The aircraft designed in Sweden by Saab have always been a bit different from those developed in other countries. Sweden is adamant about defending its neutrality and so pretty well requires all of its weapons systems to be designed or built in country. While it raises the cost of these systems, it does allow them to be free of any outside influence.

As part of the design of the aircraft is that they be able to take off and land in a relatively short distance. Many of Sweden's bases have underground, nuclear hardened facilities and there are a myriad of auxiliary landing strips, which are simply long sections of additionally hardened roadway. Swedish aircrew deploy regularly to test these facilities and their readiness.

In the early 1950s, Saab developed the 'double delta' design of the Draken; a design that allowed a portion of the wing to house the intakes, guns and fuel. Yet this design also allowed for a relatively short take-off and landing as required by the Swedish Air Force. Built in several variants and exported to Denmark, Finland and Austria, the Draken served faithfully for nearly 40 years, finally retiring from Austrian service in the mid 2000's. Though more expensive, many countries would rather buy Swedish weapons as they don't come the usual political 'strings' attached to equipment from other sources.

This latest 'Walk-Around' provides a history of the development of the aircraft, then goes into some detail about each of the different variants. Three of the major variants; the J35B fighter, SK35C trainer, and J35F fighter are all given increased photo coverage of extant museum aircraft in full color and clearly done images. Interestingly, though a Swedish aircraft, all the major detail photo sets are Finnish airframes.

In addition to the fine detail photos, there are photos of the aircraft in service, special retirement schemes, drawings from technical manuals and a look at all the export versions as well. About as comprehensive a book on the subject that you will find and one that I know you will not only find useful but find to be an interesting read as well.

June 2010

My thanks to Squadron Products for the review copy. Get yours today at your favorite shop or on-line retailer.

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