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| Saab 90 Scandia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Saab Scandia of SAS at London Airport (Heathrow) in May 1953 | |
| Role | Airliner |
| Manufacturer | Saab |
| First flight | November 16, 1946 |
| Introduction | 1950 |
| Status | Out of service, one preserved |
| Primary users | VASP ABA, SAS |
| Produced | 1946–1954 |
| Number built | 18 |
The Saab 90 Scandia was a civil passenger aeroplane, manufactured by Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB), in Linköping, Sweden. In 1944, as it was becoming clear that hostilities in Europe (the Second World War) would soon be at an end, SAAB realised that the company had to diversify from purely military endeavours if it were to survive. The board therefore decided to put into action a plan to manufacture a twin-engined, short- to medium-haul passenger aircraft, as a successor for the Douglas DC-3. (This was the same commercially driven stimulus that led to automobile production, with the Ursaab and subsequent Saab 92 passenger vehicles.)
The design of the 90 Scandia was quite similar to the DC-3. The most distinct visible difference was that the 90 had tricycle landing gear while the DC-3 had a tailwheel. The Scandia also had a quite different vertical stabilizer shape, and numerous more subtle differences. The 90 had to compete with the many surplus DC-3s available on the market at the same time, making sales difficult.