Mirage III recently completed 50 years of operational service in Pakistan Airforce. A magnificent plane, still worthy of carrying out CAS missions against any adversery.
The Mirage III and it's closest developments may be the fighter that have had the longest service time in major Airforce, or am I wrong on this, may some Soviet pattern survived in China?
The MiG-21 flew before the Mirage III and is still in service with India today (as well as a bunch of smaller air forces), so it definitely has the Mirage beat. Still, it's impressive that both fighters (as well as F-4s) remain in service in some capacity to this day. I guess they are not iconic designs for nothing !
@@MilitaryAviationHistory For several years. The main difference is the 5 is a ground attack version, it carries more fuel and thus has more range, and it only has a rangefinder radar for the guns. I wrote an article about the Mirage for my blog, but it is now closed. If you are interested, I can email it to you.
I would love to read it also if you don’t mind! I’m a plane fanatic and find it very interesting reading about various jets and prop plane functions and their history from pretty much all nations starting from WWII all the way up to today. The mirage is definitely one of my few favorite jets ever produced.
@@РохаТауфих No, I served in the Venezuelan Air Force and I went to France to train on the Mirage III C, at Dijon and Colmar. I also attended the French Staff College at the École Militaire in Paris.
according to people who worked with Mr Dassault, he had a design philosophy about plane design that if the plane looked good, then you knew it had good aerodynamics and would thus fly well
depending on what your preferences are thats not completely wrong, maybe doesn't work in detail but to get a general overview that works surprisingly well
Australia had Mirage 111s, I was watching an interview with a Qantas pilot who had been in the US Navy flying F14’s and then did an exchange program with the Australian airforce flying mirages. He met an Australian girl and stayed. He was asked about flying the mirage and said something like “An F14 has big engines, powerful radar, high speed, long range missiles. It’s a beast. But a mirage is like a sports car. You sit in an F14, you strap on a mirage”
The 1980s BBC Test Pilot School series had a French student who did a supersonic exercise in a two seat Lightning. Interviewed afterwards he was asked what he thought of the Mach 2 Lightning, ‘Just like a Mirage .... with two engines’. A bit like _quite nice._
@@guillaumedumoulin9383 Yeah he was the one. The other Captain Sully. He was US Navy, then RAAF then joined Qantas. A Qantas A330 had a computer malfunction and tried to dive into the ocean, a lot of people got badly injured when it suddenly pulled negative G’s and they hit the ceiling. He was the captain and managed to keep the aircraft flying and landed safely.
I strapped on a Mirage 111 for the first time as a 20-year-old pilot in the South African Air Force. After more than 1000 hours on the aircraft, I loved flying it more than ever. Marcel Dassault personally signed my 1000 hour certificate!
I fell in love with the Mirage after playing it in War Thunder, now knowing it's complete history in regards to production really just made me love it more
@@Ensign_Cthulhu I confirm it was his brother who was a French general and gaulist resistant by the code name ''char d'assaut'' meaning tank. Marcel Bloch himself spent much of the war in prison by Vichy, who wanted to pin on him part of the responsibility for defeat, and he was deported at the end of the way by the Germans.
@Kilian Klaiber I don't think so, it really was a homage to his brother, the Marcel Bloch company was already making planes for the French air force in the interwar years and the name wasn't a problem
That's true for many of our planes. My ears are bleeding when I ear people saying Rafael instead of Rafale (which is pretty straight forward, regarding pronunciation). Bismark's pronunciation of French terms is close to perfection. I has to be said.
We (Germany) should have bought the Mirage instead of appeasing the US in buying the F-104. As for Switzerland: to forgo the french firecontrol system to incorporate the worst guided air to air missile in history (Falcon) is just the kind of incentive to stick to neutrality that was warranted in the cold war.
@@mattheweagles5123 the Lockheed bribing scandal for F-104 sales is well documented. I think military matters was certainly not an equal in that procurement.
@@brealistic3542 Not true. A major aim of German politics follwing the 2nd World War was to reconcille the relationship with France. This lead to the "Treaty establishing the European Defence Community" in 1952 and eventually the EWG, the EU's predecessor in 1957. It was DeGaulle's dream to establish a French counterpoint to the US' predominant role inside the NATO. To outfit Germany with french weaponry would have been a means to this end.
Just the wrong colour, it should be all flat black inside the cockpit panels, which was a very useful thing at reducing glare from the exposed surfaces. outside is the most common variant, though there are a lot of variants that are either blue underneath, with brown and drab olive camouflage on top, or just plain brown.
So familiar that cockpit layout, though there are definite variations between operators, and you get a whole host of things that are upgraded differently, but a lot of those instruments and displays are common between them, and the later versions of the Mirage as well. That NAV computer is also I would think, if original equipment, all electromechanical, using a whole collection of electromechanical boxes in the nose and belly to do the calculations, using the inputs from the centrally mounted Air data computer, behind the pilot and under a fuel tank. not a fun thing to change out, so you would find every other part of the system changed out first to troubleshoot a failure on the ATE systems. Moving map as well a blend of electronic systems and mechanical intricate parts, to be able to both have a film cassette with the desired areas of interest on them ,in multiple resolutions, along with being able to move the entire cassette in both X and Y directions in the particular frame, along with rotating the entire film cassette mechanism to allow the pilot to have a moving map display that faithfully represented the view outside. I helped repair a lot of those things, with the 12V 250W halogen bulb that delighted in burning out, and killing the driver circuit, so the pilot would select the spare bulb and not have a display other than a half second flash. We were using a lot of the old nav computer arrays as spare parts, the computer having been replaced with an all electronic inertial guidance system, which was both smaller, more reliable, but definitely equally power hungry. A lot of common synchro units in all the mechanical systems, and a whole host of the parts were FRU's and plugged in. That Cyrano RADAR is not at all bad, but by modern standards very dated, but still for the time it was designed, well capable for the limitations of the envelope. Well worth the modern upgrades though, you got so much more out, like a CRT display.
Hallo! I must say, as a French, I sincerely commend you for your fine pronunciation of French names and terms (I first noticed it about the Dewoitine). There must have been some time well spent behind all of this. I also thank you for pointing out the specific mindset of the French regarding the development of their own aircrafts. If I had something to add, while not being anywhere near your expertise, that would be about the tradition of building and developing aeroplanes that was very much a thing even before WWI. Also, Marcel Bloch was someone important for the industry before WWII as well, since he developed a quite revolutionary propeller for the time during WWI. The reason why he changed his name to Dassault is also worth the reading. Thank you for your brilliant videos.
With the Caravelle liner and the Alouette III choper, the Mirage III is the symbol of French aerospace renaissance in the aftermath of the German occupation. In 1945 the French industry was down to ashes. 10 years later, France was making again world class aircraft second to none. And it took France just a couple of years more to wrestled the rank of 1st European aeronautical power it had lost in the 1920s and that it still holds today. This is what happens when innovation, passion, effective educative system, wise state dirigism and the astute nature of the French people meet together.
The rocket engine also allowed some "funny" things, like intercepting a US U-2 over a French nuclear site And Bravo, your French pronunciation is really good !
Yes. And when he proposed deltawing design for MiG-21...Stalin sent him to jail! Finally compromise came: The Fishbed can be semi-delta (with tail surfaces) but the designer worked in a confined-status (you know-like the COVIDISTs do now!)😤😨✈
The Mirage III is the Brigitte Bardot of the 60th’s when it comes to sexy Jets. It was always my favorite Fighter Jet till today. When the IAF Israeli Air Force used them during the six day war 1967 they became very famous being so successful during the war a lot of countries wandet to order their Mirages. The Mirage III was then seeing duty all over the planet. 😉 There was also a famous TV 📺 Series by the name! (Les Chevaliers du ciel). In the years 1967-69 plus a comic series by the name Mick Tangy which was published by the artist Albert Uderzo the founder of Asterix and Obelix.
@MilitaryAviationHistory Research the Cheetah that was developed amid the Border War of the 1980s as a major upgrade of the French-built Dassault Mirage III fleet operated by the SAAF. It will add well to this.. The rumor is that the South Africa army stole a Mirage and then back engineered it to build the Cheetah..
Cheers, John! The museum's help was invaluable during the research on this one, its very hard to get good info on the cockpits functionality otherwise as the systems changed quite a bit.
There is something French in pretty much any aircraft nowadays, be it “small” value tech such as Michelin tires, notably found on the space shuttle, or St Gobain window panels, or more sophisticated stuff Thales defense, Daher, Zodiac... Or plain fuselage parts from Dassault or Airbus. Not to mention the copyrights, think that every aircraft flying with a pair of engines at the back has paid a fee to Airbus, since this company has acquired Sud Aviation, creator of the Caravelle. Interesting anecdote: Boeing’s 737s have between 15 and 25% of their value (depending on the version) originating in France (CFM engines for instance are partly French).
The success of the HHA (Israeli Air Force) Mirage III's/Kfir's in so many Air battles against Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon had to be a godsend to D'Assault.
There's never been an air battle between Israel and Lebanon.There's been air battles above Lebanon between Israel and Syria. By the way Lebanon had also Mirage III, twelve of them I think. But during the war (1975 - 1990) they lost their air worthiness.
They talked at the start about France bouncing back from WW2 France never just rolled over in the war, even if the government did, and they were really quick to bounce back. The memes, while funny, are unfair
I can remember Mirage III's taking off and skimming the landscape around Williamstown air base in Australia in the early 80's. Lots of noise, and incredibly good looking :)
Did you see the one that lost engine, pilot ejected and the plane landed very well on the shallow seawater and stayed upright on the sandy beach with brake-chute deployed. Only in Australia!
I'm disappointed that you didn't mention the South African Mirage III's and the ultimate upgrade to the mirage aka the South African cheetas. Otherwise great video really love learning more.
I've been one of the last SAF "Grounddwellers" (observer) to see the IIIRS in action; eventhough the Taran made things .."complicated" and expensive, the plane itself was wonderfull, especially when it flew in (very)low altitude over your head, as the RS did. I miss the mirage. Nothing like it in the air today... Thanks for this video!
Well, although they are far from the III, there still are Mirages in the air nowadays, and their pilots speak very highly of them. There is a great Aircraw Interview episode with Ian Black who flew the -5 (I think) during an exchange, coming from the RAF, and fell in love with it. Worth watching.
@@fabiena1787 same goes for swiss pilots who trained with armee de l'air, and doing so, flew the mirage 2000. they were fascinated about the capabilities, loved it more than the f-18 (funfact: the 2000 was a candidate amongs f-16 and f-18.) (that's why i hope swiss air force will decide for the rafale; there's something about the french jets ;)
SNECMA makes engines which are very loud, and also produce a lot of power. Other manufacturers are Mikoyan and the Chinese government, who both started copying western designs, but are now very capable designers themselves.
I remember as a kid in the 70s attending RAAF airshows at Richmond near my home in Sydney Australia. The F1-11 in full afterburner was awesome but easily the prettiest and most elegant plane there was the Mirage. That is surely the most beautiful fighter ever designed? The Mirages were also very good value for Aussie taxpayers, some of which were kept for 1500 hours past their lifespan.
I remember when I was 14 seeing a mirage pilot face to face, the interesting thing was that I was walking across our local golf course at Narooma on the south coast of New South Wales , the pilot mentioned was flying a training mission from the Jervis Bay base and was at an elevation of a couple of hundred feet, it was AMAZING.
I was 9 or 10 years old in Malaysia, around 1969 or 1970, when there was a shiny silver Mirage that did a low pass over our school. Probably around two hundred feet as well... on his way back to the RAAF base in Butterworth Malaysia. Being a kid, and watching too many war movies, I hit the dirt...
Everyone EVERYONE who flew MirageIII or Mirage 2000 absolutely loved the aircraft. To Israeli aces it was G*dsend, the MirageIII. The precision , responsiveness of flight control, power of engine, ungodly speed at low altitude flight.
For some reason he also in another video left out South Africa as a prominent operator of the Canadair Sabre. It's unclear prejudice or just ignorance are at play.
@@montaguthorne2342 I suppose it could just be he doesn't want to remind people of the abomination of the Apartheid regime of the time. I mean, TH-cam demonstration can strike for obscure reasons!
@@montaguthorne2342 I would never disparage the SA armed forces of any period, they are indeed consummate professionals by any standard. I was just saying that TH-cam can get shirty and demonetise or even give channel strikes if anybody has the temerity to remind people of historical periods that they politically disagree with!
@@montaguthorne2342 You have to be in the mind of a Californian. Sometimes they don't think as rational as the rest of the world. This and Florida have it's fair share of that.
You need to travel to the Israeli air force museum at Hatzerim airbase. There you will see some Mirage's that have seen lots of action. They have jet aircraft with kill markings in the collection.
I find you veeeery generous on the godawful chaos that was french interwar aircraft design and production. Kudos on your efforts at french pronunciation, it was very good !
Il y a avait peut-être (sûrement) un manque d'organisation général, mais aussi des exploits insensés, autant humains que techniques. L'Aéropostale, déjà... A cette époque, les avions français enregistraient records après records il me semble, mais était mal (ou pas du tout) soutenue par l'Etat.
The mirage was ordered in switzerland because it was the only nuclear weapon platform available at that time feasable to switzerland. Switzerland had its own nuclear program in the sixties but due to a horrible accident it was canceled
You are wrong about aviation in post-war Europe. Sweden was the country that after England got jet-powered aircraft( SAAB J 21R 1947) for its air force and first in Europe with arrow-winged Figther aircraft (J 29 Tunnan) and Sweden was first out with delta aircraft when the J 35 Draken was a double-split aircraft. But France was also early but not as early as Sweden. Do not write this because I am Swedish but it is facts & history
I really appreciate that you put in effort to make sure you're correctly pronouncing names. A lot of youtubers don't even try to and just pronounce it the English way and I think that is a sign of an egocentric worldview.
Nide Video, do you have any plans to make Videos of the F+W N-20 and FFA P-16? But I do have a tiny little nitpick, in the original order in the 60s they ordered Mirage IIIBS, numbered U-2001 to U-2004. After two of those crashed, two more trainer were ordered in 1986, the Mirage IIIDS J-2011 and J-2012. The two remaining BS were upgraded to the same level as the new DS too if I remeber right
For the best /even today) supersonic configuration the German engineer:Lipisch singlemindedly pursued the simple round X-section projectile shaped fuselage with single delta wing. The French understood him-the Germans did not. Thus:Mirage, Griffon, etal. were born and even today those perfom equally /payload, altitudes, speed, etc./ with about 27-35% less thrust (ergo less consumption) engines as same category single engine jet fighters. I think-It would be equally interesting video about the origin of the Kfir-which started from a trashbin`s contained set of Mirage-III modification blueprints and became the source of the Cheetah. I live in CH and saw the Payerne museum. As an engineer and pilot-the only aerodynamic improvement I would have added is a pair of MOVING canards. /Of course if one would create an up-to-date Mirage...it would have thrust reverser, moving nozzle, larger airbrakes, composite structure and skin, morphing wing, gear doors independent close-open modes, hologram-instrumentation, ASSS (Aerodynamic Smart Skin System and man-machine interface), drone/manned switch, etc.
Belgium operated mainly mirage 5s , sadly corruption akin to the lockheed starfighter political scandals meant that mirage aircraft got not favoured as followups, wich is a pity
@@Jacobruxo Although a very different aircraft, we should get the Mirage F1 quite soon (developed by Aerges, a Spanish team made of people that worked on the Aviojet before). The screenshots of the cockpit are stunning.
Shame about the viewing numbers. I enjoyed the MS 406 video and would like to see many more post war French aircraft, like French cars they were often quite odd looking. This Mirage video is first class as expected so the apparent disinterest is inexplicable. Was there some release problem or some lack of appreciation of French planes? Might it possibly be something to do with western attitudes to France not wanting to be part of the Nato stand off with the Warsaw Pact? They were very successful (economy) combat aircraft salesmen to 3rd countries. France being an exiting partner in several international manufacturing cooperations might not help either and there was the American _Freedom Fries_ and Bart Simpson silliness.
South Africa has also bought the France Mirage III that was used it the bush/border War between 1966 to 1989 however the Frence Mirage F1 was used from the late 1970's till the end of the war. The old South African Mirage III fighters was converted to the Cheetah fighter.
I'll just comment to point out that French aeronautical developments were not *entirely* stopped between 1940 and 1944/45, as engineers in Vichy-controlled factories worked on a couple of interesting designs (some of them under supervision of the occupier) as well as improvements to existing designs. Having to keep most of these covert however didn't help in stimulating the engineers enough to quite keep up with the anglo-americans or soviets.
Maybe some designs continued between 1940 and 1942 but when the germans occupied the free area I think everything stopped. Also the vichy-controlled factories worked for the germans (and some as slowly as they could). The Dewoitine D551 (successor of D520) was stopped in June 1940 and all prototype destroyed.
In the brazilian air force it was nicknamed "jaca"(jackfruit),because it flies like one. Also,you should do an episode focused on the pre-war french aircraft industry clusterfuck.
@@CousinHubertRetrogaming Oui, ça fait un peu cirage de pompes, mais pour une fois que c'est dans ce sens-là, ça fait du bien. Et c'est agréable de constater que quelqu'un essaie un peu d'adopter le point de vue français pour comprendre des choix stratégiques qui se sont avérés payants, et ont contribué à maintenir une industrie en vie.
@@laurentrebern9190 Non. Nous sommes pas habitués. Et concernant l'état de notre pays. Je comprends pourquoi. Un pays grand-remplacé n'a plus d'avenir.
Pakistan Air Force currently has about 200 of these ,they have a dedicated remanufacturing facility with fine craftsmen,all retired Mark 3/5 from Libya,Lebanon,Australia and Egypt have found a new home.
We called this the French Lady lol my office was A3-17 back in 1985 being in the raaf tought me a lot as a kid ! Discipline respect mateship sharing & caring ! Best times of my life were here ! Although we never saw battle i lost 2 friends in accidents which i grief to this day 😢 got scared?? Hell i did !! We were flying a plane capable of mach 2 !!!
By ordering a great number of Mirage III and wishing for Sidewinders and other stuff, Switzerland payed quite a lot of money to the development of the Mirage III. One of the main reasons being, that France promised to deliver nuclear missiles to Switzerland, if a war should happen! So it was about nuclear weapons, not about the plane!!!!!!
There is a part of me that really wishes you could possibly do an "inside the cockpit" episode on the IAI Kfir, but I don't know if it'd ever even be possible to get permission from the Israeli Govt to do something like that
Mirage III recently completed 50 years of operational service in Pakistan Airforce.
A magnificent plane, still worthy of carrying out CAS missions against any adversery.
Most of them flying with parts from our old MIIIs deactivated a couple of years ago...
Merveilleuse! The "Spitfire" of the cold war: among the best of its time, powerful, deadly and...beautiful! What an outstanding machine.
I couldn't agree more!
Nice a video on the mirage III, my favorite plane!!!
Can u make some vid about the air war in Malvinas/Falklands war ?
Appreciate your pronunciation
Fantastic.
"....underfunded (Aviation Industry) community..."
WOW..... I had NO IDEA that demonetization existed in those days.....
The Mirage III and it's closest developments may be the fighter that have had the longest service time in major Airforce, or am I wrong on this, may some Soviet pattern survived in China?
The MiG-21 flew before the Mirage III and is still in service with India today (as well as a bunch of smaller air forces), so it definitely has the Mirage beat. Still, it's impressive that both fighters (as well as F-4s) remain in service in some capacity to this day. I guess they are not iconic designs for nothing !
awwww yes. The Power Of The BAGUETTE
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Ow yes burger power
Great video presentation. I flew the French Mirage IIIC and 5 models, the Swiss versions had a lot of differences, as you made clear.
Wow, amazing. How long did you fly them for? What was the difference in flying the two types?
@@MilitaryAviationHistory For several years. The main difference is the 5 is a ground attack version, it carries more fuel and thus has more range, and it only has a rangefinder radar for the guns. I wrote an article about the Mirage for my blog, but it is now closed. If you are interested, I can email it to you.
I would love to read it also if you don’t mind! I’m a plane fanatic and find it very interesting reading about various jets and prop plane functions and their history from pretty much all nations starting from WWII all the way up to today. The mirage is definitely one of my few favorite jets ever produced.
Did you serve in French Air Force?
@@РохаТауфих No, I served in the Venezuelan Air Force and I went to France to train on the Mirage III C, at Dijon and Colmar. I also attended the French Staff College at the École Militaire in Paris.
How is it that the French manage to build effective airplanes that are also beautiful, even today? They continually prove it is possible.
We just love planes, I guess.
There’s always an airstrip nearby ;)
They blew all their ugly-design options on their pre-WWII designs. Post-war they only had good-looking ideas remaining :)
@@yngveahlenback320 dewoitine 520 kinda hot ngl
@@sigma_frenchie4075 Dewoitine 520 of course and Arsenal VG 33 , too.
The Battle of France Marcel-Bloch fighter was the "Bloch 152".
Marcel Dassault said it ‘Ce qui est beau vole bien [If it is beautiful, it will fly well]'
Not gonna lie, the Mirage is a sexy plane. So is the Rafale. Those Frenchies know their way with aircraft.
according to people who worked with Mr Dassault, he had a design philosophy about plane design that if the plane looked good, then you knew it had good aerodynamics and would thus fly well
depending on what your preferences are thats not completely wrong, maybe doesn't work in detail but to get a general overview that works surprisingly well
@@hfuchs5609 according to some he had an habit to visit the drafting floor and advice/adjust designs
The Mirage looks amazing no matter what. My favorite version has to be the Kfir C-7, though
@@Tigershark_3082 just like in the area88 manga/anime ❤️
Australia had Mirage 111s, I was watching an interview with a Qantas pilot who had been in the US Navy flying F14’s and then did an exchange program with the Australian airforce flying mirages. He met an Australian girl and stayed. He was asked about flying the mirage and said something like “An F14 has big engines, powerful radar, high speed, long range missiles. It’s a beast. But a mirage is like a sports car. You sit in an F14, you strap on a mirage”
The 1980s BBC Test Pilot School series had a French student who did a supersonic exercise in a two seat Lightning. Interviewed afterwards he was asked what he thought of the Mach 2 Lightning, ‘Just like a Mirage .... with two engines’. A bit like _quite nice._
All of the 43 mothballed Auatralian Mirage were bought by PAF and have been reconditioned in service.
I just read an interview with "Kevin Sullivan" in the Key Publishing Special Issue on the F-14.
@@guillaumedumoulin9383 Yeah he was the one. The other Captain Sully. He was US Navy, then RAAF then joined Qantas. A Qantas A330 had a computer malfunction and tried to dive into the ocean, a lot of people got badly injured when it suddenly pulled negative G’s and they hit the ceiling. He was the captain and managed to keep the aircraft flying and landed safely.
I strapped on a Mirage 111 for the first time as a 20-year-old pilot in the South African Air Force. After more than 1000 hours on the aircraft, I loved flying it more than ever. Marcel Dassault personally signed my 1000 hour certificate!
I fell in love with the Mirage after playing it in War Thunder, now knowing it's complete history in regards to production really just made me love it more
The Mirage 2000 is even more pretty.
Dassault was actually the war name of Marcel Bloch's brother in the resistance
No, of Bloch himself, I heard.
@@Ensign_Cthulhu I confirm it was his brother who was a French general and gaulist resistant by the code name ''char d'assaut'' meaning tank. Marcel Bloch himself spent much of the war in prison by Vichy, who wanted to pin on him part of the responsibility for defeat, and he was deported at the end of the way by the Germans.
@Kilian Klaiber I don't think so, it really was a homage to his brother, the Marcel Bloch company was already making planes for the French air force in the interwar years and the name wasn't a problem
Would love to see a inside the cockpit on the Mig 25. Probably never happen but just throwing it out there.
It's successor (MiG 31) are all undergoing complete rebuild as Kindjal hypersonic missile platform.
Weren't there "fly behind a MiG" promos back in the 1990's for civilians to fly in one? Not sure if there is a MiG25 in one of those.
Might be kind of a simple looking affair.
@@shaider1982 There was an episode of Wings on Discovery channel on the Mig 25.
@@1joshjosh1 I think it will be very complicated. The plane could do a lot and everything was analog back then.
I never thought about how much better Mirage Trois sounds than Mirage Three.
I thought that was when three people loved each other a lot.
Menage à trois eh?
Hunh hunh huhh noises
Yeah, it better
That's true for many of our planes. My ears are bleeding when I ear people saying Rafael instead of Rafale (which is pretty straight forward, regarding pronunciation). Bismark's pronunciation of French terms is close to perfection. I has to be said.
We (Germany) should have bought the Mirage instead of appeasing the US in buying the F-104.
As for Switzerland: to forgo the french firecontrol system to incorporate the worst guided air to air missile in history (Falcon) is just the kind of incentive to stick to neutrality that was warranted in the cold war.
It certainly would have saved a lot of lifes... The Bundeswehr really misused the Starfighter, creating the "flying coffins".
A lot of these procurement decisions are political, diplomatic and military in equal measures.
@@mattheweagles5123 the Lockheed bribing scandal for F-104 sales is well documented. I think military matters was certainly not an equal in that procurement.
You really should have but the Germans really didn't like the French at the time and I bet that went double for the French !😁
@@brealistic3542 Not true. A major aim of German politics follwing the 2nd World War was to reconcille the relationship with France. This lead to the "Treaty establishing the European Defence Community" in 1952 and eventually the EWG, the EU's predecessor in 1957. It was DeGaulle's dream to establish a French counterpoint to the US' predominant role inside the NATO. To outfit Germany with french weaponry would have been a means to this end.
Plane looks pretty clean still after all this time!
Just the wrong colour, it should be all flat black inside the cockpit panels, which was a very useful thing at reducing glare from the exposed surfaces. outside is the most common variant, though there are a lot of variants that are either blue underneath, with brown and drab olive camouflage on top, or just plain brown.
@@SeanBZA Swiss Mirage cockpits have always been painted green. Green is restful to the eye and is known to reduce stress.
Of course it's clean and proper; it's Swiss.
He did review a nice ww1 Fokker dv 7 which is at least 100 years old
@OneBear I just go where the planes are 😅
I always loved the mirage III....probably because I grew up with Michel Tanguy.
So familiar that cockpit layout, though there are definite variations between operators, and you get a whole host of things that are upgraded differently, but a lot of those instruments and displays are common between them, and the later versions of the Mirage as well. That NAV computer is also I would think, if original equipment, all electromechanical, using a whole collection of electromechanical boxes in the nose and belly to do the calculations, using the inputs from the centrally mounted Air data computer, behind the pilot and under a fuel tank. not a fun thing to change out, so you would find every other part of the system changed out first to troubleshoot a failure on the ATE systems.
Moving map as well a blend of electronic systems and mechanical intricate parts, to be able to both have a film cassette with the desired areas of interest on them ,in multiple resolutions, along with being able to move the entire cassette in both X and Y directions in the particular frame, along with rotating the entire film cassette mechanism to allow the pilot to have a moving map display that faithfully represented the view outside. I helped repair a lot of those things, with the 12V 250W halogen bulb that delighted in burning out, and killing the driver circuit, so the pilot would select the spare bulb and not have a display other than a half second flash. We were using a lot of the old nav computer arrays as spare parts, the computer having been replaced with an all electronic inertial guidance system, which was both smaller, more reliable, but definitely equally power hungry. A lot of common synchro units in all the mechanical systems, and a whole host of the parts were FRU's and plugged in.
That Cyrano RADAR is not at all bad, but by modern standards very dated, but still for the time it was designed, well capable for the limitations of the envelope. Well worth the modern upgrades though, you got so much more out, like a CRT display.
Hallo! I must say, as a French, I sincerely commend you for your fine pronunciation of French names and terms (I first noticed it about the Dewoitine). There must have been some time well spent behind all of this. I also thank you for pointing out the specific mindset of the French regarding the development of their own aircrafts. If I had something to add, while not being anywhere near your expertise, that would be about the tradition of building and developing aeroplanes that was very much a thing even before WWI. Also, Marcel Bloch was someone important for the industry before WWII as well, since he developed a quite revolutionary propeller for the time during WWI. The reason why he changed his name to Dassault is also worth the reading. Thank you for your brilliant videos.
With the Caravelle liner and the Alouette III choper, the Mirage III is the symbol of French aerospace renaissance in the aftermath of the German occupation. In 1945 the French industry was down to ashes. 10 years later, France was making again world class aircraft second to none. And it took France just a couple of years more to wrestled the rank of 1st European aeronautical power it had lost in the 1920s and that it still holds today. This is what happens when innovation, passion, effective educative system, wise state dirigism and the astute nature of the French people meet together.
Our Air force still flies French Mirage 2000. Hello from India n Viv le France
Mirage is one of the most beautiful planes ever designed. French sure are good at making things both beautiful and functional.
The rocket engine also allowed some "funny" things, like intercepting a US U-2 over a French nuclear site
And Bravo, your French pronunciation is really good !
France always have had a amazing aviation industry and history in aviation.
Bloch was a classmate with Mikhail Gurevich at Supaero in 1917
Yes. And when he proposed deltawing design for MiG-21...Stalin sent him to jail! Finally compromise came: The Fishbed can be semi-delta (with tail surfaces) but the designer worked in a confined-status (you know-like the COVIDISTs do now!)😤😨✈
The Mirage III is the Brigitte Bardot of the 60th’s when it comes to sexy Jets. It was always my favorite Fighter Jet till today. When the IAF Israeli Air Force used them during the six day war 1967 they became very famous being so successful during the war a lot of countries wandet to order their Mirages. The Mirage III was then seeing duty all over the planet. 😉 There was also a famous TV 📺 Series by the name! (Les Chevaliers du ciel). In the years 1967-69 plus a comic series by the name Mick Tangy which was published by the artist Albert Uderzo the founder of Asterix and Obelix.
Very good report on the Mirage III.
And yes, it's true, the French are passionate and invented many things before anyone else.
@MilitaryAviationHistory
Research the Cheetah that was developed amid the Border War of the 1980s as a major upgrade of the French-built Dassault Mirage III fleet operated by the SAAF.
It will add well to this..
The rumor is that the South Africa army stole a Mirage and then back engineered it to build the Cheetah..
Thanks, Chris! As usual, thorough and well-researched.
Cheers, John! The museum's help was invaluable during the research on this one, its very hard to get good info on the cockpits functionality otherwise as the systems changed quite a bit.
There is something French in pretty much any aircraft nowadays, be it “small” value tech such as Michelin tires, notably found on the space shuttle, or St Gobain window panels, or more sophisticated stuff Thales defense, Daher, Zodiac...
Or plain fuselage parts from Dassault or Airbus.
Not to mention the copyrights, think that every aircraft flying with a pair of engines at the back has paid a fee to Airbus, since this company has acquired Sud Aviation, creator of the Caravelle.
Interesting anecdote: Boeing’s 737s have between 15 and 25% of their value (depending on the version) originating in France (CFM engines for instance are partly French).
to be fair, i'm pretty sure a small share of all airbus planes are american too.
@@Lapantouflemagic0 Yes, of course, you can't avoid americans subcontractors for a lot of critical parts.
The success of the HHA (Israeli Air Force) Mirage III's/Kfir's in so many Air battles against Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon had to be a godsend to D'Assault.
There's never been an air battle between Israel and Lebanon.There's been air battles above Lebanon between Israel and Syria.
By the way Lebanon had also Mirage III, twelve of them I think. But during the war (1975 - 1990) they lost their air worthiness.
The French call the shock cone after what it looks like - the souris (souris being French for mouse).
They talked at the start about France bouncing back from WW2
France never just rolled over in the war, even if the government did, and they were really quick to bounce back. The memes, while funny, are unfair
I can remember Mirage III's taking off and skimming the landscape around Williamstown air base in Australia in the early 80's. Lots of noise, and incredibly good looking :)
Did you see the one that lost engine, pilot ejected and the plane landed very well on the shallow seawater and stayed upright on the sandy beach with brake-chute deployed. Only in Australia!
I'm disappointed that you didn't mention the South African Mirage III's and the ultimate upgrade to the mirage aka the South African cheetas. Otherwise great video really love learning more.
I've been one of the last SAF "Grounddwellers" (observer) to see the IIIRS in action; eventhough the Taran made things .."complicated" and expensive, the plane itself was wonderfull, especially when it flew in (very)low altitude over your head, as the RS did. I miss the mirage. Nothing like it in the air today...
Thanks for this video!
Well, although they are far from the III, there still are Mirages in the air nowadays, and their pilots speak very highly of them. There is a great Aircraw Interview episode with Ian Black who flew the -5 (I think) during an exchange, coming from the RAF, and fell in love with it. Worth watching.
@@fabiena1787 same goes for swiss pilots who trained with armee de l'air, and doing so, flew the mirage 2000. they were fascinated about the capabilities, loved it more than the f-18 (funfact: the 2000 was a candidate amongs f-16 and f-18.)
(that's why i hope swiss air force will decide for the rafale; there's something about the french jets ;)
its like, there's 4 guys making jet engines in the west, 2 are american, 1 is Rolls Royce and then there's SNECMA
SNECMA makes engines which are very loud, and also produce a lot of power. Other manufacturers are Mikoyan and the Chinese government, who both started copying western designs, but are now very capable designers themselves.
I remember as a kid in the 70s attending RAAF airshows at Richmond near my home in Sydney Australia. The F1-11 in full afterburner was awesome but easily the prettiest and most elegant plane there was the Mirage. That is surely the most beautiful fighter ever designed? The Mirages were also very good value for Aussie taxpayers, some of which were kept for 1500 hours past their lifespan.
I remember when I was 14 seeing a mirage pilot face to face, the interesting thing was that I was walking across our local golf course at Narooma on the south coast of New South Wales , the pilot mentioned was flying a training mission from the Jervis Bay base and was at an elevation of a couple of hundred feet, it was AMAZING.
I was 9 or 10 years old in Malaysia, around 1969 or 1970, when there was a shiny silver Mirage that did a low pass over our school. Probably around two hundred feet as well... on his way back to the RAAF base in Butterworth Malaysia. Being a kid, and watching too many war movies, I hit the dirt...
The notification came after the recommendation for me.
I didn't get any notification at all despite "the bell" being on. Reliability is definitely not TH-cam's forte.
I got mine just when the video was released...
Everyone EVERYONE who flew MirageIII or Mirage 2000 absolutely loved the aircraft. To Israeli aces it was G*dsend, the MirageIII. The precision , responsiveness of flight control, power of engine, ungodly speed at low altitude flight.
Any reason you left South Africa out of the list of countries that used the Mirage?
For some reason he also in another video left out South Africa as a prominent operator of the Canadair Sabre. It's unclear prejudice or just ignorance are at play.
@@montaguthorne2342 I suppose it could just be he doesn't want to remind people of the abomination of the Apartheid regime of the time. I mean, TH-cam demonstration can strike for obscure reasons!
I don't like to bring politics into the discussion, but we have a very professionally run defense force. Excellence can't be ignored.
@@montaguthorne2342 I would never disparage the SA armed forces of any period, they are indeed consummate professionals by any standard. I was just saying that TH-cam can get shirty and demonetise or even give channel strikes if anybody has the temerity to remind people of historical periods that they politically disagree with!
@@montaguthorne2342 You have to be in the mind of a Californian. Sometimes they don't think as rational as the rest of the world.
This and Florida have it's fair share of that.
Yay! Been waiting for this one for about a year (ever since your museum tour video)!
A beautiful and iconic fighter of the cold war.
Always thought the Mirages were supremely awesome looking. Something about the delta wing just flicks a switch somewhere deep in the mind, y'know?
France was a force to be recorded with. Let us not forget the Exocet missile and how deadly it could be.
Actually were Super Etendarts those with Exocets, but the M3 had proven to be lethal with bombs
As an engine specialist the Mirage (atar) engine was a dream to run from fuel leak to full test
I did about 16 years on this aircraft
great days
its not the Swiss its was the Pakistan AF that used, modified, upgraded and still use it with effectiveness
You need to travel to the Israeli air force museum at Hatzerim airbase. There you will see some Mirage's that have seen lots of action. They have jet aircraft with kill markings in the collection.
🇮🇱❤️
Wow, French design is very smart.
sorry left handed people, fighter planes were never meant to you
I find you veeeery generous on the godawful chaos that was french interwar aircraft design and production.
Kudos on your efforts at french pronunciation, it was very good !
Il y a avait peut-être (sûrement) un manque d'organisation général, mais aussi des exploits insensés, autant humains que techniques. L'Aéropostale, déjà... A cette époque, les avions français enregistraient records après records il me semble, mais était mal (ou pas du tout) soutenue par l'Etat.
The mirage was ordered in switzerland because it was the only nuclear weapon platform available at that time feasable to switzerland. Switzerland had its own nuclear program in the sixties but due to a horrible accident it was canceled
Where there is passion is possibility. Great Military Aviation History motto. Thank you Chris.
I swear I've seen this thing used as a MIG standin on more than a few movies/tv shows
Iron Eagle used Israeli Mirage and Kfir as MIGs.
Thanks you for your comments. Merci beaucoup.
23:42 i got that Dos Gringos reference
You are wrong about aviation in post-war Europe. Sweden was the country that after England got jet-powered aircraft( SAAB J 21R 1947) for its air force and first in Europe with arrow-winged Figther aircraft (J 29 Tunnan) and Sweden was first out with delta aircraft when the J 35 Draken was a double-split aircraft. But France was also early but not as early as Sweden. Do not write this because I am Swedish but it is facts & history
he talked about before the world war.
I really appreciate that you put in effort to make sure you're correctly pronouncing names. A lot of youtubers don't even try to and just pronounce it the English way and I think that is a sign of an egocentric worldview.
Beautifully done. I wouldn't be opposed to this becoming a primetime TV series.
I have worked with French and they have a clear and very objective mind in all issues.this people are amazing.
Merci !
C'est trop d'honneur... 😉
Dassault Mirage. The only thing that comes close to the F104 in looks.
one of the most beautiful planes of all time
Nide Video, do you have any plans to make Videos of the F+W N-20 and FFA P-16?
But I do have a tiny little nitpick, in the original order in the 60s they ordered Mirage IIIBS, numbered U-2001 to U-2004. After two of those crashed, two more trainer were ordered in 1986, the Mirage IIIDS J-2011 and J-2012. The two remaining BS were upgraded to the same level as the new DS too if I remeber right
Great work as usual Chris. Thank you.
Rich.
Your French is pretty good too.
I'm English but live in France.
Thanks Rich!
@@MilitaryAviationHistory 'Pretty good' is an understatement. And that comes from a French. Salutations à tous les deux.
Everything I know about Mirage 3 I learned from Tanguy et Laverdure
For the best /even today) supersonic configuration the German engineer:Lipisch singlemindedly pursued the simple round X-section projectile shaped fuselage with single delta wing. The French understood him-the Germans did not. Thus:Mirage, Griffon, etal. were born and even today those perfom equally /payload, altitudes, speed, etc./ with about 27-35% less thrust (ergo less consumption) engines as same category single engine jet fighters. I think-It would be equally interesting video about the origin of the Kfir-which started from a trashbin`s contained set of Mirage-III modification blueprints and became the source of the Cheetah. I live in CH and saw the Payerne museum. As an engineer and pilot-the only aerodynamic improvement I would have added is a pair of MOVING canards. /Of course if one would create an up-to-date Mirage...it would have thrust reverser, moving nozzle, larger airbrakes, composite structure and skin, morphing wing, gear doors independent close-open modes, hologram-instrumentation, ASSS (Aerodynamic Smart Skin System and man-machine interface), drone/manned switch, etc.
Belgium operated mainly mirage 5s , sadly corruption akin to the lockheed starfighter political scandals meant that mirage aircraft got not favoured as followups, wich is a pity
Do you have the mirage in DCS? i know it's not the same one but i heard it's fun to fly
The one we have in DCS is the Mirage-2000, way more modern than the IIIS. I would love to fly the Mirage III though. Hope to see it one day.
@@Jacobruxo Although a very different aircraft, we should get the Mirage F1 quite soon (developed by Aerges, a Spanish team made of people that worked on the Aviojet before). The screenshots of the cockpit are stunning.
Shame about the viewing numbers. I enjoyed the MS 406 video and would like to see many more post war French aircraft, like French cars they were often quite odd looking. This Mirage video is first class as expected so the apparent disinterest is inexplicable. Was there some release problem or some lack of appreciation of French planes?
Might it possibly be something to do with western attitudes to France not wanting to be part of the Nato stand off with the Warsaw Pact? They were very successful (economy) combat aircraft salesmen to 3rd countries. France being an exiting partner in several international manufacturing cooperations might not help either and there was the American _Freedom Fries_ and Bart Simpson silliness.
Comme par hasard la petite musique française 😁
Always loved the Mirage from the days when I watched the TV "The Aeronauts" as a kid in the 70,s.
The story about airstrips in mountains is basically an Ace Combat plot point. It's all fun and games until the sky starts chanting Latin.
I just love how you’re talking to us while casually resting your arm on a fight jet wing!
Más allá del bonito diseño tiene un hermoso sonido.
Beyond the beatifull desing It has a powerfull sound
South Africa has also bought the France Mirage III that was used it the bush/border War between 1966 to 1989 however the Frence Mirage F1 was used from the late 1970's till the end of the war. The old South African Mirage III fighters was converted to the Cheetah fighter.
I'll just comment to point out that French aeronautical developments were not *entirely* stopped between 1940 and 1944/45, as engineers in Vichy-controlled factories worked on a couple of interesting designs (some of them under supervision of the occupier) as well as improvements to existing designs. Having to keep most of these covert however didn't help in stimulating the engineers enough to quite keep up with the anglo-americans or soviets.
Maybe some designs continued between 1940 and 1942 but when the germans occupied the free area I think everything stopped. Also the vichy-controlled factories worked for the germans (and some as slowly as they could).
The Dewoitine D551 (successor of D520) was stopped in June 1940 and all prototype destroyed.
Pakistan still operates more than 200 Mirages.
In the brazilian air force it was nicknamed "jaca"(jackfruit),because it flies like one.
Also,you should do an episode focused on the pre-war french aircraft industry clusterfuck.
Thanks for the beginning praises from France
Ca rechauffe le coeur
@@CousinHubertRetrogaming Oui, ça fait un peu cirage de pompes, mais pour une fois que c'est dans ce sens-là, ça fait du bien. Et c'est agréable de constater que quelqu'un essaie un peu d'adopter le point de vue français pour comprendre des choix stratégiques qui se sont avérés payants, et ont contribué à maintenir une industrie en vie.
@@fabiena1787 Pourquoi appeler "cirage de pompes" des compliments sincères ?
Parce que nous n'y sommes pas habitués ? 🙄
@@laurentrebern9190 Non.
Nous sommes pas habitués. Et concernant l'état de notre pays. Je comprends pourquoi.
Un pays grand-remplacé n'a plus d'avenir.
That was very well done as usual Chris.
I did not expect that kind of French music on this channel so it was a pleasant surprise 👍🏴
Awesome video and exceptionally researched as always. Thank you again Chris!
P.S. a video on the Rafale would be awesome, if you need any ideas
Pakistan Air Force currently has about 200 of these ,they have a dedicated remanufacturing facility with fine craftsmen,all retired Mark 3/5 from Libya,Lebanon,Australia and Egypt have found a new home.
The Mirage III is my favorite plane, probably the best french plane gen for gen.
I love you vids dude! ❤️
You should definitely check Pakistan's Mirage III/V Rose. They have quite alot of upgrades and differences from the the standard mirage III/Vs
Hello decondition you self man. AMERICA DO NOT PRODUCE AIRCRAFT. Prove me erroneos if you can. Thanks for promoting Aviation. Saludos
We called this the French Lady lol my office was A3-17 back in 1985 being in the raaf tought me a lot as a kid ! Discipline respect mateship sharing & caring ! Best times of my life were here ! Although we never saw battle i lost 2 friends in accidents which i grief to this day 😢 got scared?? Hell i did !! We were flying a plane capable of mach 2 !!!
_"DakkaDakka"?_
😊😊😊
{I am GUESSING that is the equivalent of *"PEW PEW."* 😊}
Could you raise the volume of your videos when editing them? Even when my phone is at max, it's difficult for me to hear you.
Thanks!
On my phone it works just fine. Maybe your phone has lower volume?
The volume is fine for me, it must be a problem on your end.
Volume is fine for me.
I have my volume up a extra
@@davidmartindale2263 Volume is fine for me as well.
By ordering a great number of Mirage III and wishing for Sidewinders and other stuff, Switzerland payed quite a lot of money to the development of the Mirage III. One of the main reasons being, that France promised to deliver nuclear missiles to Switzerland, if a war should happen! So it was about nuclear weapons, not about the plane!!!!!!
The export market of the MirageIII is often over looked. It had many technical and political consequences.
that mountain range hanger thing sounds like something a bond villain would do.
Don't say dampener. It's called damper. You know this.
There is a part of me that really wishes you could possibly do an "inside the cockpit" episode on the IAI Kfir, but I don't know if it'd ever even be possible to get permission from the Israeli Govt to do something like that
“Chronically disorganised” is such a German assessment of French industry!
จะมีรุ่นใหม่แน่นอนเครื่องยนต์รุ่นใหม่อาจจะได้เห็นห้องโดยสารที่มีการออกแบบที่ยอดเยี่ยมเหมือนรุ่นใหญ่ เขาทำได้ดี
Definitely love the cold war jets! Awesome video!