- Yes
- No
J29 Tunnan Rocket assisted takeoff: “Raketstartare”
Image: J29 Tunnan taking off with RATO modification.
The J29, also known as “The Flying barrel” or “Flygande Tunnan” in Swedish. Was the second jet aircraft to be produced in Sweden by SAAB, if you exclude the J21RA / A21RB respectively. The drawback which the initial J29 variants had, was the lack of thrust to take off from shorter runways. As the Engine the jet aircraft used named: “RM 2” is based from the British designed “de Havilland Ghost” Engine (Which the Venom and Sea Venom jet aircrafts used).
To solve the issue. In the early 1950’s, the Swedish company: "Svenska Flygmotor AB (SFA). Which has also designed the jet engine for the J29, J21RA / A21RB and the future military jet fighters in the Swedish Air Force. They designed a Rocket assisted take-off module which could be attached to the hull of the aircraft and be deattached once its depleted from the cockpit where the pilot is seated (See Blueprints below.) This helped the J29 to take off from shorter runways, as it allowed the jet aircraft to reach faster take-off acceleration.
Blueprints of the RATO modification for the J29
Note, this is already modeled within the J29 Cockpit itself: (Image above)
Image: J29 Tunnan “M” from the F6 “Västgöta flygflottilj”, having the RATO Module installed, 1955. Note that not many J29’s were given the RATO module.
And by 1951, The RATO (Rocket Assisted Take-Off) module was delivered to some of the J29’s as not everyone was lucky enough to receive the upgrade: Likely due to the cost of producing the module and also the reason was likely due to the coming J29F variant: Which introduced the “RM 2B” Jet engine, which is the same “de Havilland Ghost” Engine. But modified with a afterburner, which increased its overall thrust. Which made the RATO module obsolete for its purpose. However, the later variants of the J29 (Both the D and F variant) could still be equipped with the RATO module and was continued to be used on the older variants such as the J29A and A29B until the aircrafts were replaced and retired from the Swedish Air force.
How should it be implemented to War Thunder?
Similarly to how some of the existing jet aircrafts in the game has it, such as the “Kikka”. The J29’s RATO module, should either be implemented as a modification you need to research or as the Kikka: Comes with the purchase of the aircraft after finishing the research. This module or modificaiton would significantly help the J29A and A29B. As well hopefully make more people interested in flying the early iterations of “Tunnan”.
Sources:
https://www.f10kamratforening.se/wp-content/flygdag_1954_del1.pdf
SAAB Manuals (in Blueprints Spoiler)
