Saab J-35OE Draken (04) as used by the Austrian Air Force (Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte) at the Technik Museum Speyer (Germany)

The Saab 35 Draken is a Swedish fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Svenska Aeroplan AB (SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of the Saab 35 Draken started in the 1948 as the Swedish Air Force future replacement for the then also in development Saab 29 Tunnan dayfighter and Saab 32B Lansen night fighter. It featured an innovative but unproven double delta wing, which led to the creation of a sub-scale test aircraft, the Saab 210, which was produced and flown to test this previously-unexplored aerodynamic feature. Saab 35 Draken entered service with frontline squadrons of the Swedish Air Force on 8 March 1960. It received the designation J-35, the prefix J standing for Jaktflygplan (Pursuit-aircraft) – the Swedish term for fighter. The Saab 35 Draken is known for, among other things, its many "firsts" within aviation. It was the first Western European built combat aircraft with true supersonic capability to enter service and the first fully supersonic aircraft to be deployed in Western Europe. Design-wise it was one of, if not the first, combat aircraft designed with double delta wings, being drawn up by early 1950. The unconventional wing design also had the side effect of making it the first known aircraft to perform and be capable of the Cobra manoeuvrer. It was also one of the first Western-European-built aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in level flight, reaching it on 14 January 1960. The Draken functioned as an effective supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War period. Even though the type was designed and intended as an interceptor, it was considered to be a very capable dogfighter for the era. In Swedish service, it underwent several upgrades, the ultimate of these being the J-35J model. By the 1980s, the Swedish Air Force Drakens had largely been replaced by the more advanced Saab 37 Viggen fighter. The type was also exported to the air forces of Austria, Denmark and Finland. In the mid-1980s, Saab re-purchased 24 J-35D aircraft from the Swedish Air Force and converted them into the J-35Ö version (also called J-35OE in English literature) for export to Austria.

The Technik Museum Speyer (Speyer Museum of Technology) is a technology museum in Speyer (south-west of Heidelberg), Germany. The collection includes: aircraft, classic vintage cars, racing- and classic motorcycles, historic fire engines, ships, massive steam locomotives, mechanical instruments, rarities and fashions. A special part of the collection is the Russian Space Shuttle Buran. The collection is displayed both indoors and outdoors, and finally there is an IMAX theater. The museum was established in 1991. It is closely associated with the Technik Museum Sinsheim (Sinsheim Museum of Technology). The latter suffered from a lack of space and a second location was opened in Speyer.