Saab 35 Draken
Like many other fighter designs of the Swedish company the Draken has a unique appearance. The Saab 35 has double delta wings. The inner wings have a very large sweep angle, much larger than the outer wings. They can also be seen as leading edge extensions of the main wings. Where the inner wings meet the fuselage the egg shaped air intakes are placed. The fighter has no canards nor horizontal stabilisers, just a big cropped triangle shaped vertical stabiliser, with a long base. The single wheel main landing gear retracts outward in the wings. Finally, the Draken has a double tail wheel to prevent tail strikes due to over rotation.
The air intakes of the Saab Draken are in the roots of the inner wings. They have the shape of an egg: oval but with an off centre widest point. This is better visible on the top photo.
Different versions
The different versions of the Saab Draken are characterised by:
- the shape of the canopy
- the length of the tail pipe
- the shape of the nose
- the number of cannons
- the shape of the outer wings
Details will follow later.
Confusion possible with
Saab 210
Being the research prototype for the double delta of the Draken, it is logical that these aircraft look very similar. The biggest difference is in the canopy, as the Saab 210 has a bubble canopy. And the aircraft is about 30% smaller than the Draken. (photo Paul Richter/WikiMedia)
Mirage 3/5
Thanks to the delta wings, canopy flush with the top of the fuselage and vertical stabiliser you might confuse the Mirage for the Draken. However, the Mirages lack the double delta, have semi circular air intakes with a shock cone in the middle and the main gear retracts inward. The same applies for derivatives like the Kfir and Cheetah (which have canards).
Dassault Rafale
Maybe the oval air intakes may make you think that this is a Saab Draken, even though they are placed diagonally at the side the fuselage. However, the Dassault Rafale is a twin engine fighter, has canards, a bubble canopy, taller vertical stabiliser and a double wheel nose gear.
Convair F-106 Delta Dart
The basic shape of the Saab Draken and Convair Delta Dart is the same, but like the aircraft above the F-106 lacks the double delta. Also the air intakes are nearly rectangular.