The delta-winged Mirage III jet fighter has been the largest succes of the post-war French aviation industry. More than 20 countries bought the Mirage III, and it is still in service, now undergoing extensive modernisation programmes in South-Africa, Chili and Switzerland. One of the most elegant aircraft ever flown, the Mirage III has a large delta wing and circular intakes with shock cones. A rectangular recess under the aft fuselage can contain either a fuel tank or a rocket engine.
One of the most successful aircraft of the Cold War era was the French Mirage III. The design began as a small light interceptor but soon grew into a powerful multi-role fighter. The first production models were the 'B' two-seat trainer, which lacked a radar, and the 'C' single seat interceptor/short range bomber. Despite the rather poor performance of the Mirage IIIC, the aircraft became very popular with air forces around the world.
The most successful model by far was the Mirage IIIE with a larger fuselage and optimized as a long range fighter bomber. The Mirage III was such a successful concept that it has served as the basis for no less than six related designs--the Mirage IV nuclear bomber, the Mirage 5/50 attack fighters, the Mirage F.1 fighter, the Mirage 2000 fighter, Mirage 2000 bomber, the Israeli Kfir attack fighter, and the South African Cheetah attack fighter. All told, some 1,400 Mirage III, 5, and 50 aircraft were built.
KNOWN VARIANTS:
Mirage IIIA Prototype single-seat fighter
Mirage IIIB Two-seat trainer
Mirage IIIBJ Two-seat trainer for Israel
Mirage IIIBL Two-seat trainer for Lebanon
Mirage IIIBS Two-seat trainer for Switzerland
Mirage IIIBZ Two-seat trainer for South Africa
Mirage IIIB2
Mirage IIIB-RV Two-seat trainer fitted with a dummy refueling probe for in-flight refueling training
Mirage IIIC One-seat all-weather fighter bomber
Mirage IIICZ South African models of the IIIC equipped with the engine of the Mirage 5 and upgraded avionics
Mirage IIID Two-seat trainer for the Mirage IIIE
Mirage IIIBE Version of the Mirage IIID used by France
Mirage IIIDBR Version of the Mirage IIID for Brazil
Mirage IIIDS Version of the Mirage IIID for Switerland
Mirage IIIDZ South African models of the Mirage IIID equipped with the engine of the Mirage 5 and upgraded avionics
Mirage IIID2Z Version of the Mirage IIID for South Africa with improved engine
Mirage IIIE/EA One-seat long-range fighter bomber with improved engine, new radar, and low-level attack capability; France has used the Mirage IIIE for carriage of tactical nuclear weapons
Mirage IIIEX Mirage IIIE model modified with the nose from the Mirage F.1, fixed canards, strakes of the Mirage 5D, and an in-flight refueling probe
Mirage IIIO Model license built in Australia
Mirage IIIOD Version of the Mirage IIID license built in Australia
Mirage IIIR One-seat reconnaissance model with five cameras or IR sensors
Mirage IIIRD Improved reconnaissance model with a new navigation radar
Mirage IIIRP Reconnaissance model for Pakistan; 13 built
Mirage IIIRS Reconnaissance model for Switzerland; 18 built
Mirage IIIRZ Reconnaissance model for South Africa fitted with the Mirage 5 engine and upgraded avionics; 8 built
Mirage IIIR2Z Version of the Mirage IIIR for South Africa with improved engine
Mirage IIIS Model license built in Switzerland
Mirage IIIT Test aircraft used to evaluate a new engine
Mirage IIIX Proposed upgraded model with canards, fly-by-wire system, upgraded avionics, and a new engine
Mirage IIING Improved attack fighter with canards, other aerodynamic improvements, and new avionics
Balzac V-001 Model equipped with eight liftjets to serve as a VTOL research aircraft; 1 converted
Mirage IIIV VTOL prototype; 2 built
Mirage Milan
Mirage IIIE airframe modified with retractable canards, did not enter production
The first prototype of the Mystere-Delta, without afterburning engine or rocket motor and an absurdly large tailfin, flew on 25 June 1955. After some redesign, reduction of the tailfin to more rational size, installation of afterburners and rocket motor, and renaming to "Mirage I", the prototype attained Mach 1.3 in level flight without the rocket, and Mach 1.6 with the rocket lit in late 1955. However, the small size of the Mirage I restricted its armament to a single air-to-air missile (AAM), and even before this time it had been prudently decided the aircraft was simply too tiny to carry a useful warload. After trials, the Mirage I prototype was eventually scrapped.
* Dassault then considered a somewhat bigger version, the "Mirage II", with a pair of Turbomeca Gabizo turbojets, but no aircraft of this configuration was ever built. The Mirage II was bypassed for a much more ambitious design that was 30% heavier than the Mirage I and was powered by the new 43.2 kN (4,400 kgp / 9,700 lbf) thrust SNECMA Atar afterburning turbojet. The Atar was an axial flow turbojet, derived from German World War II BMW designs.
The new fighter design was named the "Mirage III". It incorporated the new "area ruling" concept, where a changes to the cross section of an aircraft were made as gradual as possible, resulting the famous "wasp waist" configuration of many supersonic fighters. Like the Mirage I, the Mirage III had provision for a SEPR rocket engine.
The prototype Mirage III flew on 17 November 1956, and attained a speed of Mach 1.52 on its seventh flight. The prototype was then fitted with the SEPR rocket engine and with manually-operated intake half-cone shock diffusers, known as "souris (mice)", which were moved forward as speed increased to reduce inlet turbulence. The Mirage III attained a speed of Mach 1.8 in September 1957.
* The success of the Mirage III prototype resulted in an order for 10 preproduction "Mirage IIIAs". These were almost two meters longer (6.6 feet) than the Mirage III prototype, had a wing with 17.3% more area, a chord reduced to 4.5%, and an Atar 09B turbojet with afterburning thrust of 58.9 kN (6,000 kgp / 13,230 lbf). The SEPR rocket engine was retained, and the aircraft were fitted with Thompson-CSF Cyrano Ibis air intercept radar, operational avionics, and a drag chute to shorten landing roll.
The first Mirage IIIA flew in May 1958, and eventually was clocked at Mach 2.2, making it the first European aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in level flight. The tenth IIIA was rolled out in December 1959. One was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Avon 67 engine with 71.1 kN (7,250 kgp / 16,000 lbf) thrust as a part of a sales pitch for a deal with Australia, with the designation "Mirage IIIO" and the name "City of Hobart". This variant first flew on 13 February 1961, but the Avon powerplant did not offer enough of a performance improvement to make it worth adopting in favor of the Atar, and the Avon would never be used in production Mirages.
While the French were enthusiastic aviators in the early days of flight, and made contributions to aviation in the First World War and the peacetime that followed, the fact that they were an occupied country during World War II left them largely unrepresented in the history of aviation during the Second World War. In the postwar period, however, they made new contributions, one of the most significant being the Dassault "Mirage III" delta wing fighter, and its derivatives.
This document provides a history and description of these Mirage delta fighters. The follow-on Dassault "Mirage 2000" fighter, basically a completely new aircraft with only the same general configuration as the Mirage III, is discussed in a separate document, as is the scaled-up "Mirage IV" bomber.
The Mirage IIIA led to the next variant to be produced, the two seat "Mirage IIIB" operational trainer, which was ordered by the French Armee de l'Air (AdA) and first flew in October 1959. Two seat variants of the Mirage III series are discussed in a later section.
The first major production model, the "Mirage IIIC", performed its initial flight in October 1960. The IIIC was largely similar to the IIIA, though a little under a half meter (1.6 feet) longer and brought up to full operational fit. The IIIC was a single-seat interceptor, with an Atar 09B turbojet engine, featuring an "eyelet" style variable exhaust.
The Mirage IIIC was armed with twin 30 millimeter DEFA revolver-type cannon, fitted in the belly with the gun ports under the air intakes. Early Mirage IIIC production had three stores pylons, one under the fuselage and one under each wing, but a second outboard pylon was quickly added to each wing, for a total of five. The outboard pylon was intended to carry a Sidewinder AAM. The twin 30 millimeter DEFA guns remained standard gun armament for following Mirage variants, though the number of stores pylons and types of external stores varied considerably. Details of external stores are discussed in a later section.
Although provision for the rocket engine was retained, by this time the day of the high-altitude bomber seemed to be over, and the SEPR rocket engine was rarely or never fitted in practice. In the first place, it required removal of the aircraft's cannon, and in the second, it seems it had a reputation for setting the aircraft on fire. The space for the rocket engine was used for additional fuel, and the rocket nozzle was replaced by a ventral fin at first, and an airfield arresting hook assembly later.
95 Mirage IIICs were obtained by the AdA, with initial operational deliveries in July 1961. The Mirage IIIC remained in service with the AdA until 1988. The type was also exported to Switzerland, with one sold in preparation for license construction; Israel; and South Africa. The export Mirage IIICs were given modified designations, with an additional letter added as a country code. For example, the Swiss Mirage IIIC was a "Mirage IIICS", while the Israeli machines were designated "Mirage IIICJ" and the South African machines were designated "Mirage IIICZ".
Exports of later variants would also feature such modified designations, though there would be elaborations that could be very confusing. A summary list of exports is provided later in this document.
* The Israelis were the first to score air to air "kills" in the Mirage, when they shot down two Syrian MiG-17s on 20 August 1963, and followed up with more kills, including some against the faster MiG-21.
The Israelis put their Mirage IIICJ fighters to particularly good use in the "Six-Day War" of 1967. On the morning of 5 June 1967, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) performed preemptive strikes on the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian air forces, destroying aircraft on the ground with cannon fire and breaking up runways with French "runway dibber" bombs, effectively winning the war for the Israelis in one swift blow. This advertisement and the low cost of the relatively simple and flexible Mirage delta fighter helped make it a major French export.
Type: Mirage IIIE
Function: fighter-bomber
Year: 1964
Crew: 1
Engines: 1 * 6200 kg SNECMA Atar 9C0-1 * 1500 kg SEPR 844
Wing Span: 8.22 m
Length: 15.03 m
Height: 4.05m
Wing Area: 35.00 m2
Empty Weight: 7050 kg
Max.Weight: 13700 kg
Speed: 2350 km/h
Ceiling: 17000 m
Range:
Armament: 2*g30 mm 4400 kg
Unit cost: 7 million USD
Mirage 3 NG
This was an upgrade of the Mirage III, proposed by Dassault. The changes included canards, extended wing root leading edges, a fly-by-wire control system, and the Atar 9K-50 engine. Prototype only.
The III V (V for "vertical") was a Mirage III airframe, modified with eight RB.162-31 lift engines (generating 5,400 lb thrust each, or 16:1 thrust to weight!), long-stroke landing gears, and various doors to minimize the undesirable effects of the lift engine exhausts. It was 59 ft long, with a 29 ft wingspan, and weighed about 30,000 lb. It was powered by a SNECMA TF-104 (12,000 lb thrust dry, 20,000 lb in afterburner). Control power was improved over the Balzac, with similarly located control jets at the nose, tail and wingtips. First hover was achieved on 12 February 1965. The TF-104 was upgraded to a TF-106 for the first supersonic flight. First transition was conducted in March 1966. The second aircraft was fitted with a 10,750 lb thrust Pratt & Whitney TF30. It is the fastest V/STOL aircraft on record, achieving Mach 2.04 on 12 September 1966. The eight engines didn't leave much room for fuel and a visiting US Air Force pilot had to eject, destroying one of the two aircraft when he ran out of fuel during low-speed and hover operations. The other III-V was also lost. With the entire fuselage filled with lift engines, the Balzac and the III V seemed to prove that with enough lift engines, any aircraft could be converted to V/STOL. The problem, however, was that there was no room for anything else. The Mirage III V weighed about 3,000 lb over the basic Mirage III, which cost about half the payload and fuel.
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