The Saab J35 Draken turns 50!
Today it's exactly 50 years since the Saab J35 Draken (Dragon) flew for it's first time (well actually it was yesterday but I read it in the papers today
). The fact that it's still in active service in Austria shows what helluva plane it was! (It's also in service as school plane in the USA).
I've decided to make a thread about this great plane with some background info and pics.
After WW2 the jet era started. Sweden didn't want to be behind, so they soon had a couple of different jet planes in service. The development went very fast not only for fighters, bombers were getting better performance to. The Swedish airforce wanted a jetfighter that could meet bombers at a very high altitude over the Baltic Sea. The fighter should be able to meet a fighter too by having a good highspeed and lowspeed performance too. This is what makes the J35 Draken so special. Sweden wasn't alone with the concept with a plane capable to meet bombers at high altitude. In the USA the F-104 Starfighter was built on almost the same concept, but the F-104 lacked the lowspeed performance. This resulted in that the F-104 had to be replaced within a couple of years. The J35 Draken was built on demand from 1946 and is still to day a very modern fighter that can compete with many of the world's fighters.
The man behind the project was Erik Bratt. When SAAB should construct the Draken they had no experience of the double delta wings so they had to do lot of experiments. One of the experiments was that they built models controlled by wires to test the stability of the wing. In May 1950 they started to build an experimental plane. The experimental plan was 70% in size of the final Draken. The plane was called "Lill-Draken" (small-dragon) by its look. The plane got the type number 210. "Lill-Draken" flew for the fist time in January 1952 and did 887 flights to show that the wing worked and where to make changes in the construction before the project got clearance.
Already March 1950 there had been placed an order for production of a prototype of Draken. This prototype flew for the first time the 25th October 1955. Since then there have been built about 600 planes until 1974 when the production ceased. Depending on how you count there have been built something between 15 to 18 different versions. Three nations (except Sweden) have bought Drakens. Finland bought 49 planes in 4 different versions. Finland is also the only other country apart from Sweden that has produced Draken. They made 12 planes at the Valmet factory. Denmark bought 51 planes in 3 different versions and Austria 24 planes.
The Draken was the first super-sonic plane built in Europe.
With J35 Draken the Swedish airforce got a fighter with day-night capacity. Draken's construction is very special. The plane can be separated into 4 sections that can be replaced or sent to service or upgrading. Draken has another advantage. It is a part of STRIL 60. The possibility of landing at small roadstrips is also a plus. Eliminate an airfield is easy but hitting thousands of small roads is almost impossible.
The J35 was arguably the best air-superiority fighter in the skies until the 20 years younger F-15 entered service in the late '70's.
December 8 1998 was the date when The Draken flew for it's last time in Sweden.
In Sweden Draken served at F1, F3, F4, F10, F11, F12, F13, F16, F17, F18, and F21. In Denmark at ESK 725 and ESK 729. In Finland at HävLlv11 and HävLlv21 and in Austria at Zeltweg and Graz-Thalerhof.
History and Warfare 
Saab J35 Draken turns 50! 
I've always had a soft spot for the '35. 
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