FighterControl

Danes again providing subject matter for today. These unusually shaped aircraft were quite frequent visitors from the RDAF on exercises or exchanges. Never saw an Austrian one at Lossie, or an active Swedish one, although a Swedish Historic Flight example did transit through a few years back.

Draken RDAF Ser AT-155 - RAF Lossiemouth early 1980s by Alan M, on Flickr

Draken X2 RDAF - RAF Lossiemouth early 1980s by Alan M, on Flickr

Draken RDAF & Jaguars - RAF Lossiemouth late 1970s by Alan M, on Flickr

Draken RDAF Ser AR-102 - RAF Lossiemouth early 1980s by Alan M, on Flickr

Draken X3 RDAF - RAF Lossiemouth early 1980s by Alan M, on Flickr

Great to see some Drakens, as you say the Danish were pretty regular visitors, a distinctive airframe, i always thought the under fuselage tanks were really close to the ground but never saw one strike the runway on landing, didn't they have a little wheel at the rear? to stop this.
Cheers.

Another sadly missed type from the skies, apart from the Swedish Historic Flight example of course. I saw most of the Danish examples, as they were fairly regular show attendees when in service.

Superb I loved the Danish Drakens.

One of my favourite types, always great to see. I think I saw a couple of Swedish examples in the early 80’s but could be wrong.

When the Swedes retired their early Drakens, they seemed to dish them out to various museums. So you can see them in Brussels Air Museum, Paris Air Museum and the Deutsches Museum outbase at Oberschliessheim. But Duxford received one which wasn't particularly loved and went out on loan to the Dumfries & Galloway Museum at Tinwald Downs. But Newark Air Museum have a Danish one on display. I think there's still a Swedish one somewhere in Wales.

Punkrunner62 wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 07, 2022 7:06 pm

Great to see some Drakens, as you say the Danish were pretty regular visitors, a distinctive airframe, i always thought the under fuselage tanks were really close to the ground but never saw one strike the runway on landing, didn't they have a little wheel at the rear? to stop this.
Cheers.

In Fact...a retractable pair of wheels evident in every photograph above. As the jet was so low to the ground the tail end bump-stop wheels prevented over-rotation on take-off & limited the max' AOA. on landing without the risk of a likely tail-strike. This latter low alpha configuration resulted in very fast landing speeds!
Another great set of images from the glory days.

Hi Alan

Superb set yet again

I remember a Draken being kept waiting on the runway at Biggin, just prior to its display, and it ended up melting a small area of the tarmac

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

Great set

The Danes were always major players in our AD Exercises. On one occasion, while walking the dog on the cliff top @ Flamborough with a bank off fog offshore, we heard the roar of jets and a pair of Drakens emerged from the fog hotly pursued by a patrolling Lightning. The lead Draken escaped inland, while the second executed a U - turn and disappeared back into the mist with the Lightning on its tail. That was the only time I had a ringside view of an air combat and altho' it must have lasted all of 60 secs it was unforgettable. I can still clearly recall the rust stained appearance of the Lightning's belly as it banked away just a couple of hundred feet above our heads.

Lovely shots, Alan. Particularly like the pair landing. Another characterful aircraft sadly missed. Maybe just me, but I always got the impression the pilot was too big for the aircraft!

It was always a pleasure to see Drakens and as you say Alan, quite frequent visitors to Lossie. Having said that the first ones I ever saw were 3 Danish ones at Kinloss on the 12th July 1973, they only did approaches and didn't land which was disappointing and if I remember correctly you were there that day too Alan. I got some rubbish B/W shots of them but sadly the negatives are lost.

Luvverly

Hi Jabba. I'm afraid I don't recall that visit to Kinloss and certainly don't have any relevant photos. Will maybe try and see if I can find any old logs from that time.

Super pics of another great airframe.
My favourite is #2 with the background of Shacks.
Thanks for another great nostalgic post