dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Saabs JAS39 Gripen was the result of studies begun in 1979 for a replacement for the earlier Draken and Viggen. It first flew in 1988 and after a protracted developement and some spectacular and very public accidents due to computer software problems the Gripen finally entered service with the Swedish air Force in 1997. It has since gone on to achieve considerable export success, Helped partly by BAe who teamed up with Saab in 1995 to market the aircraft. BAe finally reliquished their holding shares in 2011 but contiues to work with Saab at Boscombe Down where the Sea Gripen variant is being developed, this is due to fly in 2012. There are several versions on offer in both single and 2 seat layouts, the 2 seaters are slightly longer and lack the built in cannon of the single seat versions. Later aircraft also have an in-flight refuelling ability again developed by the BAe team using an RAF VC-10 for trials. Today the Gripen is recognised as one of the worlds top fighter aircraft...... thanks for viewing Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Great shots Alan, It certainly has the look of a mean fighter bomber, I didn't know we had a certain amount of involvement with it's development. Link to post Share on other sites
charlie 6 Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Great shots Al! That's a nice model. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Great stuff Alan. You show of the planes of my country in a great way as a side note I actually saw one of only two "in development" crashes live, along with a few hundred thousand others. It stalled and crashed in the middle of Stockholm during a flight show. Thankfully without any casualities at all. Here's the best video I can find of it on youtube.. Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted October 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks Guys, I appreciate the comments, Stu, love the video, I'd not seen that one before. I do have a thing about Saabs, To me they've always been that little bit different to everyone elses products.(and that includes the cars!) Got a few more ideas up my sleeve yet so watch this space! Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 I agree, their military aircrafts have a history of pushing the boudries. If I recall correctly the J-29 "Tunnan" even held a few speed records when it was new. But sadly other countries tend to prefer fighters from the US so they never got as widespread as the F-16 or F-18... As for the cars I really have no experience, but it's sad to see a big, well reputed company in the state it is today. If no new funds are found very soon they are way past the point of bancruptcy. From what I've gathered in the news they are at least a couple of months behind on the salary payments, and also have some massive debt to their suppliers. But atleast it's only the car manufactring part that is in trouble. The trucks (Scania) and airplane manufactring companies are completely separate, and only share the name. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Nice shots Alan - and thanks for the video Stu. That guy knew something was wrong so he banged out Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Thanks Chuck. The pilot was the first know, no doubt. I guess most spectators thought like me "Wow, can you do that" shortly followed by "No you couldn't". As for the pilot, he knew very well where the ejection handle was. He had used it once before in the first "In development crash" when the plane started doing barrel rolls just after touchdown. That was also a very public crash since it happened during a flight infront of the press. Link to post Share on other sites
PanzerFodder 0 Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 As for the pilot, he knew very well where the ejection handle was. He had used it once before in the first "In development crash" when the plane started doing barrel rolls just after touchdown. That was also a very public crash since it happened during a flight infront of the press. Is this the one that you mean? must say that I can't see anybody being able to eject/walk away from this . Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 That's the incident I was talking about, but from a camera angle I hadn't seen before. After reading up a bit on it the pilot didn't eject that time, but survived with only minor injuries... and I'm sure it was the same guy. He took some rather harsh critisism over crashing two planes, and both of them infront of TV-cameras And considering that a contributing factor was faulty programming in the Fly-by-wire software it was prehaps a bit more harsh than he deserved.. Link to post Share on other sites
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