Saab RF.35XD Draken
Since the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden has pursued a policy of strict neutrality in Europe’s many wars; however, its position, squarely between Western Europe and Russia and along the Baltic Sea, has made maintaining that neutrality difficult. In a potential war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, Sweden assumed that it would likely be overflown by both sides, and given its fierce defense of its territorial waters from Soviet submarines, that Sweden could not rely on the Soviets not to strike at Sweden during a hypothetical conflict. Therefore, the nation not only needed the very best its aerospace industry could field, but also aircraft that could operate away from fixed bases and be repaired by a wartime Swedish armed forces, which would be made up largely of ill-trained conscripts.
Just after World War II, Sweden had already entered the jet age by converting its pusher-propeller Saab J21 fighter to jet propulsion, but this was only an interim solution. With the United States fielding the F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre, and the Soviet Union the MiG-15, Saab decided to “steal a march” on both nations by fielding what was then a radical concept: an all-delta winged interceptor. Delta wings were barely on the drawing boards of the superpowers, but by 1952, Saab had built the Saab 210 Lillidraken (Little Dragon) proof-of-concept aircraft, and by October 1955, the first J35 Draken (Dragon) had taken to the air, at a time when the United States was still struggling with the F-102 Delta Dagger and the Soviet Union with the MiG-21. Despite its radical nature (for the time), the Draken’s test program went smoothly and it accidentally went supersonic on its second flight soon after takeoff.
Since the Draken was intended as a point-defense interceptor, dogfighting capability was considered secondary, but Swedish pilots found the J35 to have superb manueverability, especially in snap turns. To save time and money, Saab used license-built British engines and French radars. The only fault found in the Draken was a lack of sufficient thrust in sustained climbs, and so J35As were retrofitted with better afterburners, necessitating a stretch in the fuselage, which in turn forced Saab to equip the Draken with a tailwheel to prevent damaging the tail on takeoff.
So ahead of its time was the Draken that it had a long and fruitful career. It was continually updated, deleting one gun in favor of improving its missile armament: the J35F, which entered service in 1965, could carry four AIM-4 Falcons, while later J35Js and export versions could carry AIM-9 Sidewinders. Though the AJ37 Viggen mostly replaced it in service by 1980, J35J Drakens remained in the Swedish inventory until 1995, and there was serious consideration to even more updates to the design, due to the delays in the Viggen’s replacement, the JAS39 Gripen. It would be exported to the nonaligned Finnish Air Force, which would operate S35Fs until replaced by the F/A-18C Hornet in 2000, and Denmark, which operated S35XDs until 1993, when they were replaced by F-16A Fighting Falcons. A final export customer came in 1993, very late in the Draken’s career, in Austria: the Austrian Army Air Force had been relying on the obsolescent Saab 105O, but with war breaking out in the nearby Balkans, Austria feared that the slow Saab 105O would not be able to stop overflights. Reconditioned J35Ds were supplied to Austria as the S35O, which would be the last Drakens in service, retired in 2005 in favor of the Eurofighter Typhoon. 644 were built, and several dozen survive, most in flyable condition.
Though it is almost impossible to tell, this RF.35XD Draken is AR-106, a former Royal Danish Air Force aircraft. It was delivered to the RDAF in 1971 and spent its career with 729 Squadron at Skrydstrup. Like a surprisingly large number of RDAF Drakens, it was purchased after it was retired in 1992 by an American company, Flight Test Dynamics. It continued to fly, but by the early 21st Century, it had been grounded and stored, along with several other Drakens, at Chino, California. It remained there for several decades, but by 2023, it had been acquired by the Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles.
AR-106 is going to need a lot of work: it shows the effects of sitting forgotten in the California sun for over 20 years. The RDAF dark green has faded and chipped down to the bare metal, though 729 Squadron's crest is still visible on the nose. It's still actually in better shape that some of the aircraft Estrella has gotten, so this will probably get restored sooner or later.
Saab RF.35XD Draken
Since the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden has pursued a policy of strict neutrality in Europe’s many wars; however, its position, squarely between Western Europe and Russia and along the Baltic Sea, has made maintaining that neutrality difficult. In a potential war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, Sweden assumed that it would likely be overflown by both sides, and given its fierce defense of its territorial waters from Soviet submarines, that Sweden could not rely on the Soviets not to strike at Sweden during a hypothetical conflict. Therefore, the nation not only needed the very best its aerospace industry could field, but also aircraft that could operate away from fixed bases and be repaired by a wartime Swedish armed forces, which would be made up largely of ill-trained conscripts.
Just after World War II, Sweden had already entered the jet age by converting its pusher-propeller Saab J21 fighter to jet propulsion, but this was only an interim solution. With the United States fielding the F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre, and the Soviet Union the MiG-15, Saab decided to “steal a march” on both nations by fielding what was then a radical concept: an all-delta winged interceptor. Delta wings were barely on the drawing boards of the superpowers, but by 1952, Saab had built the Saab 210 Lillidraken (Little Dragon) proof-of-concept aircraft, and by October 1955, the first J35 Draken (Dragon) had taken to the air, at a time when the United States was still struggling with the F-102 Delta Dagger and the Soviet Union with the MiG-21. Despite its radical nature (for the time), the Draken’s test program went smoothly and it accidentally went supersonic on its second flight soon after takeoff.
Since the Draken was intended as a point-defense interceptor, dogfighting capability was considered secondary, but Swedish pilots found the J35 to have superb manueverability, especially in snap turns. To save time and money, Saab used license-built British engines and French radars. The only fault found in the Draken was a lack of sufficient thrust in sustained climbs, and so J35As were retrofitted with better afterburners, necessitating a stretch in the fuselage, which in turn forced Saab to equip the Draken with a tailwheel to prevent damaging the tail on takeoff.
So ahead of its time was the Draken that it had a long and fruitful career. It was continually updated, deleting one gun in favor of improving its missile armament: the J35F, which entered service in 1965, could carry four AIM-4 Falcons, while later J35Js and export versions could carry AIM-9 Sidewinders. Though the AJ37 Viggen mostly replaced it in service by 1980, J35J Drakens remained in the Swedish inventory until 1995, and there was serious consideration to even more updates to the design, due to the delays in the Viggen’s replacement, the JAS39 Gripen. It would be exported to the nonaligned Finnish Air Force, which would operate S35Fs until replaced by the F/A-18C Hornet in 2000, and Denmark, which operated S35XDs until 1993, when they were replaced by F-16A Fighting Falcons. A final export customer came in 1993, very late in the Draken’s career, in Austria: the Austrian Army Air Force had been relying on the obsolescent Saab 105O, but with war breaking out in the nearby Balkans, Austria feared that the slow Saab 105O would not be able to stop overflights. Reconditioned J35Ds were supplied to Austria as the S35O, which would be the last Drakens in service, retired in 2005 in favor of the Eurofighter Typhoon. 644 were built, and several dozen survive, most in flyable condition.
Though it is almost impossible to tell, this RF.35XD Draken is AR-106, a former Royal Danish Air Force aircraft. It was delivered to the RDAF in 1971 and spent its career with 729 Squadron at Skrydstrup. Like a surprisingly large number of RDAF Drakens, it was purchased after it was retired in 1992 by an American company, Flight Test Dynamics. It continued to fly, but by the early 21st Century, it had been grounded and stored, along with several other Drakens, at Chino, California. It remained there for several decades, but by 2023, it had been acquired by the Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles.
AR-106 is going to need a lot of work: it shows the effects of sitting forgotten in the California sun for over 20 years. The RDAF dark green has faded and chipped down to the bare metal, though 729 Squadron's crest is still visible on the nose. It's still actually in better shape that some of the aircraft Estrella has gotten, so this will probably get restored sooner or later.