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Hello from Norway. Great video. Late in the 60th., one Draken came from east ( Sweden) passed just over the roof (about 50 meters) top of our homestead (it's a farm), turned hard and flew back to Sweden in the same very low attitude (boarder 60 miles away overhead line ) We lived not so far from Norway main military airfield named Gardermoen ( 20 miles overhead line) I belive this flight was an illegale flight Not know to the NATO Norwegian autoritets Since we lived not so far from the military base, I as a young boy, loved to see the very noisy jet fighters at daily basis. All the time. The Draken did I see only once, but I knew it was a Draken, cause my interests in military fighters. Never forget it. It was so close and insane loud (afterburner?) when it turned back, heading for Sweden. (sorry for my poor grammer)
Dear friends, it was a late friend of mine, MS EngPhy Åke Anderberg, who was in charge of the aerodynamics of the Saab J35 Draken. He actually started the work that led up to the Saab J35 Draken in 1949. There were no books on the shelf that he could use. He had to calculate it all himself and also design a supersonic wind tunnel. As you say, the rest is history. By the way the Saab J21 with a piston engine at first, was another late friend of mine that did the maiden flight with it. His name was Claes Smith. In charge of the design of the successor to the J35 was my fathers boss, MS PhD Tore Gullstrand. Best Greetings from Sweden.
@@rudolfabelin383 Thank you for sharing this with us. SAAB planes have always been an icon for us enthusiasts. It must be awesome for you to know the designers and engineers personally.
The Adam, Bertil, Ceasar etc isn't nicknames. They're the Swedish equivalent of the English Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc. It's the Swedish phonetic alphabet.
Thinking outside the box is the inevitable result of experiencing sequential akvavit, sauna with cold plunge and the aurora borealis. I've done it. Trust me, after that there is no more box.
Well with a nabour in the east with an endless manpower pool and tons of heavy weaponry we kinda have to be inovative to improve our chanses. Hopefully the big bad bear will get stunged on his nose and turn home with his tail between his legs…
Well, if it was that good, why did the design not survive. And why did the NATO countries decide to buy US fighter - probably due to their superiority over the swedish crap!
@@Jorn41 ain’t no need to disparage other countries’ equipment. Considering Sweden’s size, they did great coming up with something like this. Also, there’s a lot more to arms sales than just the capability of the equipment. A country is also attempting to curry favor by buying arms from a certain supplier (the good ol US of A in many cases).
@@Jorn41 I’m sorry, but no offense this comment shows how little you know/understand about arms procurement, especially on a large scale like NATO procurement. On top of that it shows your lack of jet aviation history. The design did last, it wasn’t retired until 2005. And is still used in various test pilot schools around the world for things like new avionics, weapons systems, and radar systems. It also broke and set numerous records that took the US some time to break themselves, so it was far from crap. If you paid attention to the video, you would know this was purposely designed and built to meet Sweden’s (and other Nordic countries) specific, niche needs, not the much broader needs of Central European countries that were heavily involved with the Cold War. Not only was this aircraft an excellent interceptor, but it also proved to be a great fighter with strong dogfighting capabilities. It gave US, Russian, UK, and French aircraft a good run for their money, so again it was far from “crap” When it comes to the procurement side of things, and why it wasn’t adopted by NATO, there’s a number of reasons. Cost and interoperability are the 2 of the most important aspects of arms procurement, especially on such a large scale. You have to remember that most of Central and Western Europe was in a very bad economic position at that time and were still recovering from WWII. The US at this time was having a major economic boom that had already been going on since WWII, and had been designing and producing aircraft on a massive scale for a decade. At this time, Sweden only had one aircraft manufacturer, while the US had about a dozen well established aircraft companies operating & manufacturing on a large scale(for an extended period of time). Not to mention the US & UK at the time had also had decades of research poured into aircraft weapons systems to sell in tandem with their aircraft. Combine all of these factors together, and you have not only a much lower per-unit cost, but you have better interoperability between different aircraft and their weapons systems. You are also able to manufacture and deliver these aircraft and systems very quickly since manufacturing plants and supply chains are already well established. Then on top of all of that, you have to factor in the major amount of lobbying done by the US to have their aircraft picked for NATO procurement. The US military industrial complex has always been heavily focused on profits, and after we got a taste during WWII with the various lend-lease programs, international arms sales became a goal of most defense contractors, and this factored in heavily when it came to designing new aircraft. Most aircraft designed & manufactured by the US in this time period were not solely or purposely built for just the US’ needs, unlike the Draken which was designed and produced solely for the needs of one country (Sweden) So basically what it comes down to, is NATO did not select this for procurement for a few main reasons; 1) Cost (US/UK planes and parts were cheaper) 2) Different specific needs (this wasn’t designed and built for their needs at the time) 3) Logistics & Time Constraints (they needed different types of interceptors and fighters as quickly as possible) Procurement isn’t always strictly based on performance, as stated above there’s many many other things that factor into it, and I only listed a FEW of the main ones. The Draken was far from crap, and it had way way less issues than other jet aircraft of the time.
Oh boy, this brings back some memories. I was 6 year old at the flight show at Pori Finland on annual Pori day in september 1977. I watched as 2 drakens of Satakunnan lennosto squadron closed from southeast towards main runway at full thrust at VERY low altitude. When they got on on the halfway of the runway, close where I was standing, the planes went supersonic. The blast was MASSIVE. There was A LOT of broken windows on the city of Pori that day, including at the close proximity of the airport, the almost all of Pori hospitals windows of the wall facing the airfield, which eventually lead to ban of low supersonic flight above cities in Finland.
I just discovered this plane last night. It is probably the most beautiful bad azz looking piece of machinery I've ever seen. I am always watching channels like Dark Skies and a lot of other aviation channels. Why has it taken so long to see this amazing looking piece of aviation history.
Draken is not the Dragon in english, it’s the Kite. And so it is because of the shape. Believe me, I flew it for 1200 hours as a swedish fighter pilot.
Draken is the nicest single-engine plane for me when it's in the air. The use of inlet openings as part of an angled delta was very innovative in the late 50's. And second is Viggen. Third is Mig-21. As a modeler, I remember him as a boy from an East German company in the 70's For example, in Czech language we have no difference between a Dragon. We call a kite as paper dragon,because the kite also has a tail.Greetings from the Czech Republic
Yes this is all true but the word "Drake" also means "Dragon". "Draken" would be "The Dragon". I served as a conscript with the 21 flotilla (that's what we call them) at Kallax, Luleå 1978-79. I saw a lot of Draken, on the ground and in the air.
@@larss337 Yes, in many languages the dragon is meant to be a paper dragon and a mythical creature, because a paper dragon represents it, but in English it is different, they have 2 words for it! If, as the former pilot says, it's according to shape and not a mythical creature, that's what it's supposed to be called in English!
Did my military service at F4 in Frösön outside Östersund in Sweden, this was 1983 and the baracks we lived in was parallell to the runway, when those J35 started the whole place shook, when they had night time we sat at the end of the runway checking out the EBK flames and really felt the sound in the whole body, and fun fact, when taking flight and makes a direct turn after getting air Bourne they slide like a drift car, you don't see that from afar but when close up, being hit by the side blast, the sound, the shaking and even the fumes from the exhaust is a experience, that's for sure, thanx for the clip by the way !
My Dad was a weapons specialist on that thing. I have great childhood memories of me sitting in the seat, while he was standing underneath with his head up the nosewheel bay flipping switches. Thanks for the upload!
As a kid when I was walking at a beach one of those magnificent planes came roaring along the shore, right over me in 50m height. It seemed to fill the sky and the sound was frightening. There was less restrictions back then
Same thing happened to me as a kid also. Looked up when i heard the noise and the image of the Drakens shape has been burned into my memory ever since. The interesting thing is that this low level pass happened over the Åland Islands, an autonomous, demilitarised part of Finland. In my 44 years on this planet, it’s the only military machine i’ve seen here, other than some passing navy ships.
Was less "close" but equally awe inspiring seeing Gripen fly over a couple of hundred meters upp and waving at us when I lived in Östergötland as a child.
When I was posted to CFB Lahr from 1978 to 1981, we had Danish J35s fly down to the airbase from Denmark. Beautiful aircraft, interestingly, the two under tanks were 1 fuel tank and the other was a luggage container and when they visited CFB Lahr, they would pick up stereo equipment that would fit inside the luggage carrier and fly back to their base in Denmark.
Very good summary of a great aircraft, long had a soft spot for these innovative Swedish designs. However it wasn't the first West European Mach 2 aircraft to enter front line service, the BAC Lightning did the previous year, both aircraft though in their initial forms entered the final test and evaluation / training service prior to front line deployment, at around the same time. The reason the UK seemed, as you put it, 'out of the game' wasn't technology, really the 1957 Defence Review which cancelled all UK future combat aircraft projects, aside from the Lightning which was to quote, 'unfortunately too far in development'. But it's growth potential was restricted despite many sound proposals from BAC for further upgrades including fighter/bomber versions. Sweden and France, did not have this problem, indeed both concentrated far more on tactical fighter aircraft, notably France with the classic Mirage series too. The RAF's attention however was on the V Bombers and even most of the fighter designs cancelled in 1957 were really heavy interceptors, this is where the money went, rather than tactical, affordable, so exportable aircraft. Policy loosened to allow the Fleet Air Arm to retain combat aircraft from carriers, then the spec for TSR-2 was allowed, however it was another very expensive aircraft which ultimately doomed it, ironically we had a brilliant tactical bomber in the Buccaneer for the FAA, though the RAF rejected it until they were left with no choice. Then they realized how good it was. I remember first seeing the J 35's successor for the first time at the 1980 F.I. show, the then new JA 35 interceptor, a deeply impressive and formidable aircraft. Later J 35's, though at UK airshows mostly the RDAF versions, though later the Austrian and Swedish variants, all striking, the basic design still looking modern 20-30 years after service entry. Good to see the latest and likely last of the SAAB line, the Gripen still selling, albeit slowly, it will be interesting to see what SAAB bring to the Tempest program, which their heritage of innovation and experience, rather a lot I suspect. Now I feel like going and finding and watching again, the SAAB produced movie of the early days of the Draken!
Our SAAB 35 Draken is one THE most beautiful jets out there, ever....might be a tad biased being a Swede! 😉😍🥰😎 Saw a lot of them while still living in Sweden, Östersund, with our airbase F4 Frösön in town....
Nice video! I grew up in a rural part of Austria, close to the air force base the Drakens were operating from. These beautiful (and loud!) birds where a constant sight during my childhood, and this brings back quite a few memories!
I built a model of this beauty 40 years ago. I remember how cool and unique this jet was when compared to the American fighters I had built. She shot down every jet except the F-15 in my room! So cool!
I had a metal model of this aircraft when I was a kid, in the early 80s; I dont remember much about it, other than that I loved the design. It seems like its practically unknown over here in north america, at least not among those not specializing in military aircraft - I've never seen models of it, or anyone talking about it - this is literally the first youtube video I've ever seen about it. Glad to see it though, and wishing I still had that model/toy
I remember walking home from school on a beautiful spring afternoon in 1990 and seeing a strange, dark shape in the sky, perhaps 10-15 degrees over the horizon. There was no sound to be heard and the shape kept on growing and morphing. For a few seconds I couldn't make sense of what it was and just stood there with my mouth open. Then suddenly, the shape moved sharply to the right, followed by an almighty, deafening roar and I could see it was the Draken. The plane had been approaching me dead on and due to the speed of the approaching plane, no sound could be heard.
Excellent video shared by excellent channel ( weapons detective). video clearly explaining all characteristics & abilities of J 35 dragon( incepter double delta wings aircrafts .also video labelled to aviation history of Sweden. Video talks about all versions of swedish aircrafts which has relatives ...thanks for sharing
Interesting thing though: The swedish word "draken" or "drake" can mean either of two things in english: "dragon" or "kite". In this case, it is actually the latter that is correct. It derives from an incident when one of the chiefdesigners wife saw the plane in the air for the first time, and her reaction was to say (in swedish though): "oh, it looks like a kite!". Hence the name "draken", which in english would be "the kite". "The dragon" ofc sounds more cool ;) Maybe this is the simple reason why it is seldom corrected internationally.
It's a good story, the J32 Lansen:s name came from the pitot-probe on the wing, the 37 Viggens name came from the thunderbolt in nordic mythology as Tor used his hammer and the bird Tufted duck as the canard wings in the front have the same appearance and finally Gripen is from the greek mythology.
We, Denmark, used it. Together with F-104. So beautiful! And.. today I think it's time for us to operate to types of fighter jets again.. despite we're a small nation. We've bought 27 F-35B's. Instead of buying more F-35's, I think it would be a good idea buying a similar number of the latest Gripen. Our F-16's primarily do air policing. The Gripen is great in that role. Very capable and way cheaper to operate than F-35.
Listening to radio communication witth the tower back in the 1980's it was easy to hear, just by strain of the pilots voice, if he was on final approach in a Viggen (easy) or Draken (concentration needed). The high accident rate was in part due to the erly learning curve and superstall characteristics of the aircraft but also the way that the Swedish airforce operated, more or less taking the same risks as they would have done in a full blown conflict allowing for very small margins of error in training. Between 1946 and 1989 (cold war era) some Swedish 550 airmen lost their lives in accidents (including a few shot down in international airspace by Soviet pilots)
@@nirfz The 2 seat Draken for training and mastering superstall condition eventually helped reduce the accident rate but there where also technical issues such as engine failures that plagued the Draken. However there where at least 2 incidents with Austrialn pilots during training in Sweden, on Nov 18 1966 oberl Teja Reichhuber had to eject due to an uncontrolled flight condition (Superstall most likely) and on 11 Nov 1986 hauptm J Christian Wolf fatally crashed into the sea during a low altitude, high speed flight.
The Danish Drakens were named accordingly to NATO standards, so they became the first F-35 in RDAF service 😀 No danish pilots/crewmembers lost their lives flying a Draken, so far it is the only fighter/strike aircraft to have that distinguished service record. She was lovingly known as "Jerndragen" = the Iron Dragon/Kite, and were quite popular among the men who flew her.
It looks cool, and slightly scary. I think that's an underrated quality, in certain designs it's very clear that engineers impose aesthetic principles on what's supposed to be pure function. In early half of 20th century, things looking right was an open and obvious influence. This thing looks and more importantly is named as evil! Other classic evils: RAF Vulcan bomber, US B2, russian mi 24. And a lot of German WW2 stuff.
Still an immensely cool aircraft with impressive period performance and groundbreaking dispersed combat take off and landing ability. I would loved to see a picture of a brace of these flying with in close to a RAF HP Victor bomber or tanker... Sculptures in metal.😎
Growing up in the 80´s i regularly saw 2 of these beasts take off in tandem with full afterburner whenever the soviets got close to our airspace. I live 4km away from the airbase and the forests around the base had hidden runway strips in case of war cuz the the airbase would blow its runway and relocate to the woods and common public roads.
Brought many back to High School when they first interested in building model replica of Aircrafts! Very educational & nostalgic video! Thank You So Much for Sharing! Stay Safe & Stay Grateful! 🌷🌿🌎💖🇸🇪
One of the most interesting aircraft interviews I've heard was from one of these conscript ground crew of J35... a supersonic interceptor design to run on one pilot and two and a half ground crew... two conscript per plane and one additional carrier technician for two aircrafts... such an amazing machine, I absolutely regret that I was not born as something somethingson in 1940s in Sweden... so I could get a shot to try and be a Draken pilot in Swedish Air force...
One of these babies did a tree-top level flyover at Mach speeds over my bedroom when I was fifteen. Training glitch. Let’s just say I was suitably impressed.
The Danish Air Force had the Draken in service from 1967-1992. From around 1980 mostly as a back up I think, as the multi role F16 took over most of the work. We had 2 Squadrons at Karup Airfield where I was stationed in 1779-80, a fighter bomber unit and a photo reconnaissance unit, both equipped with Draken. Remember two things about them: The pilots spoke very favorable about them... And they made the H... of a noise when they took off in the middle of the night, using afterburner😆
I took it upon myself in junior high and high school to learn some aeronautical engineering skills as a hobby. The J35 and J37 were the biggest influences on my designs. In addition in the movie firebirds with Nicholas cage the best things about that movie are the scenes with the J35 as well as Shawn young in a flightsuit.
If i'm not mistaken, this type of plane was involved in creating the only ever situation that the SR-71 could be shot down during routine flights over baltic sea, not because of performance, but by picking on it as what it comes closest physically because of it's speed and altitude - a ballistic missile on permanent re-entry, taking it on the front with radar missiles. Russia never had this idea...
The Draken would have been a better choice than the Starfighter for many countries. While the Starfighter was better in it's initial role as an extremely fast climbing high altitude interceptor, the Draken was way more versatile, way safer to fly in low altitude and bad weather and a more agile dogfighter.
There is also another explanation as to how the F35 got its name. Bengt Bratt, the chief desingner, once said that it was the only aircraft that had been named after the nick name of designer's wife
This plane is also my personal favourite, but there's not many fighter jets out there durable enough and ahead of it's time to last from it's first test flights in 1955 to its final commission in 2005, 50 years of awesomeness.
Very practical approach to protecting there country from potentially a hostile neighbour. The Swedes are an independent bunch of people not waiting for other countries to shape their future 👍
Interesting story & history. I am interested in how Sweden was able to produce such advanced aircraft after WW2. I found it difficult to research as I don’t speak Swedish. Could you do a more detailed video on who & how Sweden achieved their success in this field?
The swedish economy was supercharged by not having its factories bombed during ww2, thus it could charge good money manufactor8ng goods for a europe undergoing rebuilding paid for by US taxpayers during marshall-plan. This made sweden the worlda richest country during a time. Also sweden is known for its extreme swings in military spending. After ww1 sweden completly defunded its military, after all there would be no more wars since UN was created. After realizing it was a fake aence if securiry, sweden spent up to 25% of its gdp on military after ww2. The worlds richest country spending 25% of its gdp on its defence led to sweden having the fourth largest airforce in the world for a time. But after the fall of soviet union there would obviosly never be a need of a national defence ever again, so we once again almost completely got rid if the army. Now we are slowly re-arming again, buyiing back expensive stuff that we sold out cheap/gave away for free after the fall of ussr
@@Lokieus lol. Sweden didn't become successful because of its social programs, it became successful DESPITE them. Compare Sweden to Switzerland after ww2, Switzerland has continued to grow while sweden has been in sort of a decline since the 80s
@@devrerffs If you think Sweden got rich from the Marshall plan you are seriously overestimating it in the case of Sweden, it did however come with free market requirements which arguably had a bigger impact than the money itself for most countries receiving it, and in fact Sweden received roughly as much as Switzerland. The Marshall Plan grants represented less than 3% of the combined national income of the recipient countries between 1948 and 1951, which would mean an added increase in GDP growth of only 0.3%.
@@devrerffs I for one am happy that Sweden is putting some cash into defence again. We, here in Finland, welcome all the help we can get to stop the Sov… eh, Russians having any funny ideas, and of course, throwing iron to the border if push comes to shove.
How about the times in the early 1990s during the Yugoslav Wars when the Austrian Air Force's SAAB J 35 Drakens were scrambled to intercept Yugoslav Air Force Mikoyan MiG-21 Fishbeds intruding their airspace due to the fact that Austria was enforcing their neutrality?
One of the Draken's skills was a standind of the real low flying. After the low, is absolute looking of the motor's intake. Was there treetops within. The body and the Wing stands very heavy punisment of the trees.
a little history about Sweden's neutrality: Manufacture of a Junkers F 13 in AB Flygindustri's premises in Malmö. The plane was used as a passenger plane by, among others, AB Aerotransport, another of Junker's bulvan-owned companies in Sweden, where Hermann Göring worked as a pilot for a while.
A group of Drakens, just out of mischief bounced a SR-71 Blackbird as it flew over Swedish territory . How on earth they managed that , I do not know but they did !
I believe that was Viggen, they had a very sophisticated missile system allowing them to not only get a missile launch or lock from behind but also from the front. They simply intercepted the Blackbirds path in front of it and gained the lock in an an head-on position, taking away the ability to use speed as an evasive maneuver.
Yes they did. It was a sr 71 limping back to base on 1 engine. They intercepted it. Escorted it back protecting it from soviet jets already inbound to intercept and destroy the crippled sr 71 flying at just over mach 1. Was a great read
Whole life heard/called it Draken and when whole video it gets called Drogen really hits the ear. Draken(pronounced how it's written) could be Finnish way saying it though so who knows.
Viggen, Draken, Gripen: Yes, the fact that such a small country (Number of inhabs.) developing and building his airfighters by her own is absolute empressive! 👍 Fingers Cross for the Submarine, new state-of-the-art anti-ship-missile (NSM?) and more cooperation with Germany will be successful
Tunnan and Lansen weren't that bad either. Tunnan even set the world speed record in 1954 and 1955. They were just in the period of insane aircraft technology advancements so the Tunnan had only served a handful of years before the first Draken took flight.
The Royal Danish Air Force enjoyed the Draken in the attack and recon role, in conjunction with the Starfighter. Especially the Draken recon was highly sought after by the generals in NATO during the cold war. Sad to see that the JAS-39 Gripen´s weak point is the engine, something the Draken or Viggen never suffered from. But that is Volvo´s problem, not SAAB
Draken is misstranslated "The kite" not "the Dragon" =) The names used to come from the aircraft appearance. J29 Tunnan "the barrel" J32 Lansen "The lance"
i realy like this plane, one of the most beatiful of its time. but because i play wargame with my friends it got the lovely nickname of "Buk Fang-Flunder" (german for Buk (missile system) catching Flounder) for its tendencies to always get shot down by it :D
Why those things weren't painted matt black will forever be lost on me, 😕 Still, an incredible aircraft, and the highlight (for me) of our local air display (JIAD) 🍻
Saab Drakens saw quite a lot of encounters with russians but no shots were shot in anger. (afaik?) Also, It is a widely known secret that swedes had more Drakens than pilots and the Finnish air force trained quite a bit more pilots that was needed for domestic Drakens. Cold war
This aircraft is magnificent with exceptional performance. The only complaint is its huge accident rate. but maybe is this due to the conditions of use?
When you train and accept the same type of safety margins as in a full blown conflict there will be accidents, also it took some time to get to grips with the superstastall characteristics, regardless Sweden lost many airmen (about 550) to all aircraft types during the cold war.
@@kronop8884 In the 60s or 70s I think many if not all countries used this type of training. Yet never has such a high attrition rate been recorded. Whether with American or French planes. The only exception may be with the F-104 Starfighter misused by the Luftwaffe.
@@olivierpuyou3621 The Swedish Airforce typically trained at lower altitudes and higher speeds than just about anyone else 20m altitude over land and 10 m over sea during high speed attack runs was allowed but often exceeded. A Swedish airforce speciality one might say. But sure technical issues and design features/flight characteristics played a role as well especially when the designs are cutting edge, J29 early swept wing, J35 double delta wing and so on.
As far as a quick internet search shows, the answere is yes. By 1 year. (Both 1st flight 1 year before the Dassault Mirage III and being in service 1 year before the Mirage III )
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Hello from Norway. Great video.
Late in the 60th., one Draken came from east ( Sweden) passed just over the roof (about 50 meters) top of our homestead (it's a farm), turned hard and flew back to Sweden in the same very low attitude (boarder 60 miles away overhead line )
We lived not so far from Norway main military airfield named Gardermoen ( 20 miles overhead line)
I belive this flight was an illegale flight
Not know to the NATO Norwegian autoritets
Since we lived not so far from the military base, I as a young boy, loved to see the very noisy jet fighters at daily basis. All the time.
The Draken did I see only once, but I knew it was a Draken, cause my interests in military fighters.
Never forget it.
It was so close and insane loud (afterburner?) when it turned back, heading for Sweden.
(sorry for my poor grammer)
Thanks for sharing, I'd have loved your experience as a boy too \(^v^)/!
Hi I'm from Norway too and that sounds absolutely awesome
Dear friends,
it was a late friend of mine, MS EngPhy Åke Anderberg, who was in charge of the aerodynamics of the Saab J35 Draken. He actually started the work that led up to the Saab J35 Draken in 1949. There were no books on the shelf that he could use. He had to calculate it all himself and also design a supersonic wind tunnel. As you say, the rest is history.
By the way the Saab J21 with a piston engine at first, was another late friend of mine that did the maiden flight with it. His name was Claes Smith.
In charge of the design of the successor to the J35 was my fathers boss, MS PhD Tore Gullstrand.
Best Greetings from Sweden.
Wow, you are figuratively fighter plane Royalty
@@bhaskarmukherjee8170 No! But the people I wrote about was. I just want keep their story alive still.
@@rudolfabelin383 Thank you for sharing this with us. SAAB planes have always been an icon for us enthusiasts. It must be awesome for you to know the designers and engineers personally.
The Adam, Bertil, Ceasar etc isn't nicknames. They're the Swedish equivalent of the English Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc. It's the Swedish phonetic alphabet.
Yes.
Omg instantly cringed so hard when I heard that lol I’m from the southern unites states and knew as well lol
Leave it to the Nordics to think outside the box and come up with interesting concepts. Great video - thanks for making it.
Thinking outside the box is the inevitable result of experiencing sequential akvavit, sauna with cold plunge and the aurora borealis. I've done it. Trust me, after that there is no more box.
Well with a nabour in the east with an endless manpower pool and tons of heavy weaponry we kinda have to be inovative to improve our chanses. Hopefully the big bad bear will get stunged on his nose and turn home with his tail between his legs…
Well, if it was that good, why did the design not survive. And why did the NATO countries decide to buy US fighter - probably due to their superiority over the swedish crap!
@@Jorn41 ain’t no need to disparage other countries’ equipment. Considering Sweden’s size, they did great coming up with something like this. Also, there’s a lot more to arms sales than just the capability of the equipment. A country is also attempting to curry favor by buying arms from a certain supplier (the good ol US of A in many cases).
@@Jorn41 I’m sorry, but no offense this comment shows how little you know/understand about arms procurement, especially on a large scale like NATO procurement. On top of that it shows your lack of jet aviation history.
The design did last, it wasn’t retired until 2005. And is still used in various test pilot schools around the world for things like new avionics, weapons systems, and radar systems. It also broke and set numerous records that took the US some time to break themselves, so it was far from crap. If you paid attention to the video, you would know this was purposely designed and built to meet Sweden’s (and other Nordic countries) specific, niche needs, not the much broader needs of Central European countries that were heavily involved with the Cold War. Not only was this aircraft an excellent interceptor, but it also proved to be a great fighter with strong dogfighting capabilities. It gave US, Russian, UK, and French aircraft a good run for their money, so again it was far from “crap”
When it comes to the procurement side of things, and why it wasn’t adopted by NATO, there’s a number of reasons. Cost and interoperability are the 2 of the most important aspects of arms procurement, especially on such a large scale. You have to remember that most of Central and Western Europe was in a very bad economic position at that time and were still recovering from WWII. The US at this time was having a major economic boom that had already been going on since WWII, and had been designing and producing aircraft on a massive scale for a decade. At this time, Sweden only had one aircraft manufacturer, while the US had about a dozen well established aircraft companies operating & manufacturing on a large scale(for an extended period of time). Not to mention the US & UK at the time had also had decades of research poured into aircraft weapons systems to sell in tandem with their aircraft. Combine all of these factors together, and you have not only a much lower per-unit cost, but you have better interoperability between different aircraft and their weapons systems. You are also able to manufacture and deliver these aircraft and systems very quickly since manufacturing plants and supply chains are already well established. Then on top of all of that, you have to factor in the major amount of lobbying done by the US to have their aircraft picked for NATO procurement. The US military industrial complex has always been heavily focused on profits, and after we got a taste during WWII with the various lend-lease programs, international arms sales became a goal of most defense contractors, and this factored in heavily when it came to designing new aircraft. Most aircraft designed & manufactured by the US in this time period were not solely or purposely built for just the US’ needs, unlike the Draken which was designed and produced solely for the needs of one country (Sweden)
So basically what it comes down to, is NATO did not select this for procurement for a few main reasons; 1) Cost (US/UK planes and parts were cheaper) 2) Different specific needs (this wasn’t designed and built for their needs at the time) 3) Logistics & Time Constraints (they needed different types of interceptors and fighters as quickly as possible)
Procurement isn’t always strictly based on performance, as stated above there’s many many other things that factor into it, and I only listed a FEW of the main ones. The Draken was far from crap, and it had way way less issues than other jet aircraft of the time.
Oh boy, this brings back some memories. I was 6 year old at the flight show at Pori Finland on annual Pori day in september 1977. I watched as 2 drakens of Satakunnan lennosto squadron closed from southeast towards main runway at full thrust at VERY low altitude. When they got on on the halfway of the runway, close where I was standing, the planes went supersonic. The blast was MASSIVE. There was A LOT of broken windows on the city of Pori that day, including at the close proximity of the airport, the almost all of Pori hospitals windows of the wall facing the airfield, which eventually lead to ban of low supersonic flight above cities in Finland.
Oli varmaan jännää.
Ha. Great story, thnxx.
I just discovered this plane last night. It is probably the most beautiful bad azz looking piece of machinery I've ever seen. I am always watching channels like Dark Skies and a lot of other aviation channels. Why has it taken so long to see this amazing looking piece of aviation history.
Draken is not the Dragon in english, it’s the Kite. And so it is because of the shape.
Believe me, I flew it for 1200 hours as a swedish fighter pilot.
Draken is the nicest single-engine plane for me when it's in the air. The use of inlet openings as part of an angled delta was very innovative in the late 50's. And second is Viggen. Third is Mig-21.
As a modeler, I remember him as a boy from an East German company in the 70's
For example, in Czech language we have no difference between a Dragon. We call a kite as paper dragon,because the kite also has a tail.Greetings from the Czech Republic
Yes this is all true but the word "Drake" also means "Dragon". "Draken" would be "The Dragon".
I served as a conscript with the 21 flotilla (that's what we call them) at Kallax, Luleå 1978-79. I saw a lot of Draken, on the ground and in the air.
@@larss337 Yes, in many languages the dragon is meant to be a paper dragon and a mythical creature, because a paper dragon represents it, but in English it is different, they have 2 words for it!
If, as the former pilot says, it's according to shape and not a mythical creature, that's what it's supposed to be called in English!
Draken är både Dragon och Kite. Svensk som bor i USA sedan 20 år och pappa var i flygvapnet.
Interesting! It is almost the same in German, where Drache means dragon, but Drachen means kite. Language is weird and exciting at the same time!
Did my military service at F4 in Frösön outside Östersund in Sweden, this was 1983 and the baracks we lived in was parallell to the runway, when those J35 started the whole place shook, when they had night time we sat at the end of the runway checking out the EBK flames and really felt the sound in the whole body, and fun fact, when taking flight and makes a direct turn after getting air Bourne they slide like a drift car, you don't see that from afar but when close up, being hit by the side blast, the sound, the shaking and even the fumes from the exhaust is a experience, that's for sure, thanx for the clip by the way !
My Dad was a weapons specialist on that thing. I have great childhood memories of me sitting in the seat, while he was standing underneath with his head up the nosewheel bay flipping switches. Thanks for the upload!
As a kid when I was walking at a beach one of those magnificent planes came roaring along the shore, right over me in 50m height. It seemed to fill the sky and the sound was frightening. There was less restrictions back then
Wow.. Det hade man velat vara med om
US Special Ops in Taiwan
ruclips.net/video/CTfP_Ll8Ov8/видео.html
Same thing happened to me as a kid also. Looked up when i heard the noise and the image of the Drakens shape has been burned into my memory ever since. The interesting thing is that this low level pass happened over the Åland Islands, an autonomous, demilitarised part of Finland. In my 44 years on this planet, it’s the only military machine i’ve seen here, other than some passing navy ships.
Was less "close" but equally awe inspiring seeing Gripen fly over a couple of hundred meters upp and waving at us when I lived in Östergötland as a child.
The Draken is a *really* good looking aircraft !
-Even today...it still looks like a supermodel spaceship ! 😁
-A "supermodel spaceship" 😄
When I was posted to CFB Lahr from 1978 to 1981, we had Danish J35s fly down to the airbase from Denmark. Beautiful aircraft, interestingly, the two under tanks were 1 fuel tank and the other was a luggage container and when they visited CFB Lahr, they would pick up stereo equipment that would fit inside the luggage carrier and fly back to their base in Denmark.
Very good summary of a great aircraft, long had a soft spot for these innovative Swedish designs.
However it wasn't the first West European Mach 2 aircraft to enter front line service, the BAC Lightning did the previous year, both aircraft though in their initial forms entered the final test and evaluation / training service prior to front line deployment, at around the same time.
The reason the UK seemed, as you put it, 'out of the game' wasn't technology, really the 1957 Defence Review which cancelled all UK future combat aircraft projects, aside from the Lightning which was to quote, 'unfortunately too far in development'. But it's growth potential was restricted despite many sound proposals from BAC for further upgrades including fighter/bomber versions.
Sweden and France, did not have this problem, indeed both concentrated far more on tactical fighter aircraft, notably France with the classic Mirage series too.
The RAF's attention however was on the V Bombers and even most of the fighter designs cancelled in 1957 were really heavy interceptors, this is where the money went, rather than tactical, affordable, so exportable aircraft.
Policy loosened to allow the Fleet Air Arm to retain combat aircraft from carriers, then the spec for TSR-2 was allowed, however it was another very expensive aircraft which ultimately doomed it, ironically we had a brilliant tactical bomber in the Buccaneer for the FAA, though the RAF rejected it until they were left with no choice. Then they realized how good it was.
I remember first seeing the J 35's successor for the first time at the 1980 F.I. show, the then new JA 35 interceptor, a deeply impressive and formidable aircraft.
Later J 35's, though at UK airshows mostly the RDAF versions, though later the Austrian and Swedish variants, all striking, the basic design still looking modern 20-30 years after service entry.
Good to see the latest and likely last of the SAAB line, the Gripen still selling, albeit slowly, it will be interesting to see what SAAB bring to the Tempest program, which their heritage of innovation and experience, rather a lot I suspect.
Now I feel like going and finding and watching again, the SAAB produced movie of the early days of the Draken!
cons: Lightning retracts its gear in the wing tips. Pro: Lightning has nose which looks fast
There's a good doc on RUclips about the ole buccaneers an there low level flying
Our SAAB 35 Draken is one THE most beautiful jets out there, ever....might be a tad biased being a Swede! 😉😍🥰😎
Saw a lot of them while still living in Sweden, Östersund, with our airbase F4 Frösön in town....
Apparently one of them was loaned to the RAF for evaluation. The report of is meant to begin with “Start with superlatives and then work up!”
Nice video! I grew up in a rural part of Austria, close to the air force base the Drakens were operating from. These beautiful (and loud!) birds where a constant sight during my childhood, and this brings back quite a few memories!
I built a model of this beauty 40 years ago. I remember how cool and unique this jet was when compared to the American fighters I had built. She shot down every jet except the F-15 in my room! So cool!
It's astonishing look. Fast as hell!
Hehe a mean kite ;)
I built one 50-55 years ago, and always thought it was a unique looking aircraft.
*Very good summary of a great aircraft, long had a soft spot for these innovative Swedish designs*
Well done! Greate hommage to the design and history of the J 35 Draken! Greetings from Sweden :)
I had a metal model of this aircraft when I was a kid, in the early 80s; I dont remember much about it, other than that I loved the design. It seems like its practically unknown over here in north america, at least not among those not specializing in military aircraft - I've never seen models of it, or anyone talking about it - this is literally the first youtube video I've ever seen about it. Glad to see it though, and wishing I still had that model/toy
I served that plane 56.. 2 komp F10 Ängelholm❤️
I remember walking home from school on a beautiful spring afternoon in 1990 and seeing a strange, dark shape in the sky, perhaps 10-15 degrees over the horizon. There was no sound to be heard and the shape kept on growing and morphing. For a few seconds I couldn't make sense of what it was and just stood there with my mouth open.
Then suddenly, the shape moved sharply to the right, followed by an almighty, deafening roar and I could see it was the Draken. The plane had been approaching me dead on and due to the speed of the approaching plane, no sound could be heard.
Excellent video shared by excellent channel ( weapons detective). video clearly explaining all characteristics & abilities of J 35 dragon( incepter double delta wings aircrafts .also video labelled to aviation history of Sweden. Video talks about all versions of swedish aircrafts which has relatives ...thanks for sharing
Swedish defence products are known for their excellent quality worldwide .
That is so. The RAF should have bought the Viggen.
Hats off to whoever edited this and timed the line "Sweden needed some modern fighters" with a clip of a man riding a horse.
Interesting thing though: The swedish word "draken" or "drake" can mean either of two things in english: "dragon" or "kite". In this case, it is actually the latter that is correct. It derives from an incident when one of the chiefdesigners wife saw the plane in the air for the first time, and her reaction was to say (in swedish though): "oh, it looks like a kite!". Hence the name "draken", which in english would be "the kite". "The dragon" ofc sounds more cool ;) Maybe this is the simple reason why it is seldom corrected internationally.
It's a good story, the J32 Lansen:s name came from the pitot-probe on the wing, the 37 Viggens name came from the thunderbolt in nordic mythology as Tor used his hammer and the bird Tufted duck as the canard wings in the front have the same appearance and finally Gripen is from the greek mythology.
The word "drake" is also another name for a male duck in swedish.
@@paulandersson6120 Isn't it cute that Viggen is named for a chubby little duck that looks like it's going through an emo phase.
We, Denmark, used it. Together with F-104. So beautiful! And.. today I think it's time for us to operate to types of fighter jets again.. despite we're a small nation. We've bought 27 F-35B's. Instead of buying more F-35's, I think it would be a good idea buying a similar number of the latest Gripen. Our F-16's primarily do air policing. The Gripen is great in that role. Very capable and way cheaper to operate than F-35.
Here in Austria, there are two Draken on display beside the road:
48°13'21.43" N 14°11'59.22" E
48°19'07.48" N 16°05'05.21" E
Thanks for the great work! The J35 is a favorite jet of mine from this era!
Listening to radio communication witth the tower back in the 1980's it was easy to hear, just by strain of the pilots voice, if he was on final approach in a Viggen (easy) or Draken (concentration needed).
The high accident rate was in part due to the erly learning curve and superstall characteristics of the aircraft but also the way that the Swedish airforce operated, more or less taking the same risks as they would have done in a full blown conflict allowing for very small margins of error in training.
Between 1946 and 1989 (cold war era) some Swedish 550 airmen lost their lives in accidents (including a few shot down in international airspace by Soviet pilots)
Any info on where to read about those incidents?
@@ulflyng Search for DC3 and the Catalina incident
@@kronop8884 👍
Interestig to hear. Austria lost only 1 pilot with/in a Draken, and that was during initial training still in sweden.
@@nirfz The 2 seat Draken for training and mastering superstall condition eventually helped reduce the accident rate but there where also technical issues such as engine failures that plagued the Draken.
However there where at least 2 incidents with Austrialn pilots during training in Sweden, on Nov 18 1966 oberl Teja Reichhuber had to eject due to an uncontrolled flight condition (Superstall most likely) and on 11 Nov 1986 hauptm J Christian Wolf fatally crashed into the sea during a low altitude, high speed flight.
Another excellent video. Thanks for sharing your hard work.
The Danish Drakens were named accordingly to NATO standards, so they became the first F-35 in RDAF service 😀 No danish pilots/crewmembers lost their lives flying a Draken, so far it is the only fighter/strike aircraft to have that distinguished service record. She was lovingly known as "Jerndragen" = the Iron Dragon/Kite, and were quite popular among the men who flew her.
What an exotically formed airplane. A work of art.
It's like star wars?
I've always loved the shape of this aircraft. It's one of my favorites from its generation along with the English Electric Lightning.
Great Documentary!
I LOVE SAAB aircraft and I'm always looking for new information or just a balanced spread of detail.
Well done.
SUBSCRIBED 👍
It looks cool, and slightly scary. I think that's an underrated quality, in certain designs it's very clear that engineers impose aesthetic principles on what's supposed to be pure function. In early half of 20th century, things looking right was an open and obvious influence. This thing looks and more importantly is named as evil! Other classic evils: RAF Vulcan bomber, US B2, russian mi 24. And a lot of German WW2 stuff.
Still an immensely cool aircraft with impressive period performance and groundbreaking dispersed combat take off and landing ability.
I would loved to see a picture of a brace of these flying with in close to a RAF HP Victor bomber or tanker... Sculptures in metal.😎
Nice to see the 21R here too, another Swedish fave of mine ❤️🏆
Growing up in the 80´s i regularly saw 2 of these beasts take off in tandem with full afterburner whenever the soviets got close to our airspace. I live 4km away from the airbase and the forests around the base had hidden runway strips in case of war cuz the the airbase would blow its runway and relocate to the woods and common public roads.
Brought many back to High School when they first interested in building model replica of Aircrafts! Very educational & nostalgic video! Thank You So Much for Sharing! Stay Safe & Stay Grateful! 🌷🌿🌎💖🇸🇪
One of the most interesting aircraft interviews I've heard was from one of these conscript ground crew of J35... a supersonic interceptor design to run on one pilot and two and a half ground crew... two conscript per plane and one additional carrier technician for two aircrafts... such an amazing machine, I absolutely regret that I was not born as something somethingson in 1940s in Sweden... so I could get a shot to try and be a Draken pilot in Swedish Air force...
What a unique and gorgeous design... so was the J37 Viggen...
One of these babies did a tree-top level flyover at Mach speeds over my bedroom when I was fifteen. Training glitch. Let’s just say I was suitably impressed.
The Danish Air Force had the Draken in service from 1967-1992. From around 1980 mostly as a back up I think, as the multi role F16 took over most of the work.
We had 2 Squadrons at Karup Airfield where I was stationed in 1779-80, a fighter bomber unit and a photo reconnaissance unit, both equipped with Draken.
Remember two things about them:
The pilots spoke very favorable about them...
And they made the H... of a noise when they took off in the middle of the night, using afterburner😆
Hah, Han, did I really write 1779😂
The Draken is an older model, but not that old...
A masterpiece of Swedish engineering, design, and performance!
I took it upon myself in junior high and high school to learn some aeronautical engineering skills as a hobby. The J35 and J37 were the biggest influences on my designs. In addition in the movie firebirds with Nicholas cage the best things about that movie are the scenes with the J35 as well as Shawn young in a flightsuit.
NICELY DONE!! The J-35 is my second-favorite SAAB, aside from the 1974 Sonnet I once owned and drove, which had the vanity plate of "loFlyer" on it...
If i'm not mistaken, this type of plane was involved in creating the only ever situation that the SR-71 could be shot down during routine flights over baltic sea, not because of performance, but by picking on it as what it comes closest physically because of it's speed and altitude - a ballistic missile on permanent re-entry, taking it on the front with radar missiles. Russia never had this idea...
That was the successor aircraft - the Viggen or loosely ”Thunderbolt”. There’s a video on those too on this channel.
Looks as modern as tomorrow!
The real-world Swedish StarWars fighter
Great video. Thanks for sharing
One of my favorite aircraft in terms of appearance. It looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
Still does... there's nothing else like it's look
The Draken would have been a better choice than the Starfighter for many countries. While the Starfighter was better in it's initial role as an extremely fast climbing high altitude interceptor, the Draken was way more versatile, way safer to fly in low altitude and bad weather and a more agile dogfighter.
Yeah the accident rate of German Starfighters is scary
There is also another explanation as to how the F35 got its name. Bengt Bratt, the chief desingner, once said that it was the only aircraft that had been named after the nick name of designer's wife
This plane is also my personal favourite, but there's not many fighter jets out there durable enough and ahead of it's time to last from it's first test flights in 1955 to its final commission in 2005, 50 years of awesomeness.
Wonderful
Looking aircraft
Informative content
One of my first plastic airplane toys, when I was around 4. Musta made an impression.
Very practical approach to protecting there country from potentially a hostile neighbour.
The Swedes are an independent bunch of people not waiting for other countries to shape their future 👍
Bro your channel is so underrated, smh!🤦🏽♂️
@Waeapons Detective . I disagree with statement that this is first western supersonic fighter in service. .First is Dassault Super Mystere
Interesting story & history. I am interested in how Sweden was able to produce such advanced aircraft after WW2. I found it difficult to research as I don’t speak Swedish. Could you do a more detailed video on who & how Sweden achieved their success in this field?
Public and free school system all the way up to uneversity
The swedish economy was supercharged by not having its factories bombed during ww2, thus it could charge good money manufactor8ng goods for a europe undergoing rebuilding paid for by US taxpayers during marshall-plan. This made sweden the worlda richest country during a time.
Also sweden is known for its extreme swings in military spending. After ww1 sweden completly defunded its military, after all there would be no more wars since UN was created. After realizing it was a fake aence if securiry, sweden spent up to 25% of its gdp on military after ww2.
The worlds richest country spending 25% of its gdp on its defence led to sweden having the fourth largest airforce in the world for a time.
But after the fall of soviet union there would obviosly never be a need of a national defence ever again, so we once again almost completely got rid if the army. Now we are slowly re-arming again, buyiing back expensive stuff that we sold out cheap/gave away for free after the fall of ussr
@@Lokieus lol. Sweden didn't become successful because of its social programs, it became successful DESPITE them. Compare Sweden to Switzerland after ww2, Switzerland has continued to grow while sweden has been in sort of a decline since the 80s
@@devrerffs If you think Sweden got rich from the Marshall plan you are seriously overestimating it in the case of Sweden, it did however come with free market requirements which arguably had a bigger impact than the money itself for most countries receiving it, and in fact Sweden received roughly as much as Switzerland.
The Marshall Plan grants represented less than 3% of the combined national income of the recipient countries between 1948 and 1951, which would mean an added increase in GDP growth of only 0.3%.
@@devrerffs I for one am happy that Sweden is putting some cash into defence again. We, here in Finland, welcome all the help we can get to stop the Sov… eh, Russians having any funny ideas, and of course, throwing iron to the border if push comes to shove.
Thanks for the wonderful video...
Can you make video on US Gerald Ford aircraft carrier?
Thanks for your interest. We have added this aircraft carrier to our list. We will make a video as soon as possible.
Back in those days, the Draken looked so space age.
still does - Saab could do a budget Draken as Gripen is the budget Viggen
Still a beautiful bird.
How about the times in the early 1990s during the Yugoslav Wars when the Austrian Air Force's SAAB J 35 Drakens were scrambled to intercept Yugoslav Air Force Mikoyan MiG-21 Fishbeds intruding their airspace due to the fact that Austria was enforcing their neutrality?
One of the Draken's skills was a standind of the real low flying. After the low, is absolute looking of the motor's intake. Was there treetops within. The body and the Wing stands very heavy punisment of the trees.
a little history about Sweden's neutrality: Manufacture of a Junkers F 13 in AB Flygindustri's premises in Malmö. The plane was used as a passenger plane by, among others, AB Aerotransport, another of Junker's bulvan-owned companies in Sweden, where Hermann Göring worked as a pilot for a while.
A group of Drakens, just out of mischief bounced a SR-71 Blackbird as it flew over Swedish territory . How on earth they managed that , I do not know but they did !
I believe that was Viggen, they had a very sophisticated missile system allowing them to not only get a missile launch or lock from behind but also from the front. They simply intercepted the Blackbirds path in front of it and gained the lock in an an head-on position, taking away the ability to use speed as an evasive maneuver.
Yes they did. It was a sr 71 limping back to base on 1 engine. They intercepted it. Escorted it back protecting it from soviet jets already inbound to intercept and destroy the crippled sr 71 flying at just over mach 1. Was a great read
@@darinr9424u r talking about 2 different events
@@staffan144 yea that was the viggens
I enjoyed the J35 in Ace Combat Zero. It was one of the first fighters you could get
Did the Viggen replace the Draken, or supplement it?
Initially supplemented it. Later, recon and interceptor variants began to replaced it.
First saw that ane in the helicopter movie called firebirds. Awesome lookin. My 2c ranks up there in sweetness to the eye with the f-14. And f -4
Whole life heard/called it Draken and when whole video it gets called Drogen really hits the ear. Draken(pronounced how it's written) could be Finnish way saying it though so who knows.
Viggen, Draken, Gripen: Yes, the fact that such a small country (Number of inhabs.) developing and building his airfighters by her own is absolute empressive! 👍 Fingers Cross for the Submarine, new state-of-the-art anti-ship-missile (NSM?) and more cooperation with Germany will be successful
Tunnan and Lansen weren't that bad either. Tunnan even set the world speed record in 1954 and 1955.
They were just in the period of insane aircraft technology advancements so the Tunnan had only served a handful of years before the first Draken took flight.
2:48 Tunnan/the Barrel. In 1991 during the gulf war. "How will Sweden deal with stealth? Stealth... we can manage it with the Barrel".
A very interesting aircraft.
One of the best aircraft ever made.
The Royal Danish Air Force enjoyed the Draken in the attack and recon role, in conjunction with the Starfighter. Especially the Draken recon was highly sought after by the generals in NATO during the cold war. Sad to see that the JAS-39 Gripen´s weak point is the engine, something the Draken or Viggen never suffered from. But that is Volvo´s problem, not SAAB
The first plane to make 'the cobra' manoeuvre
Draken is misstranslated "The kite" not "the Dragon" =) The names used to come from the aircraft appearance. J29 Tunnan "the barrel" J32 Lansen "The lance"
Or is it both? Draken means both kite and dragon in Swedish as you well know.
@@TheSlyngel the creator of the draken said himself it was kite beacause of its shape
@@TheSlyngel Not according to the air force if I am to believe the air force museum. It was named because it looked like a kite.
i realy like this plane, one of the most beatiful of its time.
but because i play wargame with my friends it got the lovely nickname of "Buk Fang-Flunder" (german for Buk (missile system) catching Flounder) for its tendencies to always get shot down by it :D
Why those things weren't painted matt black will forever be lost on me, 😕
Still, an incredible aircraft, and the highlight (for me) of our local air display (JIAD) 🍻
Forest camouflage so you can hide it in the forest.
Beautiful
J29 Tunnan was based on the Focke-Wulf Ta 183 design by Kurt Tank.
So what was the chassis life span?
If you didnt hear what the swedish called the cobra he said: Kort Parad
Love this Aircraft.
What about the Dovern engine?
It was meant to be used in J32 Lansen, but the RR Avon was chosen instead.
The Dovern became an industrial gas turbine.
Tunnan actually broke a world record.
Those Swedes sure love their delta wings.
Beaitiful jets ahead of its time
Saab Drakens saw quite a lot of encounters with russians but no shots were shot in anger. (afaik?)
Also, It is a widely known secret that swedes had more Drakens than pilots and the Finnish air force trained quite a bit more pilots that was needed for domestic Drakens. Cold war
This aircraft is magnificent with exceptional performance. The only complaint is its huge accident rate. but maybe is this due to the conditions of use?
When you train and accept the same type of safety margins as in a full blown conflict there will be accidents, also it took some time to get to grips with the superstastall characteristics, regardless Sweden lost many airmen (about 550) to all aircraft types during the cold war.
"Stridsmässigt" is the term the Swedish AF used for all their exercises.
It means "combat-like".
@@kronop8884 In the 60s or 70s I think many if not all countries used this type of training. Yet never has such a high attrition rate been recorded.
Whether with American or French planes. The only exception may be with the F-104 Starfighter misused by the Luftwaffe.
@@olivierpuyou3621 The Swedish Airforce typically trained at lower altitudes and higher speeds than just about anyone else 20m altitude over land and 10 m over sea during high speed attack runs was allowed but often exceeded. A Swedish airforce speciality one might say.
But sure technical issues and design features/flight characteristics played a role as well especially when the designs are cutting edge, J29 early swept wing, J35 double delta wing and so on.
Did this come out before the mirage Delta wing ?
As far as a quick internet search shows, the answere is yes. By 1 year. (Both 1st flight 1 year before the Dassault Mirage III and being in service 1 year before the Mirage III )
A very beautiful and sexy airplane. Also very capable.
Please make a video on Hunter jet fighter
J35 draken was the first plane in the world doing the cobra manouver
I always thought the J-22 bore more than a passing resemblance to the Messerschmitt P1101.
I flew with an (ex) Draken pilot today in a DA-40
beatiful aircraft. still looks grear.