Saab (Svenska Aeroplan AB) were founded in in 1937 with the initial intention of building fighter aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. The decision to establish an independent manufacturing unit for fighter aircraft came originally from the Swedish Government, concerned by the prevailing political situation in Europe.


To overcome this obstacle the company pulled in their two most talented aeronautical and aerodynamic specialists, Gunnar Ljungstrom and Sixten Sasanover.


As production got underway, Saab was soon to discover that establishing a car factory from scratch was no easy task, with the division hit by a seemingly endless stream of “teething problems."
At one point, production was so slow that the massive production plant was producing just four units daily. The situation was not made any easier with constant shortages of raw materials meaning that the new Saabs were coming off the production line painted a deep and unattractive shade of khaki green.


