I was a Saab JA37 Viggen pilot, here's why I loved this Swedish Cold War fighter

Interview with Viggen pilot Mikael Grev

Thundering over icy mountains, taking off from motorways and being tasked with defending a small neutral country from the biggest war machine in history, the Saab Viggen is a strong candidate for the most charismatic of the Cold War fighters. We spoke to former Viggen pilot Mikael Grev to find out more.

I have 600 hours on the JA 37 Viggen, which I flew from 1998 to 2003. JA stands for Fighter and Strike (in Swedish), but it was all about Fighter. It is usually just called the Fighter Viggen, and it was the best Viggen version, something all pilots agree on. Or it was the Fighter Viggen pilots that were the best - possibly both - I can’t remember. There were also Recce and Strike versions of the Viggen. There was almost no rivalry among the pilots of the different versions, though.

Acceleration
The Viggen was capable of massive acceleration at low level, as long as you didn’t turn much. The engine had a high-bypass ratio, which means lots of power at low level. On a cold day (we have plenty of those in Sweden) at 30 metres altitude, with 30 % fuel left and a clean aircraft it was like riding a rocket!