SAAB 105 SK60 C, Recce version

Top quality plastic kit with surface details 2nd to none. Photo etched detail parts included and decals for 4 aircraft printed by Cartograf.  

In the late 1950s, SAAB began designing a smaller jet-powered aircraft where it would be possible to find customers on both the civilian side as a business jet and on the military side as a training and strike aircraft. A complete design study called SAAB 105 was shown at the aircraft fair in le Bourget in Paris in early 1961. The concept received much international attention, among others the Swedish Air Force, which will order a prototype in the same year and the first flight took place on June 29, 1963. Until 1965, the Swedish Air Force will order a total of 150 SAAB 105s, which in Sweden will be called SK60. In Sweden, SK60 A would serve as a trainer, B version as a strike aircraft and the C version with camera nose as a reconnaince plane.

SK60 was deployed in 1967, and the aircraft type will prove to be a very successful and reliable design and were in service in the Swedish Air Force till 2024, almost 60m years

SK60 did undergo a number of updates over the years with everything from updating avionics, weapons, camera equipment and engine replacements. The SAAB 105 was equipped with a few different engine types, and for the Swedish Air Force and its SK60, the engine choice fell on a French design, the Turbomeca Aubisque RM 9B. These engines were later replaced in the 90's by the much stronger Williams-Rolls FJ44 engine called RM 15. This modification meant that, among other things the structure around the aircraft engines needed to be modified.

40 SAAB 105 were bought from the Austrian Air Force. The Austrian version is named SAAB 105Ö and they where delivered in 1970 to 1972. The major difference from the Swedish SK60 is that the version is equipped with the more powerful GE J85 engines.

This plastic model contains parts and markings for the type SK60C equipped with RM 9B engines.