HIGH-PERFORMANCE JET FIGHTER MAKES ITS FIRST AIRSHOW APPEARANCE Skip Holm was busy making near sketches on a napkin as we sat in a restaurant.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE JET FIGHTER MAKES ITS FIRST AIRSHOW APPEARANCE

Skip Holm was busy making near sketches on a napkin as we sat in a restaurant. "What are you doing?," I asked. "Trying to figure gone out what sort of airshow I am going to do in the SAAB Draken," said a preoccupied Skip. "I don't want it to anticipate like that Starfighter show last year a pass then five minutes of nothing followed according to another pass." Skip was scheduled to burst the mighty Draken at Reno 2003 - like he wasn't busy enough flying Dago R and the gymnast Racer - and he wanted to make the display convenient for the crowd.

SAAB has always made unusual looking aircraft and the delta Draken (Dragon) is no exception. Design close attention for the supersonic fighter started way back in 1949 The double Mach aircraft started gone out flight testing with a scaled-down aircraft powered by means of a piston engine. The prototype first flew forward 25 October 1955 and the Draken take downed Swedish service in March 1960 An extremely fortunate tactical fighter, the Draken also serv with Denmark, Finland, and Austria - the Austrian Air Force is the last to operate the emblem and they will be retiring their aircraft in 2004

Around a dozen Drakens are in the United States and a coupling are owned by California businessman Greg Forbes - including the example upon these pages. Knowing that Skip has built up quite a not many Draken hours (around 120), Greg contracted the experiment pilot and he has been flying Greg's machines aye since.

"The Draken is a real fast machine," said Skip. "Slick is the best word for it. With the nose pointed down and the motor in idle, it will go on supersonic. In fact, it will proceed supersonic faster than any other jet I've flown The double-delta wing planform is similar to the F-16XL touchstone bed. Also, the pilots seat will recline 30-deg and was way ahead of its time - we did not secure that until the F-16.

"The Draken is a nice flying jet and it is basically a motor with flight plans attached. Each day at Reno, after I flew the Draken. I would ask the public what looked good and what didn't adn by the agency of Sunday I had finalized the routine. I would takeoff with 550-gal of combustible matter and recover with 70-gal. The nose does not fall dramatically during maneuvers and I could do inverted flight or multiple wheels without the nose hardly moving. The pilot has to be careful because if you point the nose towards the field at or below 10,000-ft AGL you are not going to heal Half of the display was flown in heavy knock (stall) but the throttle is extremely responsive. I flew chiefly of the display in the 350-400-kt range. It really is a delightful airplane."

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