Let Let Let – Warplanes

To defend its neutrality during the second world war, Sweden faced the problem that they could not easily order fighters from other countries. In the U.S.A. they had ordered a number of modern Consolidated Vultee Model 48 fighters. However, the United States placed an export ban on these planes. As a result Sweden had to develop their own fighter. Fitted with a copied Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp and being of mixed construction, this fighter was finally operational in 1943 as the J22. After the war Sweden produced for its own air force the twin-boom J21A that flew in its earlier form with a piston engine driving a pusher propeller. Later, the same design was fitted with a jet engine as the J21R. A more important step into Swedish fighter development was made with the J29 Tunnan and the J32 Lansen. Both jet planes were of excellent quality and served in the Swedish air force for many years. At the early fifties the Swedish government started with the development of a supersonic interceptor to defend its territory against invading formations of jet bombers. This would result into one of the best performing jet planes of its time: the SAAB J35 Draken (dragon).

Design:

Most important factor for the design of a new fighter was its role of defending the Swedish borders against enemy air attacks. In that period ‘enemy’ definitely meant Russia! So, the new jet plane’s first task was interception of invading bombers. For this interceptor role, climbing and maximum speed was the most important. That also implied the new fighter had to be a lightweight! Another requirement was a short start and landing distance with the possibility to use motorways. As configuration for the new fighter project, a unique wing configuration was selected; the ‘double delta’ that gave the Draken its very characteristic look. For in-flight testing a 7/10 scale flying model was built, the Model 210, that was appropriately named ‘Lilldraken’ (little dragon).

Flight testing:

The SAAB 210 made its first flight on 21 January 1952 with SAAB chief test pilot Bengt Olow. It was powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Adder jet engine of 477 kg thrust and could reach a maximum speed of 545 km/h at 2000 m. Initially it flew with a nose-mounted split air intake, but later this was changed into the wing root intakes that were eventually also used on the final Draken. The Lilldraken was fitted with a brake parachute and a special system with trim tanks to test various centre of gravity positions. In total it made some 1000 test flights before it was retired from flying status. The SAAB 210 can still be seen in the Swedish air force museum.

For the final Draken, Sweden selected the Rolls Royce Avon fitted with an afterburner as a power plant. Initially the task of the Draken was the interception of bombers flying with trans-sonic speeds. That implied that the Draken had to have supersonic speed capabilities. Initially the fighter’s desired speed was set at Mach 1.2-1.5, although it would finally be capable of flying at twice the speed of sound in its later versions. Work on the Draken was started end 1951. In March 1952 a mock-up was built for inspection by Swedish air force officers. This was followed in August 1953 by a contract for three J-35 prototypes and another three pre-production J-35A’s. At the same time, a revised nose section for a two-seat trainer version was ordered.

Related posts:

1. Eduard SS357 J 35Ö Draken Self adhesive 1/72
2. SAAB J-29 Tunnan
3. Dornier Do 215
4. Vickers Type 161 COW-gun fighter
5. Aviodrome Museum Lelystad

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