Afterburner.nl - Ronneby Air Show 2004

Farewell to the mighty Viggen

To all good things comes an end. We allready did some reports on the farewell of the F-104 Starfighter which is about to retire. This is also the case with the Saab Viggen from the Svenska Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force). This Swedish designed fighter will cease its operations in the beginning of 2005. The JAS39 Gripen, which already replaced the J-35 Draken is now also taking over the JA-37 operations.

On Sunday 29 August the Swedish air force organised an air show at Ronneby air base. Although this was not an official farewell event for the Viggen, we consider this event as the last public appearance of the Viggen that we will be able to attend. Ronneby air base is situated in the south east corner of the country. This makes it easy to travel to by car from the Netherlands. An extra advantage was that on the Monday after, the arrivals were scheduled for the Tigermeet at Schleswig-Jagel. For us an extremely good combination to set course northeast.

Photographers were given a special photo opportunity, which you had to apply for a month in advance. One hour before the regular public was allowed on base, we had to gather at the main gate. It took some time before we were taken on base and the rest of the crowd was already walking over the static display. First we were allowed to walk along the flight line to take photographs of the aircraft waiting for their flying display. We were supposed to stay within a roped area but the ropes were so close to the aircraft that it was almost impossible to get a decent shot of them. Although the intentions were very good, we see it as a missed chance! However, at the end of the flight line was the helicopter area. The choppers standing here could be well pictured.

After visiting the flight line we found the special photographers area along the taxy way. It was a FRIAT grandstand-like area with a grandstand and plenty space around for people to photgraph taxying and displaying aircraft. The runway was quite far away, so it wasn't really good for take off pics. They even took care of some free catering in the form of lemonade and sticky rolls. Our compliments for that.

The static display was well set up and almost every aircraft type in the Swedish air force inventory was displayed. For the public terrific but for the photographer a disaster. It was possible to walk around every aircraft, with ropes almost underneath the aircraft. Like all the other aircraft it wasn't possible to get any decent picture of the sole Sk-37 on the field. That was a bit dissapointing, this was for us the reason to make this 2000km journey.

The flying display on the other hand was excellent. First we had the pleasure to view two oldies: a Lansen and a Draken. Their displays consisted more or less of several (high speed) passes along the crowd line but great to see. After that there were formation flights with Gripens, a stunning solo display with a Viggen and several helicopter displays. Especially the Hkp-9A (B0-105) was excellent, this pilot really knows how to handle a helicopter! Not to forget the displaying Hkp-4s, which are about to retire as well. A total of 5 of these were present on base however most of the people only saw 4. One was parked in a closed hanger.

If you listen carefully, you will notice that the Swedish laguage isn't too difficult to understand. Repeatedly there was an announcement that a blue Volvo was parked wrong. After several calls, we witnessed a HKp-4 lifting up the particular car and flying on to the public. Just in front of all the viewers they dropped the poor car from a height of 100ft. The voice on the speaker told us that this is what they do with it after multiple warnings to the rightfull owner. They certainly have a good sense of humor!! All in all we think the Swedish did a great job with this air show, although the photo opportunities on the ground could have been better. See you next time!