The latest local legend tackles an interesting warbird that really did not see a whole lot of actual combat service but, in Sweden, is very much a local legend. Today we’re talking about the B 17… the Saab B 17 and the iniBuilds rendition of it for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

A bit of history

A 1936 defense plan drawn up by the Swedish government called for the creation of four bomber wings to be equipped with a modern aircraft that could perform the dive bombing role as well as operate as a reconnaissance and forward air control airplane. Development of the aircraft started with Swedish aircraft company ASJA but consolation of the countries’ aircraft companies saw Saab buy the company up and move from Trollhättan to Linköping.

The first prototype flew on May 18th, 1940 and production was well underway in the following year. Aircraft flew with multiple types of engine including an unlicensed Swedish production version of the R-1830 Twin Wasp. A lack of engines lead to initial production numbers being low.

The aircraft was well used by the Swedish Air Force with 326 being produced and service lasting until 1948 when more modern designs replaced it. It primarily saw use with the Swedish Air Force but also with the Ethiopian Air Force and Danish Air Force. The Finnish Air Force also had two which were used as target tugs for a limited amount of time.

Fifteen of the type were provided to the Danish Brigade in Sweden or Danforce to assist with the liberation of occupied Denmark, however, the war ended before they could be used and they were quickly returned.

Visuals and sounds

iniBuilds have become well known for making some visually impressive aircraft and I have to say that their Saab B 17 certainly keeps that reputation alive in a big way. Because this is a Local Legends aircraft it has very few frills, there’s no opening engine cowling for example, but everything that you’d expect on the exterior and interior is modeled to a very high level.

I’ve looked all over this airplane and its just really strong on the visuals. The engine is probably my favourite bit with a lot of detail there but you can see it elsewhere in the landing gear, flaps, wings and so forth.

The strong visuals carry over into a reasonably strong selection of liveries. Aside from the usual Microsoft and Xbox liveries, we have five that represent the aircraft in service with the Swedish Air Force and one very brightly painted Finnish Air Force livery as well.

The sounds on this airplane are generally good. The engine has a bit of a droning noise to it but otherwise is acceptable. Switches and buttons in the cockpit are generally good, though not exceptional, and there’s even some good gear noise as the aircraft taxis along. The landing gear touch down sound is sometimes a bit louder than I’d expect it to be… and that’s on my better landings.

Flying the airplane

There’s some genuinely good nods here to flying a warbird and that starts with the taxi part of the exercise. Its a bit difficult to taxi with the tail wheel becoming a bit stuck and then unstuck as you taxi from parking to runway. I don’t love the feel of it but it is better than some of the tailwheel aircraft that I experienced early on.

It gets better from there with takeoff having the appropriate amount of engine torque needing rudder correction. Takeoff happens pretty quickly and after that you have a genuine gem of an airplane that can fly around, do some light aerobatics (warbird style) and generally carry on without too much of a care in the world – more on that in a bit.

Like many aircraft in this sim, its a bit too stable. Do a power on stall and it just kind of floats there and gently drops a wing. It doesn’t take too much to recover. Perhaps this is a characteristic of the B 17? I haven’t been able to find much on how this airplane flew or what its reputation is in the air.

On the other side of the coin, I’d say this feels a bit like a slightly lighter more spritely IL-2 from that series. Its not bad at all but it does sometimes feel a bit too comfortable to me – I feel like the nose should wander a bit more than it does. Did they use the CFD system to create the flight model here? I’m not sure. All of this does make it fairly accessible as a warbird as it doesn’t have the same tendency to want to try and kill you that other types do.

Systems

There’s good and bad here and you’ll probably be able to guess at the general theme. All of the important bits of the airplane involved with the start-up, shut down, and general operation of the airplane are modeled and generally well modeled.

I have to say here too that Saab made a pretty well laid out cockpit for a WWII warbird. I’m used to things being kind of all over the place and here there seems to generally be well laid out. Maybe its because I’ve spent too much time in the DCS: AJS-37 Viggen (another Saab product from a couple of decades later) but I just generally appreciate the way that the cockpit is setup and when I went to look for something I usually found it right away.

The cockpit itself, visually gorgeous as I mentioned, is almost entirely clickable with one or two exceptions. The systems they represent all work from gear to lights to flaps and so forth. There’s not too much else here, however, as you’ll never fear bursting an engine due to overdoing it on the RPM or manifold pressure. That doesn’t mean you can’t control the cooling flaps or oil cooler intake but ultimately that’s a visual thing rather than a systems/engine necessity.

Final thoughts

A lot of the Local Legend aircraft have been made to a very specific level and this one doesn’t exceed that goal but it doesn’t disappoint it either. In many ways, iniBuilds efforts to bring the Saab 17 back to life as a kind of digital archive of legendary airplanes is extremely well realized. This is up there among the best looking airplanes in the series to date and among the best I’ve seen in the sim. It feels like a solid, quality experience while also being cheap and cheerful.

Deciding to buy something like this will revolve around your personal interest in the airplane, your interest level in flying around a reasonably accessible warbird that isn’t too complicated but does give you some of the quirks of flying such an airplane, and how deep of a simulation you want to get out of the experience. If you want to get a deeper warbird experience, you need to look elsewhere, but if you like what you see, I can’t find fault in the work as presented.

I am a bit critical of the lack of depth here but the reality is that it wasn’t intended to have that and none of the other Local Legend series aircraft have aimed at a deeper level either. For what it is, and for what its sold for ($14.99 USD) you get a very fun to fly warbird that you may not have ever had stick time on in the past. And that’s really cool as an exploration of the history of aviation. If you know what you’re getting into here, you won’t regret it!

Screenshots