apr 1945, but they weren't formally accepted until July 1945.
These four were included in the first order of 50.
In March the air force decided it wanted Mustangs. The cost became SEK 34.4M and customs and other fees another five million, which comes out as about USD 160,000 per aircraft.
43 were delivered by US ferry pilots to Sweden on Apr 23:rd, flying from Liverpool to Bromma airfield in Stockholm. On this occasion they met German fighters over the North Sea, whereupon one Messerschmitt 109 was shot down. Three more arrived on Apr 30:th. These were all accepted by the Swedish air force immedeately upon delivery.
They had originally been intended to be assigned to F 10 in Ängelholm, but as they'd then have to meet lots of US aircraft, it was considered better to assign them to F 16 in Uppsala, and let the Uppsala based J 22s be assigned to F 10.
So the technical staff at F 10, which in the autumn of 1944 with the help of US officers and mechanics stationed at Bulltofta (to take care of B-17s and B-24s) as well as ordered technical manuals, had studied the Thunderbolt, as rumour had it that was the type to be ordered, and later Mustang, never got to apply their knowledge. In the event the J 22s were liked anyway, as they had performance enough, so that at long last, the German flying boats on reconniassance flights close to the Swedish coast could be intercepted.
In 1946 it was decided to also equip F 4 at Frösön,
near Östersund, with J 26 Mustangs.
A contract for 90, in different conditions, was signed in March 1946, for a sum of USD 3,500 per aircraft.
They were flown from depots in Germany, via Bremen, to Såtenäs. 30 were arrived in Nov-Dec 1946, were refurbished and put in service at Frösön starting in April 1947.
The remaining 60 were put in temporary storage at Såtenäs and gradually put in service until August 1948.
In 1948 a last batch of 21 Mustangs were purchased, they were put in service at F 16, with the last one accepted in March 1950.
In 1950 trials were made with arming the Mustangs with rockets and bombs, but they were found to be unsuitable for the role.
Starting in 1949 a total of 17 J 26 Mustangs were converted into reconnaissance aircraft and thus designated S 26.
The conversion consisted of one vertically mounted camera type Ska 10 in a well in front of the tail wheel. The fairing protuded slightly below the fuselage. Armament was retained.
The Mustang was a great improvement for the Swedish air force, not only in terms of armament and performance, but it was also the first fighter with a really good radio, which was tactically significant.
Some of them were fitted with AN/APS-13 antennas in the fin. This wasn't used in Sweden, but the antennas were left in place.
As the desert filter wasn't needed for Swedish conditions, some aircraft got the perforated plate replaced by a blank one.
As range and endurance was far more than needed, the external tanks were seldom used, and some were converted into transport containers, potentially air droppable with rescue equipment.
At F 16 Uppsala where they replaced FFVS J 22, they were assigned to three squadrons of 15 aircraft each, plus at staff group of five aircraft.
For a few months, American instructors trained the Swedish mechanics. The manuals were never translated to Swedish. For the first time, centralised, common to all the wing, maintenance was introduced, previously every squadron had done its own.
The cadet school F 20 had at that time been moved from Ljungbyhed, the site of the flying training school, to Uppsala, and some Mustangs belonged to it. In spite of this, they were still marked "16", but as opposed to the fighter squadrons, these aircraft weren't marked with individual letters, but with individual numbers.
The last European cadet tour with Mustangs was in 1953 (and among other places visited Greece).
Starting in 1952 the Mustangs at F 16 were replaced by J 29 Tunnans. Some of them were transferred to F 21 and F 8, most were exported. The last was retired in 1954.
At the F 4 wing outside of Östersund the introduction of Mustangs also meant a role change, as they replaced SAAB B 17.
They served until 1952, when they were replaced by J 28B Vampires.
Twelve Mustangs were rebuilt to reconnaissance versions at the central workshops CVM in Malmslätt in 1949-50. They were assigned F 21 at Kallax, outside Luleå. As such, they consisted the airbase corps', which previously had only had some communications and ambulance aircraft, first regular squadron.
A further five were rebuilt locally. As these weren't fighter aircraft either, they also got individual numbers instead of letters.
Upon retirement in 1954, eight were exported to Nicaragua.
When withdrawn from fighter squadron service, some J 26s were assigned to the air force staff flying group at F 8 in Stockholm. They served there in 1953-54.
In total 165 Mustangs were purchased, two P-51B-5-NA, two P-51D-5-NA, the rest P-51-D-20-NA. Four were never intended to fly, but were used for spare parts.
When the type were retired in 1954, 60 had crashed in Swedish service. One P-51B was retired due to lack of spare parts, seven were written off after incidents and scrapped, used for spare parts and in case case as an instructional airframe.
The remaining 93 were all exported, as this was not a time when preservation of historic aircraft was popular in the Swedish air force.
In June 1952 25 Mustangs were sold to Israel. They were delivery flown to Israel during the first part of 1953.
During the war in 1956 they belonged to the "Line Cutter" squadron (cutting telephone wires with a weighted trailing steel cable) which operated in Sinai.
One of these were given to Sweden in 1966 where it's now at the Swedish Air Force Museum.
In late 1952 The Dominican Republic purchased 32 Mustangs, in January 1953 a further ten. They were delivered disassembled in crates.
The Aviacion Militar Dominicana had first intended to hire American technical staff, but ended up hiring an even dozen Swedish mechanics, which was in not in any way connected with the purchase contract.
The Mustangs were based at Escuadron Caza Ramfis outside the capita Ciudad Trujillo and were organized in four squadrons.
In the 1960's the remaining ones were refurbished in the USA and by 1980 20 were still in service.
In 1953 Nicaragua signed a contract for 26 of the Mustangs, and they were delivered in Oct 1954.
The last ones were retired from Fuerza Aerea Nicaragua in 1953, and ten were sold to USA.
Engine: 1490 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin V-1650-7, Packard built
Propeller: Hamilton Standard Constant Speed
Fuel: Fuselage: 322 l
Wings: 2 x 348 l
External: 2 x 416 l
Fuel consumption: 225 l/h at cruise
Empty weight: 3232 kg
Max take off weight: 5262 kg
Max speed: 703 km/h at 7620 m
Landing speed: 161 km/h
Time to 9144 m: 13.1 min
Max altitude: 13770 m
Range on internal fuel: 1529 km at 582 km/h
Max range: 3700 km
Armament: 6 x 12.7 mm MG 53-2 guns
with 2 x 400 + 4 x 270 rounds or
4 x 12.7 mm
with 2 x 400 + 2 x 500 rounds
Reflex sight: Type K-14, shooting range 180-730 m
Related documents:
Major source of information: Kontakt #49
The Swedish military aviation page
Document originally written 1995 Feb 24,
extensively updated 1998 Nov 14,
document last modified 2003 Apr 22
by Urban