Calling Sweden -Saab 21A- DB605 engine

Over the Christmas break, I pulled a book from the shelves – ‘The Aircraft of the World’ by William Green & Gerald Pollinger. Written in 1953, it was my first major aircraft book purchase, after the 5/- Obeservers book, and this would be circa 1955 as an enthusiast schoolboy.

I have never been a collector of military serials or civil registrations but I liked to log and record types I had seen with a strong emphasis on WWII military. It was my wont to underline in red ink, in said books, when a new type was seen.

My uncle at this time was still Airforce and I was very familiar with the current hardware, Hunter, Meteor and the subtle difference between a Vampire and a Venom.

A puzzler – on an occassion whilst staying with my great-aunt in Dunstable, an aircraft flew over due West at about 2/3000′ making purposeful progress at about 150knots. It was not a ‘light aircraft’ .

It looked basically like a Venom in planform but was making a most unusual and loud sound that I had never heard before. A piston engine sound.

With my sparse access to available technical resource, I see I logged this as a Saab 21.

Can anybody out there confirm if my ‘recognition’ was correct. Did an individual aircraft or unit of the Swedish Air Force ever make an exchange visit to the UK with this type in the mid 1950’s?

Mark