Saab 37 Viggen: The Forgotten Fighter Jet
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- čas přidán 18. 06. 2024
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If there's one country that punches above its weight in military toys, it's Sweden.
@@pinkyandbrain123 they are not especially close if we are not talking about missile defence
@@sageslarres Kfir. Merkava. Heron. Harop. Nimrod.
There are a lot of products there, especially regarding Intel warfare. I don't want to take aways from Sweden, but just take a closer look at IAI alone...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Aerospace_Industries
The Marine Corps’ LAV-25 is a Swedish design and it’s one of the best designed APCs in all of the world. Only the German Fuchs is comparable, but it’s quite a bit slower.
@@pinkyandbrain123 Those all require components made by Collins Avionics. The Swedes built theirs from scratch.
@@almitrahopkins1873 you mean the LAV-25 that is the Swiss made Piranha from MOWAG?
Fun fact. My dad built the model they used in wind tunnels. We always told him that why it chrashed 😂 he was also on building arianne 5, the rocket that took webber telescop to space at christmas 🥰 rest in peace dad
Are the flight controls in Swedish?
Saab never built an export version.
@@tumslucks9781 no idea. He only built the model of the plane to see the behaviour of it. And the mariane 5 is built from all over the world, but my dad was on the build 😁
Awesome accomplishment.
I person always liked this jet. Thought it looked neat.
Hail to your father, hope is building crazy stuff for the Gods!
@@jaymevosburgh3660 yeah its nice to know what he did, when i miss him i just look up in the sky. First mobile satelite he was on building, mariane 5 rockets, viggen model, jas model. So plenty to remember him by 🥰
Do you mean the Arianne 5?
Viggen is the loudest thing I ever heard. When we were recruits back in 1990 a female pilot flew her Viggen a couple of meter over the roof of the barrack were all we recruits were sleeping with hangover in about 5 in the morning. The entire building shook like during an earthquake, they did that to all new recruits the first Thursday (the first Wednesday was a traditional drinking evening for new recruits).
The Viggen was a fine plane but at the time, Sweden's largest advantage were the rather insane pilots.
One Viggen flew over a Russian spy ship at low altitude and broke the sound barrier, the Russians had to toe the ship to harbor since every electronic component on the ship was busted. The Swedish pilots also trained flying just above the waves (Israeli pilots at least used to do that as well) to avoid radar and getting locked by land based missiles, it looks extremely dangerous.
I have heard stories of planes comming back with branches of trees stuck in their wings
Viggenklockan! Upp å hoppa era fyllleråttor!!
We had Drakens in Finland and I remember their distinct and loud "howl" when flying over, was Viggen comparable or even louder?
@@realtsarbomba Viggens are a lot louder. As a Swede, I have seen/heard four of the Swedish fighter jets (Lansen, Draken, Viggen and Gripen). Viggen is by far the loudest. I know that some jet engines howl, but Viggen roars. It does not howl - it sounds more like it is tearing the air apart.
@@jokervienna6433 A F\A-18 Hornet taking off with full afterburners sounds like it's ripping the air apart too, I've had the displeasure of hearing it, and Viggen both, but I was much closer to the Hornets.
When I was a kid in the 80s Sweden was performing military excersises. On my way home from school 16 viggens roared over my head at an altitude of 500 meters. Man, that was powerful.
You didn't mention the biggest weapon in Viggen's arsenal, the TOT computer. When the Viggens were planning to attack a predefined position you could plan their way points and the time you wanted to meet those way points then feed them to the computer, the computer then would calculate your speed along the road and all of the Viggens would have arrived right on time despite taking completely different paths, so imagine attacking a SAM site with four of those and you as an AA gunner on the ground will find yourself attacked from four different direction and barely two seconds apart, that will make the enemies lives very hard and short. That's why the Viggens were called wolves of Scandinavia. They would have worked together like a fine pack of wolves, attacking from all sides and leaving nothing behind before they disappear into the wilderness...
Thanks for sharing this. That's officially "cool as fuck"
The Ericsson Stridskalkulator :)
To be fair its very cool; but not that unique, which I imagine is why it went unmentioned. Pilots had been using these tactics long before the viggen, since every flight had a plan, aka 'flight plan'. They're paramount to having "packages" of aircraft that take off from different areas but rendezvous and work together at the same AO. CAP fighters would be needing to do CAP as strike fighters are doing the striking. Otherwise the CAP wouldn't be protecting anything and strike would be vulnerable, should the flights arrive at unplanned, random, different times. And since speed is a measurement of distance/time, its actually fairly easy to calculate how fast you need to be going to arrive at a certain time. But taking the calculating/workload off the pilots is a massive advantage and something that is regularly integrated into jets, and has been, since around about the F4, I imagine.
Its biggest weapon is how ugly it is. I wouldn't want to dogfight such an ugly aircraft even if I knew I could win lmfao
Swedish jets are designed to land on country roads, so not exactly unfinished airstrips, instead ground crews are mobile, and our jets can land where they need, to be refueled and rearmed. Swedish jets have also been designed for easy maintanance, even changing the entire engine can be done in a barn by conscripts led by an fligh engineer. Turn around time is crucial when having limited aircrafts compared larger nations. Being dependant on air bases and facilities is a huge disadvantage in a conflict. Back in the cold war there was hidden bunkers for airplanes and ground crews scattered all over the country.
Our F-18 Hornets take off and land on roads as well. I don't know if they can do it as well as the Swedish fighters, but nevertheless we use roads too in Finland.
@@FINNSTIGAT0R yeah, many countries use similar alternative tactics, but the difference is most original designs this feature is not one of the main criteria. Most other countries utilise highways or customised strips of road. We do so aswell, but what set us apart is the rugged stol capability on small country roads. Check some Swedish stol videos. Viggen got some very impressive examples aswell as gripen.
@@FINNSTIGAT0R The Hornet is funny in that way, it has the power, low speed handling and sturdiness required to use temporary road bases due to its naval background, designed to slam hard on carrier decks. But arguably it lacks some of the other considerations, like better protected air intakes to reduce ingestion of ground debris (some Russian designs excel in this department) and the landing gear wasn't specifically designed to tolerate operation in dirty conditions (not a huge amount of sand on carrier decks). They do OK, but perhaps suffer a bit more than would be ideal from issues like sand causing partial jams in the landing gears...
@@jubuttib
That's most likely correct, I couldn't say as I'm not a military aviation expert or even very knowledgeable on the department. I just know they're operated out of bases when needed.
@@FINNSTIGAT0R I don't know the actual numbers either, it's not a huge issues surely, but I do remember that one of the most common reasons our airfield in Jämsänkoski was put on alert was because of stuck, dirty landing gears on the Hornets (which to be fair were already in for for repairs there)... =)
There are tons of articles about how a Swedish viggen "almost" shot down an Sr-71, which is all BS.
Intercepting and even getting a radar lock was a bit of flexing in a friendly game of cat and mouse. Firing was of course completely out of the question.
I waited the whole video for you to mention another more interesting SR-71 interception that much more accurately illustrates the relationship between US and Swedish Air forces.
In 1987 a "Baltic Express" SR-71 flew out over the Baltic sea, severely crippled by a blow engine it was chased by several Russian MIGs with orders to force it to land or shoot it down.
Losing speed and altitude it veered in to Swedish airspace.
Four Viggen was scrambled to intercept. When they discovered the state of the Blackbird they took up defensive positions to keep the MIGs at bay and escorted it back to safe airspace.
The incident was kept secret for 30 years untill the US Air Force lifted the vail and awarded the Swedish pilots with medals for saving the SR-71 and its crew.
the only reason it even got a lock was due to the blackbird taking the same route every time, as well as the original Viggens that came upon the crippled blackbird were unarmed due to being out on a training mission
Truth matters....
I've spoken to both retired Viggen pilots and a former fighter controller, and they say the same as you, Daniel. It was standard procedure to practice intercepts on the SR-71, because it was such a hard target to intercept. Great practice for both pilots and fighter controllers. But there was never any intent to shoot it down. It was over international waters, so it would have been madness to shoot at it. And if it strayed into Swedish territory, just intercepting it and "showing the flag" was enough. The pilots I spoke to said that intercepting it was not too difficult, as it always flew the same path. Well, it was difficult, but you could do it. It was much faster than you, so it was more of a "reverse drive-by shooting" than an intercept, you had a brief moment of the SR-71 whooshing past you, but you had that moment to shoot at it. But getting a radar missile lock was near impossible, because of the jamming the SR-71 could throw at you. Great practice, though.
The swedish air force took a picture of the SR-71 blackbird and send it by mail to Pentagon
@@emiliskog they did it multiple times, radar locking and _being able_ to shoot a missile at it from the front - the only way to hit it, but of course they would _never ever_ fire, it's just a friendly game and strategy development.
Saab 37 was a great plane. It had impressive maneuverability, speed, weaponry, and avionics, and could both have impressive attack capability and fighter capability, and it didn't even need an airstrip, just a highway. It's pretty advanced for its time, and even today
Apparently at the F17 air base, there is an enlarged framed photo that is just gray concrete. A friend asked what it was and the officer replied that it was a photo taken with the camera on the viggen on the Öland Bridge. The friend looked a little questioning and the officer said: It's the underside of the bridge. So a pilot flew upside down under the bridge and took a photo.🤯
At least one Viggen pilot also flew under the Essinge-bridge in stockholm iirc...
As I've heard the story the order was basically "take pictures of the bridge from every angle" and the pilot happily interpreted it as a free pass to fly under it upside down...
@@MrZnarffy how can he fly upside down and take a picture of the underside of the bridge?
@@MrZnarffy maybe the camera is on the downside of the plane?
That was rumoured to be common practice in the Swedish airforce. The same was done around all the different airbases in Sweden. I was stationed at F21 in Luleå and Bergöbron was the bridge that was supposed to be photographed from underneath there. Don’t know the truth of these stories. But I can tell you the Viggen pilots flew extremely low though. I remember being on training mission in the archipelago outside airbase when a Viggen flew by on low speed and such low altitude that there was a plume of water spraying behind it that rose above the altitude of the aircraft. It was amazing to watch.
I'd love to see more on SAAB military aircraft, like Tunnan, and Gripen. Being Swedish, living 20 minutes from SABB headquarters, I may be biased, but I do think several of their models are really rather noteworthy.
The SAAB 35 Draken is the most beautiful jet ever, imho.
As a Swede, I am truly impressed about that such a small country as Sweden even has produced such a line of air crafts. I don´t know about any other country as small as Sweden that has done that. I am not sure, but if I remember correctly: back in the Tunnan-days, Sweden had the third strongest air force in world.
@@vladimirdorta6692 Tried to fly the Draken in YS Flight simulator (I know, I know) and that was the best delta wing plane in the entire game
@@oldtimegames96 I had a chance to fly a Draken at the time, but the group I was in was sent to France and I flew the Mirage III, another beautiful design. I was a fighter pilot in the Venezuelan Air Force.
@@oldtimegames96 I have flown it in a real simulator with a real cockpit, and while it looks very cool and is not *too* difficult to keep in the air it does kind of feel like you are trying to fly a tank. The control stick is so much stiffer than anything else I have flown. (Which includes a very good viggen simulator.) And even like that the guy at the museum where I did this said that "on the real aircraft it would still be about twice as stiff."
Not forgotten by anybody who loves jet fighters. The Swedes have made awesome jet fighters from the beginning of the jet age. The J-29 Tunan was a match form the Mig 15 and was ahead, performance wise, of the rest of Europe's front line fighters when it first went operational.
Tunnan with two "n"s. It's literally called the flying barrel.
@@Reddotzebra Thanks Sven. I fixed it.
Sweden is like of few country's that build there own Fighters
.
Yeah I've never truly got why these aren't more popular the viggen grippen an dracken are amazing planes that look way ahead of there times
@@foxxy46213 Sweden, being a neutral country, had all kinds of laws as to who they will or will not sell military equipment to.
I’d heard Viggens had actually escorted a damaged SR-71 when an engine blew up and it was close to interception by Soviet planes.
Absolutely true
Yes, and the pilots got a medal by the US Air Force for it.
Yes and thanks to them the pilots of the blackbird could live to see another day due to several Russian Migs scrambled to intercept the damaged blackbird but turned back when they knew it was escorted by two Viggens. The Viggens turned back when the SR entered Denmark safely.
As the other repliers said, that happened as well. Not at the same time as the missile lock though.
The pilots got rewarded by the US airforce for rescuing the Blackbird.
"Vigg" is a thunderbolt, but it also the traditional name given to specific neolithic stone axe heads. These smooth, polished strange looking artifacts that are found all over Scandinavia. People in the middle ages believed that they were created when lightning strikes the earth. They were priced as a magic talisman protecting against lightning, because you know, lightning never strikes the same place twice.
To say that Viggen roars like thunder is an understatement.
It has a sound that makes you question if what you just experienced is part of reality.
The other meaning of the word, the tufted duck, actually has some bearing to the aircraft.
This was the first jet to have canards, the extra set of wings in front of the main wing.
Canard, is french for "duck", and they are named so because they look like a duck's wing.
I can tell you now. that this beast isn’t forgotten to anyone with interest in military aircraft and machines etc ! Hell of an aircraft ! Lies in my eyes equal with our RAF BAC lightening
The latest version of Viggen was on par with F-16.
While being conscripted in -86 I took part in a military exercise, that had me sitting in a small hut about 50 meters from the runway when Viggens took off and landed. Truly impressive. In my mind it is one of the most brutally looking planes (but not in a bad way) ever built, the Gripen looks far less menacing.
Viggen looks really badass.
It's those canards.
I was a conscript in the anti aircraft, so during an exercise there were viggens flying very low to avoid radar. At one point one flew about 50m right over our heads. It was literally awesome...
@@Reddotzebra I think it's the straight ended exhaust and the reversing slots that makes the Viggen look so much more utilitarian and brutal compared to the Gripen.
It's like comparing "The Hound" to "Jamie Lannister" if using Game of Thrones references. Both are very competent fighters in their own right, but The Hound is raw looking, brutal and ruthless while Jamie is handsome, slick and just as ruthless.
but far better
Soviet Union: We will defend you from ourselves if we attack you.
Sweden: Go home Khrushchev; you are drunk.
@5:05 - that one went through to the keeper…
My ex’s stepdad used to fly Viggens back in the day, he nowadays in retirement builds violins as a hobby. Coolest in-law ever, I’d nerd out about planes with him
hehe.. Awesome
When I was in my early teens, I helped a guy sell popcorn at fairs and other events. There was a drag race weekend, and the motor enthusiasts had partied hard the night before. A Viggen was about to make a display flight, and came loitering over the drag strip. Many in the audience nursed hangovers, and I had fun watching the Viggen turn the nose up and engage the afterburner, causing a roar that made the party-goers regret the night before.
I was there. It came in very low betwen audience stand 7-8 meters above ground with the pedal to the metal.I saw at least tousend of caps flying avay from peoples heads from the pressure off the afterburner. After this our timing eqipment had to be calibrated as its been shaken bad. A memory of life !!! Standing ovations from all racing public .
@@MrSvenne43 If I'm not mistaken, it was the same weekend that Bruno's jet dragster went off the track when the brake parachute failed to deploy.
@@bjornh4664 I was a member of the racingevent so i was mostly at the start area. Was Bruno hurt ? Dont remember.
@@MrSvenne43 According to a guy I met about a year ago, he was injured, and it took him a year to recover so he could race again. It took about the same time to rebuild the jet dragster.
As a kid in the 80s (and a big fan of jet fighters), I always thought the Saab Viggen was just gorgeous.
The F-14 looked better though.
I'll be honest - my favorite Saab design is still the Draken. Yeah, it's obsolete, but it's just a cool design!
Damn right
Draken does look great, like a mace blade
Best looking fast jet ever imho.
As an airforce major once told me; "The Draken is the most beautiful aircraft you can see through the gun sight of a Viggen."
Thats Why they call it the " Danger Dorito " =)
I didn't know a whole lot about the Viggen when I started this one, but it looks like they designed it from the cockpit out, focusing on what pilots actually wanted and needed in order to do their jobs and come home at the end of the day!
Yes and alot of the ideas was implemented in the SAAB Cars Especially in the 99/900 Gen 1 and the SAAB 9000 For example the wraparound windshield of the 99/900 the green interior light for better nightvision and the Map light and the rear reading lights. to name a few things, also the wraparound dashboard to help the driver focus on the road is a godgiven design choice which has made it almost impossible for me to feel at ease in any other carbrand.
These things are always a favourite at airshows. The noise and manoeuvrability are breathtaking.
Interesting. For many years I've had a soft spot in my heart for the Swedes' homegrown hammer and I was sad when they phased her out. And I have wondered why no one else bought them, as capable as they were. Thanks, Simon!
because they were banned for export due to the Americans whom the engine was licensed from
@@emiliskog Well he did kind of say that. 😉
What can be said as a compliment to the Swedes is that their airplanes from the Draken to the Gripen look way damn sharp. The Viggen to me is the best looking fighter/multirole plane of the cold war, with canards (to my knowledge no other notable fighter plane had these then), and a delta wing with two sweep angles. What a gorgeous machine. From what I've heard, it flew very well and didn't suffer from high AOA compressor stalls which were the bane of the Draken.
the real magic of the viggen was its avionics, they were definetly the most advanced of ther time
@@einar8019 When Saab made Viggen they were also making the worlds fastest computers.
AJ37 had problem with compressor stalls at high AoA. JA37 had less problem.
@@ghostviggen it wasnt really a problem for the viggen since its main roll was to deliver rb04 anti ship missiles
Jake of all trades, and also master of all trades. Well more or less.
When i did my military service in the Swedish air force we used to hang out as near to the runways as possible when the Viggens would go out. The sound when they fired up the afterburner was amazing! So incredibly loud! I can probably blame my slight tinnitus on that, but it was worth it. So damn cool!
If you've ever wanted to fly one of these, I highly recommend DCS World. They have a fully simulated AJ 37 Viggen you can fly. Learning the complexities of flying a Swedish aircraft is not for the faint of heart though.
That is cool. Going to have to check it out.
Ty for the suggestion, ill have to check it out
Too anyone interested in this, keep in mind DCS isn't really a game but more a simulator. So don't expect to just jump in and go pewpew like in Warthunder. You'll have to learn quite a bit to even fly properly.
@@arboris Its also fairly pricy, with each aircraft being purchased separately and some for very high prices (over $100 US in a few cases!). Thats the main reason why I havent dipped my toes in to DCS, though a friend of mine has it and plays via VR headset - she says its tough but a ton of fun on good days
It's recommended to have built at least one hundred IKEA furniture before flying a Swedish Aircraft
As you drive down the E4 highway in south central Sweden, there are a series of Saab jets mounted on posts near the highway. Neat to see.
More specifically, they are mounted along the highway passing Linköping, the city where Saab builds aircraft.
There is a viggen in the forest green camo posted up on a pole in söderhamn along the E4 aswell
At Linköping, there is also an aircraft museum there.
Route 44 has one too, just outside of Grästorp. "Rastplats Viggen", the plane was donated by local fighter wing F7 Såtenäs.
Hardly a forgotten fighter jet. One of the finest fighter aircraft of all time and I always maintained that this should have been bought by the Royal Australian Air Force in place of the then much delayed and complicated F-111C.
Slightly lower top speed and far less range.
The F-111c was one of the best attack aircraft, during the gulf war they had extremely high kill counts.
The pig is an amazing plane and very effective in it's role
@@sam8742 F-111 was a superb mach 2.6 bomber/ground attack aircraft being able to fly at supersonic speeds just meters above the ground. The RAAF was the only air force outside of the USAF to operate it.
Far less range and payload.
As a child in the '70's only 2 Aircraft mattered when playing with models, Phantom and Saab Viggen. We thought they were the best. It eventually proved true.
as Iranian I think if we have viggen instead of phantom in Iraq _iran war , we have more upper hand . a multi rule jet 😍
Very much not forgotten. I loved this jet, from when I was a child. Still do.
Ooh I like, Simon giving us Swedes some love. :-)
I remember seeing Viggens as a kid (born 1970). Even when they flew high, they where very loud. Such extreme power for the time. I have also seen Lansen, Draken and Gripen, but they come no where near the sound of Viggen.
Due to some lucky circumstances I also got to see Viggen pilots practicing hitting ground targets. They came in very low, turned on their backs, aimed, shot, rolled back again and then went straight up. F**k gravity. One time, the ground tower asked a "Biggles-type" of pilot to do a low pass over the tower. He went so low so the trees actually swung... a deafening roar too. I guess there is a reason to why the Swedish Airforce now screens out the "Biggles-type-folks". :)
The only plane louder I’ve heard is the Tornado.
Fun factiod: Clint Eastwood apparently wanted to use the Viggen as the basis for the fictional 'MiG-31 Firefox" in the 1982 move of the same name. I guess the Viggen was less well known in N. America at the time.
Before the advent of internet there were only books and magazines for people to keep up with their interest. And since those weren't found in huge quantities in your local library or local book store...
Or maybe... too many people (tragically) don't like the hassle of reading books so the internet was too convenient... And that is also a huge shame because on the internet you can find *tons of nonsense* too, whereas nonsensical books either don't get published or get the swept-under-the-rug treatment and sold via obscure mysticism magazines.
Anyways, your factoid can be found in the Imdb trivia section of said movie. The Swedish government refused the aircraft to be used for a Hollywood movie. Plausible reasons: It was a particularly sensitive time of the Cold War with brewing problems in the Soviet Union. This meant that Sweden needed every single aircraft they had and couldn't afford to have a few lended. Another reason would be that this fairly innocent move might be misunderstood by the Soviets (who were paranoid over the slightest "unforeseen move") as a ruse/cover operation for cooperation between Sweden and NATO countries - something they knew already happened behind their backs. Yet another reason might be that the Viggen carried advanced radar and components which the Swedes didn't want anybody to know about. I suppose there may have been the reluctance of using an aircraft designed to primarily fight the Soviets (as the most likely opponent) as a Soviet aircraft - but I very much doubt that is the case, for the Swedes don't have a Balkan country mentality. Quite the opposite.
2:41 background
5:25 development
7:11 specifications
8:48 airframe and wings
10:02 armaments
10:47 service
12:21 the end of the Viggen
May I say that Viggen is/was a freaking good looking plane!? 😬 Cheers from Sweden!!
I served in the Swedish air-force in mid 90's about the time Viggen was being phased out for the new JAS Gripen (Griffon). Assigned to protect the air base and the fighters.
They were beautiful beasts and roaring as well. A pilot took off and did a low fly-by I swear was no more than 80 feet off the ground (the air strip) I was out there on guard duty. Man that sound and force as he blasted by. Nearly shat my pants. It's a roaring sound that is deafening.
Swedish Pilots are highly capable. They also constantly have to intercept Russian incursions. Many times that happened when I was stationed at the most forward Air-base at the time.
I have zero doubts Sweden would take out far more Russian fighters/bombers than they would in return.
Hardly forgotten, it is a firm left-field favorite in the aviation community. I have been flying the Flite Test version for a couple of years.
Awesome....love the Viggen, almost as much as our Draken!
Flygande tunnan 4 teh win:) All Swedish jets have been quite interesting one way or another.
We still had 37 when I did my national service in the Swedish Air Force in 2001. Lovely aircraft - rugby players of the skies. Few things beat watching a flight of Viggen doing an afterburner takeoff at night.
Still very capable aircraft today, but of course technology moves on. Back in 2001 we actually had Austrian pilots on base for conversion training from Draken (arguably one of the prettiest planes ever built), which they still used back then.
I've read several analysis stating that thanks to its size, it could easily have been upgraded to last as a functional and useful aircraft up until 2030s. It was in part hastened out of service because a greater advancement in tech was expected, essentially, what exists now was expected at least 10, probably 20 years earlier at least. And of course, there was also the stealth craze, and the one thing the Viggen is not is stealthy, nor can it realistically be upgraded to be such, too big and it would severely affect the aerodynamics.
But today, with stealth having shown itself to be a bit of a pink elephant, as any peer military is capable of spotting today's stealth aircraft far away -enough-, making it most useful against 2nd and 3rd rate militaries that isn't a major threat anyway, the lack of stealth would probably have been considered much less of a downside.
Anyway, it was a damn good plane and very nice to look at. Built a model of one when i was a kid. Made you appreciate its size better.
One of the best planes ever built. Everybody was scared of that little bird. The 35 Draken was sweet also
one of my relative was actually one of the last active viggen pilots in the swedish air force
Got an old cold war underground airbase+road airfield about 10min from where I live in Sweden. They got a bunch of different planes on display, and the crown jewel is the JA 37 Viggen. Seen them fly in person, insane machines!
As a kid, I remember building a model of the Viggen. Very cool.
As a Swede I can say that while a thunderbolt was probably definitely part of the intended meaning of the name that is actually an "åskvigg" while a "vigg" is the bird ("viggen" is the definitive form of the word) so it's fair to assume that it's meant to be both.
Also I appreciate the Swedish pun in "Chapter Sex" 😅
The Saab Viggen and Draken before it are far from forgotten. They were wonderful aircraft.
Fun fact. The Viggens ARE named after the tufted duck. As Viggen was the first production military aircraft with canards it is a play on words. The word "canard" in French is "duck".
So finding a word that's on one hand a duck AND a cool traditional aircraft name is no coincidence.
Similarly the Draken is dual named.. "Drake" in Swedish is both "kite" and "dragon". Kite, since the double delta of the Draken really resembles a paper kite.
Actually Viggen is named after åskvigg (Thunderbolt) and it's association with lightning and Thor's hammer.
@@ThunderboltDragon I wasn't clear enough. Yes, after the homonyms "vigg" (thunderbolt) and "vigg" (tufted duck) as a wordplay with "canard". Draken's name was a similar wordplay with the homonyms translated to kite and dragon in English.
A Drake is also a bird. A male Mallard.
And the duck “vigg” is also short, fat and fast, and lands and takes off on surprisingly small ponds and bogs. Not a too bad bard to name your fighter plane after.
I don’t know about forgotten. As a kid in the 80’s, it was a common sight to see at least two Viggen flying in formation, patrolling the coast line.
My best memory is at an air show when Viggen made a fly-by at 50km/h before shooting straight up into the sky at full thrust! I was so proud to be Swedish!
So the Swedes had the only aircraft to lock on to the SR71 as well as the only sub to "sink" an American nuclear aircraft carrier. Not bad for a somewhat small nation.
Somewhat small? They had a population smaller than LONDON.
The Swedes are amazing at developing high tech weapons. I see Saab as a Skunkworks like company where the employees are all looking to see a finished and polished product instead of just collecting a paycheck.
@@longshot7601 A Skunkworks with extremely limited amount of funding compared to the original.
7:26 that’s a mig-25 or 31. Mig-21 is a single engine tailed delta.
I absolutely love the viggen! Besides that it’s awesome looking, it’s also extremely underrated! Just like most Swedish jets that’s are of the 3rd generation and later
The Indian Viggen deal was blocked because India was making a pivot to the Soviets in the late 1970s. They'd started out with mostly Anglo-French equipment, naturally because of their relationship with Britain, but when it came time to replace that, they bought the MiG-21 and Su-7. They also bought large numbers of Soviet transport planes, helicopters, armored vehicles, and air defense systems. The fear was that India would not hesitate to sell any US-made/derived systems in the Viggen to the USSR, and those fears were somewhat vindicated when India ultimately did so for the SEPECAT Jaguar in exchange for getting that jet's systems built into their MiG-23BNs.
Fun fact. For years the "pinging blackbirds" was a prestige thing. The rapid response planes that were sent were sent in a form of you got the honor today thing. Up they went and gave the yanks a friendly "hello".
The old Viggen was a beautiful plane!
Forgotten?? I've adored this plane since I was a child!!
“Costing Complexity” is my new band name now
Back in 99 I did my conscription at F4 in Östersund in the radar unit and we daily controlled the Viggen, it was such an awesome plane.
Our stations where about 20 meters from where the plane took to the skies and the sound and rumble was just so powerful.
We also had our outside eating place just a few meters from the same place, sitting outside having breakfast when a Viggen took off was amazing, the sound, the rumble, the smell..
At the museum where I live (Söderhamn, Sweden) we have two Viggen (impressive fuselage) but also a real Viggen cockpit made into a great flight simulator. You fly it using the real controls! Worth trying, really! Welcome!
Saab 29 "Tunnan" = The Barrel
Saab 32 "Lansen" = The Lance
Saab 35 "Draken" = The Dragon or The Kite
Saab 37 "Viggen" = The Lightning bolt or The Tufted duck
Saab 39 "Gripen" = The Griffon or The Arrested
The reason I added "the" is because "Viggen" for example is the determined form of the word. "Vigg" means "a tufted duck" whereas "Viggen" means "the tufted duck".
Don't forget that "Draken" also means the male Mallard. I've always wondered if these double meanings was on purpose. I guess we'll never know.
No its called the kite becouse one of the designers wifes thought it looked like a kite (according too legend anyways). The viggen is named after the duck becouse of the canard wings but i am unsure why they are called canards
@@ulvschmidt7174 , that's because duck in french is.....canard! I very much doubt that SAAB meant Viggen to be named after the duck since the prototypes had lightning bolts painted on the intakes. But they may have had that duck in mind too...
@@ulvschmidt7174 Canard is French, and means duck. Not to be confused with connard, which means asshole.
I don't think anyone have translated the airplane name "Gripen" in to "The Arrested" before. The meaning is is clearly "The Griffin" and nothing else.
You forget to add the story, were Viggens escorted a damaged SR-71 to Danish airspace, while the Soviets had some MIG 25 up to shut that plane down. While not the most beautiful plane every build, it's one of the easiest to recognize. One of my fav models I have build as a teen.
I remember the Viggen had the coolest camo pattern of any jet model I built as a kid.
czcams.com/video/o6B6eO8s0Bk/video.html
I am Swedish and I absolutely adore the Viggen. And I kid you not your intro was so well composed that I almost blacked out from excitement. This is quality content right here, keep it up!
The Griffin and Viggen are two of my favorite planes. Awesome episode.
Draken!, given it's Time... It outperformed the F-100, a year Before the "Hun" was operational. The Hun, could only pull 5-g's, the Draken, could do "the Cobra" stalled/climb (a 7-to-8-G Move) Years Before the russians did so. And, Years After, on Airframes that had 25 YEARS of service.
It's not a "forgotten" fighter jet. For people like me who likes fighter jets, Swedish-made fighters are always in the forefront for its uniqueness, efficiency and design. One of my top 3 fighter is the Draken. BTW, one of your video's time stamp is named " CHAPTER SEX SERVICE" :D
In swedish sex is six ;)
Finally!, This made my day
Lovely! As a Swede I remember the Viggen fondly. It was a true beauty and I loved when they flew over my head. Thanks for the interesting video :)
Really nice of the Soviet Union to promise to intervene if Sweden were ever invaded by the Soviet Union 😂
especially with resent events in mind.... :P
I am fairly certain that the predictable route that the SR71 used to take was called the Baltic Express, or Baltic Tram.
Not the Ballistic Express as said in the beginning of this video.
One of my favourite planes. Glad to see it get some love!
Love the Viggen. Have stories 😍
Lived in Arboga were they tested the engines…. Wonderful!!!!!
Good video on a little know interesting and capable aircraft.
7:26 - MiG-25, not a MiG-21 as Fact Boi says in the script.
One of the teething problems the Viggen had, was that the wing spars were a little to weak. So there were incidents that the pilots overloaded the wings a bit to much and had to eject due to them ripping off a wing.
I so miss hearing Viggens fly able me. It's one of those dear childhood memories that I still think about. The Gripen just isn't the same.
Worth to mention that Viggen was born in a time when the conventional wisdom was that all future fighters will be two-seaters because of increased pilot workload.
Saab solved the problem by off loading most of the workload to computers which also helped the ground crews to find and diagnose problems.
the official SAAB name of Gripen is SAAB 39 Gripen, the JAS is part of the airforce definition due to its missions
A shame this outstanding aircraft was not more widely used. Re SR71 intercepts, could we have a programme about how two RAF BAC Lightnings 'surprised' the pilot of a very high flying Lockhed U2.
That was very funny ! The Lightnings were based close to me. What an aircraft but with limited use it was a hell of an interceptor. It could even do a vertical climb at over mach 1
The top side of Viggen with camouflage painting looks like a Christmas tree. Never realized it and I LOVE it as a Swede
Remember seeing one at an airshow a few years ago. Really impressive.
Not to me
Once in the baltic the ruskies stopped a patrol boat in front of us while we were refuelling
Just as we were breaking away a viggan came past I swear lower than our bow that was high in a wave and opened fire on em ! Amazing aircraft
Don’t see how this is forgotten? It was a fantastic advanced plane, very successfully in its own country & would have probably could have been extremely successful in international sales if it had been marketed differently & politics hadn’t intervened.
Just imagine if it actually got the rr medway engine
One of my favourite aircraft. Swedens aircraft for years have been top notch.
Nothing forgotten about the viggen! One of the best mutiroles in history
Suggestion: Automobile companies that have military contracts.
I laughed when you err'd with Soviet Union stepping in to help in case the Soviet Union would invade x3
Our pilots still train with those old planes or at least one of them.
Försvarsmakten has a series called Vägen till Stridspilot ( Road to Fighterpilot ) here on CZcams where they give you a glimpse into their training.
Watching that gets me hyped. Looks like a lot of fun.
Judging by the performance of the Russian military in Ukraine, that's not so farfetched.
I appreciate how the tail can fold down so that the aircraft can hide in roadside bunkers.
That handsome gentleman getting in/out of the cockpit at 13:24 is Carl XVI Gustav, our reigning king :)
OK, very good display about the Viggen ( including the curiosity in the begging of the video that was totally new for me ! ) what about a video about it's successor, the Gripen ??
13:24, i'm like 98% sure that the guy in the picture about to enter the aircraft is the current Swedish King Carl Gustaf
Edit: Nevermind, it is Carl Gustaf
Yes, it is.
In the early 80's my mom had a boyfriend who worked for SAAB Aerospace as an engineer. The Viggen is far from forgotten for me and surely anyone who grew up in the era.
I saw one demonstrated at Farnborough, very impressive!
These were absolutely amazing at airshows, if you were lucky enough to see one.
They also used Viggens to scare the cows so they ran for the woods, with a certain low flyby. Took a couple of days before we managed to get the last stragglers home. To the air force defense, dad said they was really nice and apologetic about it when he got hold of the ranking officer. And it never happened again. I dont think the pilots were suposed to fly at tree top level over villages up there. It is not like Jämtland and Ångermanland has a lack of wilderness to train stunts over, after all.
That sounds funny and also very scary.
I am sure if I were there I would have been pissed off, to be sure!
I grew up in a farmland area and that would have been terrible for the animals.
@@jaymevosburgh3660 I would probably not be pissed off, as I would likely have just pissed *on* myself & would have no piss left.
@@jaymevosburgh3660 for us kids, it was super cool to see those planes sweep thru the valley, over the lake and over our village. But horses and cows were not as thrilled.
They were absolutely not supposed to fly that close to villages. But they were absolutely supposed to fly that close to the tree tops. Swedish jet pilot doctrine of the era made Danes go "We always knew the Swedes were crazy... but we didn't know they were certifiably insane!" :P
They really like to fly low.
I lived right outside of Ängelholms airport, and one of there traininggrunds was right over our house. Granted, that was fighting viggens (from Ljungbyhed) and draken (from Ängelholm).
So watching topgun on VHS, then go out on the terras seing it live as well (sadly, there was no viggens in top gun)
Great to see a couple of viggens with the Swedish historic flight along with other aircraft like the draken tunnan and the lannsen among others to
I had always wondered why retired Viggens never took hold in the second-hand export market. Great that he addressed the point. They would have made a great asset to many air forces of developing or less threatened countries, such as Ireland, Brazil, etc.
Viggen means "The thunderbolt" and it's more like the one zeus shoots
Simon, your research is unmatched. Your humor is exquisitely injected into the most serious topics, make heavy-hearted content, less dreadful to digest. You are the man!
There's a reason why when Saab made their highest performance version of one of their cars they added "Viggen" to its name.
And now, the new Jas Gripen E is entering the scene
Really interesting to hear about such an adept fighter that was more than a match for its peers. Great video! One thing that you need to do is check pronunciation of words that you are not familiar with. Please look up the correct way to say "canard". I think you may be the only person to ever put the emphasis on the first syllable :)
The Viggens, and Swedish fighters in general, do not carry missiles. So they did not carry them during that interception.
And they do not carry them since it wears them down (the weapons) and to not seem too threating (!). but that is how it is..
No, the tufted duck is just as much in the name - since it s name is canard in French.. Or something like that.
The RM8A and b, were heavily modified JT8Ds.. half the engine was redesigned..
All Viggens had SAAb-designed and manufactered ejection seats. It was not until the gripens that the SAABs got foreign ejection seats.
An RB 04E carried on the centre pylon could not be fired from there, only ferried.. It was tested and the ground clearance was not great so the wiring was not put it. But it could be transported there.
You should have mentioned the interceptor-version a little more. Coming into service into 1980, it was a generation younger and much more advanced with several changes to the airframe and a new version of the engine plus an internal gun - the most powerful cannon put into a fighter, ever..
Fun fact about the JA 37 cannon, it fired the same ammunition also used in GAU-8 on the A-10s
@@johanmetreus1268 Kind of, casing is steel in one, brass in the other and the fusing is electrical in the A-10 iirc.
@@johanmetreus1268 But the cannon was made by Oerlikon, Switzerland.
@@Astrofrank Indeed, the GAU-8 was regarded as slightly too cumbersome for a fighter aircraft lol
5:05 for 5 seconds just listening to the video my brain was like "wait..... what?"
Fun fact- the Swedish name for the Tufted Duck (Vigg) comes from the feather on the birds head that somewhat looks like a lightening bolt (åskvigg) therefor the name Vigg, so it safe to say the name Viggen means "the Lightening bolt"