The Saab 35 is neither domestic nor known in any general military or aviation circle.
And yet during the Cold War, it seemed clear that Sweden had restored its reputation as a
top fighter designer and operator. And The Saab 35 Dragon was one of
the first fully supersonic aircraft to be deployed in Western Europe.
The Saab 35 Draken (Literally 'The Kite' or 'The Dragon') is a Swedish fighter-interceptor
developed and manufactured by Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB) between 1955 and 1974.
Development of the Saab 35 Draken started in 1948 as the Swedish air force's future replacement for
the then also in development Saab 29 Tunnan day fighter and Saab 32B Lansen night fighter. It
featured an innovative but unproven double delta wing, which led to the creation of a sub-scale
test aircraft, the Saab 210, which was produced and flown to test this previously-unexplored
aerodynamic feature. The full-scale production version entered service with frontline squadrons
of the Swedish Air Force on 8 March 1960. It was a fighter aircraft that could
capture bombers at high altitudes, but could still attack enemy fighters.
It turned out to be one of the most talented dog-fighters of its time,
even though it had never seen a fight. Here are the key facts you need to know and keep in mind:
Post War Fighter
Development of the interceptor began soon after the Second World War,
and it was a radical leap forward in aviation technology. Engineers at Saab had a radical
idea for a new all-weather supersonic jet fighter, which was to become the Saab 35 Draken.
Slow Development While designed for speed,
the development of the Saab 35 was slow going for the era. Design work began in the late 1940s,
but the first flight didn’t occur until 1955, and it wasn’t until 1960 that the aircraft was ready
for frontline service with the Swedish Air Force. The main reason was that it took more than any jet
fighter of the era to complete the prototype for flight. But in the end, good things come
to those who wait. Delta Wing
The Saab 35 proved to be a radical design, and the Draken was the first aircraft to successfully
employ a double delta wing design. Recognizable as the large, triangle-shaped wings that are widest
at the rear and taper inwards closer to the nose of the plane, it offered numerous benefits. The
first was that delta wings have more internal volume for fuel than conventional wings, while
the wings proved to be structurally stronger. The tradeoff was higher amounts of drag compared
to typical swept-wing aircraft. Big Design Team
Development of the Draken was quite the affair. Led by aircraft engineer Erik Bratt,
a team of more than 500 technicians worked on the design, including the
unique wing shape after studying different ways of packaging the fuel and equipment.
Bratt and his team worked for three years on the double delta wing concept with the Saab 210,
a sub-scale test aircraft. Such scale prototypes were needed in the era before computer-aided
design (CAD) and advanced flight simulations. Dragon or Kite?
The name of the aircraft had a dual meaning. “Draken” translates to “dragon” but was meant
as “kite” for the shape of the wings. The Saab 210– which had first flown in 1952 to pioneer
Saab’s still-unique double-delta wing form – was unofficially nicknamed “Lilldraken”
or “little kite.” Rear Landing Gear
Due to the thrusters of the aircraft being placed so far back, engineers opted to add a diminutive
set of landing wheels along the aft portion of one of the early production models. That new landing
gear arrangement helped address the fact that the Draken’s large wings created inherent drag,
and allowed for “tail down” landings. In addition, a chute was also installed
and could be deployed in case the aircraft had to make shorter landings.
Speedy Dragon In 1955,
the Draken was the first European aircraft to have reached the supersonic speed of Mach 1, equal to
the speed of sound. The original requirement specified a top speed of Mach 1.4 to 1.5,
but it was revised upwards in 1956 to Mach 1.7 to 1.8, and yet again in 1959 to Mach 2.0.
Inventing the Cobra Maneuver The first Saab-35A prototype
finally took to the skies on October 25, 1955