The End of an Era: The Draken's Last Flight
After more than 17 years of flawless service, 500 alerted take-offs and 23,545 hours of logged flight on behalf of the Austrian Air Force's pilots on Saab's Draken 35OE, the prominent delta wings take their leave and thus round off a major chapter of aviation in the Austrian Armed Forces.
The Air Force organized a festivity in honour of the Draken in Zeltweg, Upper Styria, which was the second air base apart from Graz having Drakens stationed. Günther Platter, Minister of Defence, cordially welcomed his predecessors in office, Friedhelm Frischenschlager, Helmut Krünes, Robert Lichal and Herbert Scheibner.
Resume
In his speech, the Minister praised the accident-free service of the Draken fleet, not forgetting to confirm its successor, the Eurofighter, as to its "correct development". Former Minister of Defence Robert Lichal recalled the heated discussions allocated to the purchase of the interceptors, but stressed the fact that the Federal Armed Forces' objective cannot only be that of catastrophe relief.
Major General Erich Wolf, commander of the Air Force, was then presented with a wooden model "dragon" by the Swedish Draken manufacturer, Saab.
50 years of faithful service
After the festive speeches, a special surprise awaited the lookers-on of the last Air Display: As a farewell, a specially designed gleaming black Draken flew over Zeltweg one last time. On the bottom side of the fuselage, it sported the symbol of the "Dragon Knights", the international association of former Draken pilots.
Officially, all Draken aircraft will be grounded permanently starting from 31 December. The Drakens' fiftieth anniversary marks the fighters' end of service - coincidentally, the Army is of the same age. Nevertheless, pilots' and ground personnel's gazes hopefully rest on the year 2007, when Eurofighters will set new benchmarks in the security of the Austrian aerospace.
Images related to this article
Farewell: The prominent aeroplanes take their leave.
A specially designed black Draken flew over Zeltweg one last time.
MoD Günther Patter praised the accident-free service of the fleet.
Captain Kirchner was the last pilot to fly the Draken in official service.