-
There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.
If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.
Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.
The Staff of SOH
Switzerland have chosen the Gripen !
- Thread starter VaporZ
- Start date
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
http://secure.simmarket.com/virtavia-saab-gripen.phtml
Good models, but quite basic on systems. Nice flyer though!
Actually, even though Switzerland has technically been a neutral country in the past few centuries, their air force did actually fire its guns in anger numerous times during World War II. Granted, most of World War II they spent their time intercepting lone 'stragglers' (either Italian, German, American or British), but early in June 1940 there were a couple of serious incidents.
On the 4th of June 1940, there were a number of real dogfights between German and Swiss planes (1 Swiss C-35 vs. 1 German He-111 - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 2 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 3 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Morane vs. 2 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 2 German Bf-110s - one Swiss Bf-109E damaged; 3 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 8 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Ds vs. 2 German Bf-109Es - 1 Swiss Bf-109D shot down, pilot killed).
Four days later, on the 8th of June 1940, there were further serious incidents, when the Germans deliberately issued a Freie Jagd mission over Swiss soil, which resulted in a number of dogfights (1 Swiss C-35 vs. 3 German Bf-110s - Swiss C-35 shot down, 2 crew killed; 12 Swiss Bf-109Es & 1 Swiss Bf-109D vs. 28 German Bf-110s - 1 Swiss Bf-109E shot down, 2 Swiss Bf-109Es damaged, 1 Swiss pilot severely injured, 3 German Bf-110 shot down and 1 damaged; 3 German crew killed, 3 German crew captured, 1 German pilot injured).
Of course, that all resulted in some diplomatic fracas between Switzerland and Nazi Germany, which was ultimately resolved.
Not to mention the time the RAF mistakenly hit Geneva, Renens, Basel and Zurich in 1940, or the occasions on which USAAF bombed Staffhausen (April 1st 1944, 50 B-24s, 40 Swiss civilians killed); Stein am Rhein (February 22nd 1945, 13 aircraft, 21 Swiss civilians killed); Zurich (March 4th 1945, 6 B-24s, 12 tons of HE & 12 tons of incendary dropped) or Basel (March 4th 1945, 3 B-24s, 12 tons of HE dropped); or the other mistaken USAAF attacks on Koblenz, Cornol, Niederweningen and Thayngen in 1944, and Chiasso (twice) and Brusio in 1945.
On the 4th of June 1940, there were a number of real dogfights between German and Swiss planes (1 Swiss C-35 vs. 1 German He-111 - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 2 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 3 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Morane vs. 2 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 2 German Bf-110s - one Swiss Bf-109E damaged; 3 Swiss Bf-109Es vs. 8 German Bf-110s - indecisive; 2 Swiss Bf-109Ds vs. 2 German Bf-109Es - 1 Swiss Bf-109D shot down, pilot killed).
Four days later, on the 8th of June 1940, there were further serious incidents, when the Germans deliberately issued a Freie Jagd mission over Swiss soil, which resulted in a number of dogfights (1 Swiss C-35 vs. 3 German Bf-110s - Swiss C-35 shot down, 2 crew killed; 12 Swiss Bf-109Es & 1 Swiss Bf-109D vs. 28 German Bf-110s - 1 Swiss Bf-109E shot down, 2 Swiss Bf-109Es damaged, 1 Swiss pilot severely injured, 3 German Bf-110 shot down and 1 damaged; 3 German crew killed, 3 German crew captured, 1 German pilot injured).
Of course, that all resulted in some diplomatic fracas between Switzerland and Nazi Germany, which was ultimately resolved.
Not to mention the time the RAF mistakenly hit Geneva, Renens, Basel and Zurich in 1940, or the occasions on which USAAF bombed Staffhausen (April 1st 1944, 50 B-24s, 40 Swiss civilians killed); Stein am Rhein (February 22nd 1945, 13 aircraft, 21 Swiss civilians killed); Zurich (March 4th 1945, 6 B-24s, 12 tons of HE & 12 tons of incendary dropped) or Basel (March 4th 1945, 3 B-24s, 12 tons of HE dropped); or the other mistaken USAAF attacks on Koblenz, Cornol, Niederweningen and Thayngen in 1944, and Chiasso (twice) and Brusio in 1945.
And since September 11th the threat of suicide attacks by terrorists is a real one that nations have to be able to deal with; terrorists tend not to recognise neutrality, and I can imagine there are places in Switzerland that would be considered legitimate & valuable targets. So it makes sense for Switzerland to have a capable fighter, and Gripen would be ideal for that role.
lefty
SOH-CM-2023
Amidst all this talk of neutrality, nobody seems to have twigged that the Gripen is built by the Swedes, and, er, aren't they neutral too ???
It is only seriously armed neutrality that seems to work - ask the Belgians and Danes..... Invading Switzerland would be difficult enough for topographical reasons but doubly so with an effective defence force.
It is only seriously armed neutrality that seems to work - ask the Belgians and Danes..... Invading Switzerland would be difficult enough for topographical reasons but doubly so with an effective defence force.
Cazzie
SOH-CM-2024
Even neutrality does not often stop an invading army. But knowing every adult citizen and probably quite a few teens and children possess arms in a mountainous country, does. All Swiss are allowed to possess arms and every citizen is a member of the militia, something anathema to most of Europe. Think of southern America as the same, we all got weapons, more than one most of the time.