Unveil the untold story of the Saab 35 Draken – Sweden’s Cold War ace. From its groundbreaking design to the legendary Cobra maneuver, discover the aircraft that never saw combat but left an indelible mark in aviation history!
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I'm swedish and am fortunate to have seen an airshow with Viggen, Draken and Gripen flying squad formation, displaying their strengths as the more nimble Viggen and Gripen broke to each side and the Draken going nearly vertical straight up.
and that sooooouuuuund
piece of trivia: the Draken could accelerate untill it ran out of fuel. so its top speed has never actually been reached.
it could also use aim-4 Falcon missiles.
documents have come out that showed that Finland had a deal with Sweden to store alot of Drakens that the Finns could buy quickly in case the sovjets tried their bullshit again. exact number of planes is unknown. but it was alot.
The Swedes are still the masters of light, single engine and solo seater multi role fighters.
You would not want have ever flown a Draken against a General Dynamics F 111. The F111 was FAR superior, carrying a much heavier load, about 50% faster, greater range , roughly the same ceiling, only thing that it did better than the F11 ( and only slightly!) was the rate of climb, which was understandable considering the weight difference! So sorry, not an honest video.
Well the British electric lightning first flew in august 4th 1954. And was capable of over mach 2. And the Saab 35 first flew in 1955 also capable of mach 2 but not the first.
The Swedish pilots were EXTREMELY well trained (the death toll sort of corroborates that) and had been trained in various and difficult situations. So if the airplanes were impressive, with a Swedish pilot behind the wheel, they are were a nightmare for anyone threatening our country. I can imagine that Soviet fighter pilots wouldn’t want to be engaged in a dogfight with Johansson, Björklund or Strid in a Draken.
If you ”abroaders” ever come to Sweden, you’ll notice highways suddenly becoming 4 or 6-lane roads for a mile or two and large parking areas next to them. We call them “flygraka” (from the words avionic and straight). Those were war-time airfields, just showing how we easily and quickly could set up our air defence.
From my place, Vänersborg to Lidköping, 35km away, are two such ”mobile airfields” PLUS an airbase extra.
Even if aerodynamically possible Viggen would not have been a good plane to try the "cobra".
At least the first generation planes were prone to suffer from compressor stalls when the airflow was interrupted to the engine.
Strategically significant territory?!? What?
It's a fantastic design and no mistake.
@11:55 interations?
A fighter is still successful if nobody is brave enough to try to beat it.
There is one sitting in the technical museum in Helsingør Denmark. Its possible to sit in the cockpit, very cramped, but cool experience.
WTF ??? Since when is 6500KG 7.17 tons. You know in metric system you only move decimal point, numbers stay the same.
One of the prettiest fighters ever made. Tiny correction, though – the pair taking off at 9:35 are fpl 37 Viggen, not Draken. (I’m not complaining; Viggen is my favourite. It’s just not what the video’s about. 😉 )
Pretty sure the Super-Mystère B2 entered service 1st and was the first western european supersonic fighter, otherwise very good video.
On top of everything else, they are beautiful planes!
It took the US decades to incorporate the double delta into combat aircraft. F-16XL and F/A-18. I bet some retired Swedish fighter pilots watched Top Gun: Maverick and thought, "been there, done that! "
Draken hade a double meaning in Swedish. Either Dragon, as you said, or Kite. And the people at SAAB thought it looked like a kite.
In the classic manga AREA 88, the main character Shin Kazama uses a Draken for several chapters until he is shot down (Shin survived though!).
its simply a first gen mirage
Sitting on the wings, leaning against the fuselage, was pretty nice in spring time, enjoying the first warm days of the season. The wings are very sturdy on this aircraft, just a few spots you're not allowed to step on.
@Megaprojects
Wrong, The English Electric Lightning first flew in 1954 where the Saab Draken first flew in 1955
Saab is often overlooked for making quality fighter planes over the decades.
Had the yanks not screwed us over the TSR2 was a cracking aircraft for performance manoeuvrability
I had a friend, Bo Johannsen, who flew Draakens in the late 60's-early 70s, he always maintained that the "Cobra Manoeuvre" was Swedish, and that the Russians, like the Americans were renowned for stealing others ideas and claiming them as their own.
740th
Fear the Swedes!
Actually the SAAB "Flying barrel" was used once by the UN in west africa .