Dassault

 Fighter

History

DASSAULT Mirage III, certainly the most famous French fighter built after the WW2, will remain one of the florets of the French combat aircraft industry.
The genesis of Mirage III goes back to 1951, when a team of DASSAULT's engineering and design department works on an interceptor equipped with a delta wing. Learning the lessons from the Korean War, the Armée de l'Air emitted, during the year 1953, a programs concerning a fighter able to carry all-weather armaments to a 18000 m altitude in less than 6 mn. Twin-jet aircraft prototypes MD.550 Mystère Delta (2 Armstrong-Siddeley Viper turbojets of 795 kg thrust and one SEPR.66 booster of 1500 kg thrust) and Mirage I (2 MD30R turbojet of 1000 kg thrust with afterburning) don't allow to reach the desired performance by the Armée de l'Air de l'Air, DASSAULT company decide then to make evolve the delta formula to a new single engined aircraft (SNECMA Atar 9 of 4500 kg thrust with afterburning) and of which the fuselage answer with law of surface (the famous size of wasp). This plane, the Mirage III 001, first flew on November 17, 1956 by Roland Glavany and reached Mach 1.24 during the 4th flight, December 3. The aircraft does not manage nevertheless to reach Mach 2 (Mach 1,89 with booster on October 2, 1957, during the 84th flight). It is in particular thanks to the adoption of central mobile conical cores in the air intake (mice) that Roland Glavany reaches Mach 2, for the 1st time in Western Europe, on the Mirage III A01, October 24, 1958. Thereafter, from many versions rose from the Mirage III, of which the 1st Mirage III C (C for Chasse and Cyrano, the radar).
High altitude interception variant, Mirage III C was not the subject of prototype, 1st of the 100 specimens ordered by the Armée de l'Air was flown on October 9, 1960 in Mérignac by Jean Coureau. In fact only the first 95 were actually delivered the 5 following having been modified in Mirage III R, III E and III O.



Production

The final assembly and the first flights took place on Mérignac.
189 production specimens of Mirage III C were produced, including 95 for the Armée de l'Air.


Career

The operational career of Mirage III C finishes on August 12, 1988 in Djibouti at the fighter squadron 3/10 " Vexin ", after 27 years and 1 month of good and faithful services.
It will have been useful within the 2nd, 5th, 10th and 13rd fighter squadrons, as well as to the CEAM of Mont-de-Marsan and to the CEV where the last aircraft will still fly in 1991.


Export

The deliveries abroad related to 89 aircrafts distributed in the following way:

72 Mirage III CJ for Israel. Those it are particularly distinguished during the the 6 Day War in June 1967 by shooting down a great part of the 50 planes allotted to the Israeli pilots.
16 Mirage III CZ for South Africa.
1 Mirage III CS for Switzerland.
In December 1982, 19 Mirage III CJ remotorized with Atar 9C turbojets were sold by Israel to Argentina.

Technical features
Wingspan	8,22 m
Length	14,75 m
Height	4,25 m
Wingspan	34,85 m2
Empty weight	5922 kg
Max weight	11700 kg
Max speed	Mach 2,15 at 11000 m
Max Ceiling	24600 m
Ceiling	18000 m
Climb	18000 m in 6,16 min with booster
Range	1500 km at Mach 0.85 and 12000 m
Turbojet	1 SNECMA Atar 9B-3 4250 kg thrust 6000 kg with afterburning + SEPR 841 booster of 1500 kg thrust.
Basic armament	2 x 30 mm DEFA 552 Cannons 125 shells each

CAEA's specimen

Mirage III C s/n 2 was first flown on December 13, 1960, by Jean Coureau, then will be delivered to the Armée de l'Air on January 20, 1961, within the CEAM where it will fly until February 12, 1965. Victim of an accident when landing in Mont-de-Marsan October 30, 1961, due to a right gear problem, the # 2 will turn over to Mérignac to be repaired there. After the CEAM it is affected at the CEV until January 28, 1991, where it will be specialized in the AS.37 missile test flights. It is finally returned to the Armée de l'Air, at the ETSAA.308 in Cazaux, before joining the CAEA in September 1998. Visible in the hangar

Restoration

Contact : Gérard and Olivier Weber

Photos of works.

Jaguar E

Back to Collection

Mirage III B