The J 35 Draken is one of the unforgettable legends of the Swedish aviation industry.
Even it never fought in real combat, with its gorgeous look and profoundly impressive
capabilities, it is one of the most admired fighters for aviation enthusiasts. Now, we
are investigating the J 35 Draken, the Swedish dragon of the skies.
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The J 35, also known as Saab 35, was an exclusive combat aircraft in its time. It did not look
like any other fighters, and it was more capable than many of them. This was a tremendous success
when the aviation industries of many leading European countries began to decline.
Before the Second World War, Germany and the UK had been producing the best fighters.
But, after the war, other players in Europe, like France and Sweden, began to claim this
title. Because while Germany suffered great destruction,
the UK was economically over. The priorities of these two countries were different.
France and Sweden had fallen behind in the field of the aviation industry before the
war. Now, they decided to invest more in this field.
Developments in the late 1930s had paved the way for the new aviation industry strategy
for Stockholm. Just before the Second World War, the Swedish
Air Force had obsolete biplane fighters. So, Stockholm ordered the P-35s and P-66 Vanguards,
designated as J 9 and J 10 in Sweden, respectively, from the USA.
Yet, after the 1940 German occupation of Norway, Washington imposed an arms embargo against
any nation other than the UK. Before this embargo, Sweden had managed to
receive some J 9s, but none of the J 10s had been delivered.
So, 60 Re.2000 Falcos, designated as J 20 by the Swedish, was purchased.
However, Swedish Air Force needed more amount of modern fighters. In 1942, Sweden decided
to develop an indigenous fighter called J 22. Stockholm realized that an independent
national aviation industry is essential to protect its neutrality and the country.
After the Second World War, Sweden became one of the pioneers of the jet era. In 1947,
the first Swedish jet fighter, Saab 21R, made its maiden flight. It was a jet converted
from the piston-engined J 21. One year later, the J 29 Tunnan, which was
the first Western European fighter to be produced with a swept wing after the Second World War,
met the sky. The J 32 Lansen, which made its maiden flight
in 1951, was the first Swedish-made jet aircraft equipped with radar.
But, the Swedish Air Force continued to acquire jet fighters, such as the Vampires and Venoms
from the UK. Meanwhile, in 1948, the Swedish Air Force
requested for the development of a second-generation jet interceptor as the replacement of the
J 22 Tunnan and J 28 Vampire day fighters, as well as J 32B Lansen night fighter.
This was a great challenge for Saab. Initially, Sweden decided to develop an aircraft with
a top speed of Mach 1.4 to 1.5. But, at that time, only the Bell X-1 research
aircraft had a supersonic flight capability. Even, this was a hard challenge, the rapidly
improved aviation technologies made the Saab's job more difficult. The Swedish Air Force
revised its top speed requirement to Mach1.8 in 1956. Three years later, now it was demanding
a Mach 2 fighter. Also, Sweden was seeking a special aircraft, which would answer the
countries special conditions. Underpopulated Sweden was deploying its air
squadrons far from population centres. Now, the new jet had to be operatable from reinforced
public roads, used as part of wartime airbases. This was also making the short take-off and
landing capability essential. So, the low altitude and low-speed performance had to
be superb. But also, the engineers of Saab would not sacrifice the high altitude and
high-speed performance. The air force was demanding that a small ground
support team, which consists of conscripts, should be able to refuel and rearm the aircraft
in a short time. To answer these demands, the Saab engineers
focused on the delta wing design. But, after a short time, they realized that to reach
the desired performance with the delta wing, they had to lengthen the fuselage, which would
make the aircraft extremely heavy. So, the Saab engineers decided to focus on the double
delta wing, which is also known as a blended wing body. This was an unproven design before.
So, they began to work on a sub-scale test aircraft, the Saab 210, to prove the double
delta wing design. The result was highly satisfactory. Naturally, these efforts required time.
To fulfil the gap, in 1954, Sweden ordered 120 Hawker Hunter, designated as J 34, from
the UK. This was Sweden's last supply of jet combat aircraft from abroad.
The era of the J 35 was about to begin. The first prototype of the Draken made its maiden
flight on October 25, 1955. The first three prototypes were powered by the Rolls-Royce
Avon Mk.48A turbojets with afterburners. The first production aircraft, J 35A, met the
sky for the first time on February 15, 1958. The Draken was introduced to the Swedish Air
Force service on March 8, 1960. The production variants had the RM6B turbojet
engine, a licence-built model of the Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.48A.
The J 35 was the first combat aircraft with double delta wings. The sweepback on the centre
wing leading-edge was 80 degrees, on the outer wings leading-edge 57 degrees.
This design improved agility. The Draken was the first combat jet, which
could conduct the Cobra manoeuvre. The Swedish named this manoeuvre kort parad, meaning short
parade. But, this was not a planned capability and was also highly dangerous.
So, the Swedish Air Force trained its pilot to avoid performing this manoeuvre.
Also, the unstable design of double delta wings was a factor, which made J 35 difficult
to land, especially for early versions. The pilots had to be manually stabilized the aircraft
during landing. Other than that, the Draken met the Swedish
Air Force's requirements in many areas perfectly. By using the afterburner, the aircraft could
take off from a distance of 650 metres. It could land on a strip between 530 to 610
metres. The Draken was compatible with the STRIL 60,
which was the first example of digital network-centric warfare systems.
The J 35 was an easy-operate aircraft. In six minutes, an eight-person crew could refuel
and rearmed the Draken. Yes, it was a high altitude interceptor.
But also, its good quick-turn ability and high speed at all altitudes gave the aircraft
a good dog fight capability. It was the pride of the Swedish aviation industry.
The Draken was the first true supersonic Western European combat aircraft to enter service.
Also, the J 35 was the first Western-European aircraft, which reached the twice speed of
sound. The wings and fuselage were all-metal.
The nose was made of fibreglass-reinforced for radar.
There was a retractable tail-wheel under the rear fuselage, beside the standard tricycle
landing gear. Austria, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden were
the users of the Draken. The last version of the aircraft, J 35J, had
a length of 15.34 m metres, a wingspan of 9.42 metres, and a height of 3.89 metres.
Its wing area was 49.22 square metres. The empty weight of the aircraft was 7,422 kilograms,
while its maximum takeoff weight was 12,430 kilograms. One 77.3 kiloNewton Volvo RM6C
after-burning turbofan engine provided a maximum speed of Mach 2. The aircraft had a ferry
range of 3,250 kilometres. The Draken's combat radius was about 1,000 kilometres. It could
climb to an altitude of 20,000 metres, in other words, 66,000 feet. The aircraft had
one 30mm Aden gun and nine hardpoints. The J 35J could carry the AIM-4 Falcon or AIM-9
Sidewinder missiles, as well as rocket pods and bombs.
There were some differences between the variants of J 35. The A, B and D variants had two 30
mm guns while the F and J variants one. The other models of the Draken had no gun.
The Sk 35 and the early production variant of the J 35A had a length of 15.21 metres.
The maximum take-off weights of the models constantly increased.
The first production variant of the Draken was the J 35A, whose nickname was Adam. The
designation of the first 40 of them was J 35A1, or Adam kort, meaning Adam short. They
had no radar and gunsight. These systems fitted on these aircraft later. The J 35A2, or Adam
lång, meaning Adam long, was the later version. They had a new afterburner, so their tail
section was lengthened, which also unexpectedly reduced drag. They were also equipped with
the PS-02/A radar. The early version of the J 35B, whose nickname was Bertil, was a day
fighter, and they had no radar. These aircraft were equipped with gyro gunsights taken from
scrapped J 29A and Bs. The later production variant of the J 35 B had the PS-03/A radar
and S-7A-2 radar gunsight. The test pilots of the J 35's prototypes could
easily handle the aircraft. So, Saab did not plan to design a trainer version of the Draken.
But, the pilots of the Swedish Air Force disagreed with the company.
Therefore, Saab converted 25 J 35A1s to a two-seat trainer variant by rebuilding the
front section of the aircraft. This model named Sk 35C lacked armament. Its nickname
was Cesar. The J 35D had a more powerful Rolls-Royce
Avon Mk.60 engine than its predecessors, and it was the fastest Draken version.
Sweden produced this engine under the licence and designated it RM6CS.
The nickname of the aircraft was David, and it had increased internal fuel capacity for
a longer range. This variant could carry two 500-litre underbelly
external drop tanks, while the previous Draken variants could be equipped with only one 530-litre
drop tank. Like before, the initial production variant,
J 35D1, had no radar, and it was equipped with old gyro gunsights taken from scrapped
J 29A and Bs. The J 35D2s had the all-weather capability,
and they were fitted with the PS-03/A radar and S-7A-2 radar gunsight. Later, the D1s
were updated to the D2 standard. So, the Swedish Air Force defined all of them as just J 35D.
The S-35E was the reconnaissance variant, and it had no armament or radar. It carried
five cameras in the nose and four in the wings. The S-35E was one of the first reconnaissance
aircraft equipped with an infrared camera in a pod.
The J 35F, whose nickname was Filip, had improved electronics and avionics.
Different from its predecessors equipped with AIM-9 Sidewinder, it carried the infrared
and radar-guided variants of the AIM-4 Falcon missile.
For this reason, one of the guns was replaced with missile guidance electronics. Different
from the initial J 35F1 variant, the later J 35F2 version had an N71 infrared search
and track sensor under the nose, which gave aircraft look-down/shoot-down capability.
These aircraft were equipped with the P/S-011 radar sets in the early 1980s.
The latest version of the Draken was J 35J. Its nickname was Johan. They were a modernized
variant of the J 35F2s. This model also had two additional AIM-9 Sidewinder pylons under
the air intakes and increased external fuel capacity.
The Saab 35XD was the variant of the Draken produced for Denmark. The Royal Danish Air
Force designated the name of the strike, trainer, and reconnaissance variants as F-35, TF-35,
and RF-35, respectively. The F-35, which was the heaviest of the Draken variants, was not
a fighter, but a strike aircraft. It was capable of carrying a mixture of AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-ground
missiles, electronic countermeasures, and increased internal and external fuel storage.
The Danish Drakens had no radar in their noses, and this caused a balance problem. To solve
this problem, Saab 35XDs had metal noses and ballast.
The Finnish Drakens, Saab 35S, could be equipped with the Russian Vympel K-13 missiles, whose
NATO reporting name is AA-2 Atoll. The Saab 35Ö was simply the Austrian variant
of J-35D without a missile. The agreements after the Second World War had been restricting
the country to have such weaponry. However, during the Slovenian War of Independence,
some former Yugoslav aircraft violated the Austrian airspace. So, the restriction was
lifted, and the Saab 35Ö began to be equipped with the AIM-9P3 Sidewinder missiles.
The J 35 did not have a chance to prove itself in real combat.
In the 1990 Fire Birds movie, we watched that the fight of two Draken against the US Apaches.
Unsurprisingly, Hollywood let one helicopter and one Stinger missile shot down the J 35s.
During the 38 years of service in the Swedish Air Force, the Draken reached a total flight
time of 766,720 hours. Sweden lost 119 of its J 35s in the accidents. The Draken's crash
frequency was 15.5 aircraft per 100,000 flight hours in the Swedish service.
The corresponding accident rate in Denmark was 6.2 and in Finland 1.4.
Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Austria retired the J 35 in 1992, 1999, 2000, and 2005, respectively.
Yet, there are four airworthy Draken. Fortunately, we continue to see these proud Swedish Dragons
in the sky. Sweden has managed to develop many legendary jet fighters, which have earned
this title without a fight. They deserved to become a legend with their unusual but
beautiful appearances, as well as extraordinary features. And no doubt, the J 35 Draken is
the most elegant member of this club. Thanks for watching our video. And please
don't forget to subscribe to our channel and give us a thumbs up if you liked our video.
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