A shipyard’s plastics pioneer

Malmö Flygindustri grew from AB Flygindustri of Halmstad, which the Malmö shipbuilder Kockums bought and in July 1952 reorganised as AB Malmö Flygindustri, with its former technical director Rudolf Abelin as managing director. MFI was a pioneer of glass-reinforced plastics: it made an early fibreglass car body for Volvo, one of Sweden’s first series-built fibreglass yachts, the Laurin 32, rocket pods, parts for the Bofors Bantam missile and the MFI-13 concept car that became the Saab Sonett. The rubber company Trelleborg took it over in 1957.

The Biafra Babies

Its aircraft came from Björn Andreasson, who built the prototype BA-7 in his spare time while working for Convair in the United States and flew it on 10 October 1958. It became the MFI-9 Junior, a two-seat shoulder-wing trainer, licence-built by Bölkow in Germany as the Bo 208. In May 1969 Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen took five surplus MFI-9Bs, painted them in camouflage and armed them with rockets. As the Biafra Babies, they struck Nigerian air force bases at Port Harcourt, Enugu and Benin from 22 May.

Safari and Saab

Because aircraft development was its core, Trelleborg sold MFI to Saab in March 1968. The MFI-15, a stronger development of the MFI-9 with tailwheel or nosewheel, became the Saab Safari and the armed Supporter. Saab built 250 complete aircraft and Pakistan assembled or built 212 more, 462 in all; the Royal Norwegian Air Force still flies Safaris from Bardufoss. Von Rosen flew a Safari on food-dropping relief flights in Ethiopia in 1974.

Factories

• Malmö works · Malmö

People

• Rudolf Abelin · managing director from 1952
• Björn Andreasson · designer — Designed the BA-7, which became the MFI-9
• Carl Gustaf von Rosen · aviator — Led the Biafra Babies MFI-9B squadron, 1969