Dassault Mirage F.1C
While the Mirage III/5 family was very successful, the delta wings used in these designs required a long runway, and Mirage IIIs in combat had shown problems with stalling in high-G maneuvers. To counter these problems, the French Armee de l’Air asked Dassault to design a more conventional multirole aircraft. This became the Mirage F.2, but the F.2 proved to be too large and expensive for the AdA. Dassault had already begun design work on a smaller version as a private venture, the F.1. Despite being smaller than the Mirage III, the Mirage F.1 had longer range, better maneuverability without the stall problem, and only needed half the runway of its delta-winged cousins. The prototype took to the air in December 1966.
The AdA liked the design, but changed the requirement from a low-level strike aircraft to a multirole interceptor. This proved to be no trouble for Dassault, which simply enlarged the nose to take a multimode radar, and the first Mirage F.1C entered service in May 1973. Like most Dassault designs, the Mirage F.1’s reliability and low cost made it very attractive for export customers, and it was adopted by 13 air forces over the next decade. Also like the rest of the Mirage family, the Mirage F.1 was converted to a number of roles, acting as not only an air superiority fighter, but also for ground attack and reconnaissance.
Flying during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s in the Middle East, South America, and Africa, the Mirage F.1 was also to see a great deal of combat service. The first was Morocco, using its Mirages in attacks against Polisario Front guerillas in 1979, quickly followed by South Africa, who used its Mirages successfully against Cuban-flown Angolan MiG-23s in border disputes; SAAF Mirage F.1s shot down at least two MiGs and proved resilient to damage.
Iraq was to employ their Mirage F.1s with some success in the Iran-Iraq War, and the type proved to be the only Iraqi fighter to be able to dogfight Iranian F-14 Tomcats with any success. Iraqi Mirages fared less well in the First Gulf War, where several were lost against US Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Eagles; Kuwait’s Mirage F.1s had already seen action against Iraq earlier during the Iraqi invasion that started the war, and a significant number of Iraqi Mirages ended up interned in Iran during the war, later being incorporated into the Iranian Air Force. This was not the first time that two nations operating Mirage F.1s had the potential of fighting each other: France had already attacked Libya during the conflict in Chad in the early 1980s. The most recent combat involving Mirage F.1s was in Libya in 2011, again both France and Libya operating the type, though Libyan Mirages either remained on the ground or sought asylum in Malta. French Mirage F.1s also saw action in Afghanistan and the Ivory Coast.
Though the Mirage F.1 is approaching 40 years in service, it remains a viable fighter, and still serves in four air forces worldwide. France, ceding the fighter-interceptor role to the Mirage 2000, converted its Mirage F.1s to Mirage F.1CT standard, allowing the Armee de l’Air to replace the Mirage III/5s in service in the mid-1990s. These were finally retired in 2014. 720 Mirage F.1s were built.
This Mirage F.1C of the Armee de l'Air (French Air Force) stopped in for the 1978 Ramstein airshow. As this is still early in the Mirage F.1's career, it carries the camouflage used by the type through the mid-1980s--a dark blue-gray over light gray scheme. This aircraft belonged to SPA 162 "Tete de Tigre" of EC 1/7 ("Provence"), one of the AdA's Tiger squadrons, based at St.-Dizier. SPA 162 remained in the Mirage F.1 for several decades before converting to the Rafale around 2012. The final fate of this particular Mirage F.1 is unknown.
Dassault Mirage F.1C
While the Mirage III/5 family was very successful, the delta wings used in these designs required a long runway, and Mirage IIIs in combat had shown problems with stalling in high-G maneuvers. To counter these problems, the French Armee de l’Air asked Dassault to design a more conventional multirole aircraft. This became the Mirage F.2, but the F.2 proved to be too large and expensive for the AdA. Dassault had already begun design work on a smaller version as a private venture, the F.1. Despite being smaller than the Mirage III, the Mirage F.1 had longer range, better maneuverability without the stall problem, and only needed half the runway of its delta-winged cousins. The prototype took to the air in December 1966.
The AdA liked the design, but changed the requirement from a low-level strike aircraft to a multirole interceptor. This proved to be no trouble for Dassault, which simply enlarged the nose to take a multimode radar, and the first Mirage F.1C entered service in May 1973. Like most Dassault designs, the Mirage F.1’s reliability and low cost made it very attractive for export customers, and it was adopted by 13 air forces over the next decade. Also like the rest of the Mirage family, the Mirage F.1 was converted to a number of roles, acting as not only an air superiority fighter, but also for ground attack and reconnaissance.
Flying during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s in the Middle East, South America, and Africa, the Mirage F.1 was also to see a great deal of combat service. The first was Morocco, using its Mirages in attacks against Polisario Front guerillas in 1979, quickly followed by South Africa, who used its Mirages successfully against Cuban-flown Angolan MiG-23s in border disputes; SAAF Mirage F.1s shot down at least two MiGs and proved resilient to damage.
Iraq was to employ their Mirage F.1s with some success in the Iran-Iraq War, and the type proved to be the only Iraqi fighter to be able to dogfight Iranian F-14 Tomcats with any success. Iraqi Mirages fared less well in the First Gulf War, where several were lost against US Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Eagles; Kuwait’s Mirage F.1s had already seen action against Iraq earlier during the Iraqi invasion that started the war, and a significant number of Iraqi Mirages ended up interned in Iran during the war, later being incorporated into the Iranian Air Force. This was not the first time that two nations operating Mirage F.1s had the potential of fighting each other: France had already attacked Libya during the conflict in Chad in the early 1980s. The most recent combat involving Mirage F.1s was in Libya in 2011, again both France and Libya operating the type, though Libyan Mirages either remained on the ground or sought asylum in Malta. French Mirage F.1s also saw action in Afghanistan and the Ivory Coast.
Though the Mirage F.1 is approaching 40 years in service, it remains a viable fighter, and still serves in four air forces worldwide. France, ceding the fighter-interceptor role to the Mirage 2000, converted its Mirage F.1s to Mirage F.1CT standard, allowing the Armee de l’Air to replace the Mirage III/5s in service in the mid-1990s. These were finally retired in 2014. 720 Mirage F.1s were built.
This Mirage F.1C of the Armee de l'Air (French Air Force) stopped in for the 1978 Ramstein airshow. As this is still early in the Mirage F.1's career, it carries the camouflage used by the type through the mid-1980s--a dark blue-gray over light gray scheme. This aircraft belonged to SPA 162 "Tete de Tigre" of EC 1/7 ("Provence"), one of the AdA's Tiger squadrons, based at St.-Dizier. SPA 162 remained in the Mirage F.1 for several decades before converting to the Rafale around 2012. The final fate of this particular Mirage F.1 is unknown.