The Svenska Aero Falken was a Swedish

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

. Two were built, with different engines and were used by the

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( or just ) is the air force Military branch, 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 escalatin ...

Design and development

The Falken trainer, closely related to the Jaktfalken fighter, was derived from the earlier Piraten. It was a single bay biplane with unswept, constant chord, thin section wings. Both wings were built around rectangular section steel spars and were fabric covered. They were mounted with light dihedral but with stagger so strong that the forward lower spar was directly below the upper aft one. Because of the stagger and a slightly shorter lower wing the N-form

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s leant both forwards and outwards. The upper wing was supported over the fuselage by a cabane formed by a pair of lateral, inverted V-struts to the forward spar and a single, transverse inverted V to the aft spar. There were long, broad

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

on both upper and lower wings, externally linked by streamlined tubes. The Falken could be powered by one of two

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

s, either a five-cylinder, Armstrong-Siddeley Mongoose or a seven-cylinder Armstrong-Siddeley Lynx. The Mongoose-powered version was known as the SA-12 Skolfalken and the Lynx-powered one as the SA-13 Övningsfalken. Behind the engine the fuselage was built around a tube steel structure. It was flat sided and fabric covered, though it had aluminium covered, rounded decking. The Falken's two open

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

s were fitted with dual control; the forward one was under a cut-out in the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

and the other over a similar cut-out in the lower wing. Its

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

was conventional, with a semi-elliptical

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

mounted on top of the fuselage and braced from below on each side by a single strut. Its angle of incidence was ground-adjustable. It carried parallel chord

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s with a cut-out for

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

movement. The

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

, small and roughly triangular, mounted a straight-edged, upright

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevator (air ...

. Like most of the Falken, these surfaces were formed from steel tubes and fabric covered. The Falken had conventional, fixed

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

. The mainwheels were on a single axle, separated by . The axle ends were mounted via rubber cord shock absorbers to the crosspiece of a frame consisting of three legs from the lower fuselage on each side and stabilised by a V-strut to the crosspiece centre. The Skolfalken's first flight was in September 1929, though the exact date is not known. The Övningsfalken was flying by early 1930.

Operational history

The first and only SA-12 Skolfalken went to the Swedish Air Force Flight Academy at

Ljungbyhed Ljungbyhed is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Klippan Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden, with 2,046 inhabitants in 2010. History Ljungbyhed was and is located in Riseberga ''socken'' and was part of the Riseberga ''landskommun'' af ...

, where it was known by the Air Force basic trainer designation Sk 8. Tests resulted in a new vertical tail, flat-topped and without the earlier prominent balance horn. It remained there for a while and was later moved to

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

where it ended its 386 hours of flying in 1939 on a May bonfire. There was also only one SA-13 Övningsfalken; this, known as the Ö 8 (Ö denoted an advanced trainer), was tested in the first half of 1930 but was lost a few months later.

Variants

;SA-12 Skolfalken: Mongoose powered. Air Force type Sk 8. One built. ;SA-13 Övningsfalken: Lynx powered. Air Force type Ö 8. One built.

Specifications (Lynx engine)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal , last=Frachet , first=André , date=26 December 1929, title=Les avions Svenska Aero, journal=Les Ailes, issue=445, pages=3–4, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6554675t/f3 {{cite web , url=http://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Skol/408Sk8.htm, title=Sk 8 - Svenska Aero SA-12 Skolfalken (1929-1938) , author=Henriksson , date= , work= , publisher= , accessdate=13 October 2012 http://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Skol/448oe8/448OE8.htm Ö 8 - Svenska Aero SA-13 Övningsfalken (1930-1931) {{cite web , url= http://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Skol/448oe8/448OE8.htm, title=Ö 8 - Svenska Aero SA-13 Övningsfalken (1930-1931) , author=Henriksson , date= , work= , publisher= , accessdate=13 October 2012 1920s Swedish aircraft Svenska Aero aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1929 Single-engined tractor aircraft