The year before the outbreak of WWII, 1938, the Swedish major airline AB Aerotransport (ABA) took delivery of a Junkers Ju 86Z-7. It got the Swedish register code SE-BAE. The aeroplane was specially built for the of mail trade. The cargo space consisted of one single large hold. The variant Ju 86Z-7 is not to be mixed up with the Ju 86s ordered by the Air Force with the designation B 3, which was a very different design. ABA’s Ju 86Z-7, named ”Svalan” (”the Swallow") had a rounded nose and a more streamlined fuselage, which was fitted with square windows. ”Svalan” was used at the night post line Stockholm-Malmö-Hannover. But this mail line had to be laid down at the outbreak of WWII.   

”Svalan” was mobilized by the Air Force in August 1940. Soon it was bought for good from ABA and got the Air Force designation Tp 9. The Air Force number was 911. It served in the Air Force until it was written off in October 1958.  

For its new duty as a transport aircraft for personnel, it was fitted with longitudinal wooden benches in the hold. Further windows were fitted along the fuselage. The aircraft was painted in the same camouflage pattern as the B 3 bombers.  

The original engines was two radial Pratt & Whitney Hornet S-1 E-G of 750 hp each. As these engines proved themselves to be very unreliable, they were changed to Mercury My XXIV engines,  license-manufactured by NOHAB in Trollhättan.  

The Tp 9 was based at Wing F 1 at Västerås, but was later transferred to F 7 at Såtenäs. The 20^th anniversary of F 7 was celebrated with a great air show. To show the audience the capability of the new A 32A Lansen attack aircraft, the Tp 9 ended its days as a shooting target.    

Top: Tp 9 with B 3s in the background at F 7 1958-05-23.

Bottom: SE-BAE before it became mobilized by the Swedish Air Force.

Length: 17,60 m. Span: 22,50 m. Height: 4,80 m. MTOW 8.200 kg. Max. speed: 355 km/h.

© Lars Henriksson

Updated 2010-07-15