The Retirees
The Mirage III as one of the most successful aircraft created in French aero-industry, was initially designed as a lightweight interceptor but found greater success as a multi-role fighter. First flown as the Mirage IIIA prototype in 1956, the aircraft entered service with the French Air Force in 1958.
The final IIIE variant was optimized for the long-range interceptor and bomber roles featuring TACAN nav systems, Cyrano II radar, a longer fuselage, and the ability to carry a wider number of stores. With the last examples used by the French CEV (Centre d'Essais en Vol) as testbeds the carreer of this beautiful fighter ended in 2005 with the L'Armee de L'Air.
Started his career in the height of the cold war as a long range nuclear bomber, the Mirage IV, as largest of the famous Delta winged Dassault daughters, ended his career as a photo reconnaissance platform with the French L'Armee de L'Air.
By the end of the century, all Mirage IV bombers had been retired, with the Mirage 2000 replacing them as the carrier for the ASMP missile. However, five Mirage IVRs were still in service with ERS 01.09 and made significant contributions to the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. These machines performed high altitude, high speed overflights of Yugoslavian territory, observing about 20 targets on a mission.
As a result of an Anglo-French cooperation in the 1960s the Jaguar ended out of a programm that was started to develope a dedicated supersonic training aircraft to prepare pilots for the high-speed combat aircraft expected in the last quarter of the 20th Century. The cost of such a trainer was expected to be high, so in the spirit of the day the British and French decided to combine efforts to produce one aircraft to meet the needs of both nations. At the same time replacements were needed for the Hunter fighter-bombers of the RAF and the Super Sabres of the French Air Force.
The Jaguar marked a clear departure from the previous policy of using old fighters in the ground-attack role. The Jaguar was designed as a "bomb cart" able to haul a large load of bombs at high subsonic speed at low level and then make a supersonic escape after delivery. The two-seater Jaguar design survived as a conversion trainer for the single-seat aircraft. The last unit to operate the Jaguar in French service was EC01.007 and with the final flight allready made the type will be replaced with the Rafale in the French Air Force.
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