Dassault Super Mystère
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The Dassault Super Mystère French fighter-bomber was the first Western European supersonic aircraft to enter mass production.
Development
The Super Mystère represents the final step in evolution which began with Dassault Ouragan and progressed through Mystère II/III and Mystère IV. While earlier Mystère variants could attain supersonic speeds only in a dive, Super Mystère could exceed the speed of sound in level flight. This was achieved thanks to the new thin wing with 45° of sweep (compared with 41° of sweep in Mystère IV and only 33° in Mystère II) and the use of an afterburner-equipped turbojet engine.The first prototype Super Mystère B.1, powered by Rolls-Royce Avon RA.7R, took to the air on March 2, 1955. The aircraft broke the sound barrier in level flight the following day. The aircraft entered production in 1957 as Super Mystère B.2. The production version differed from the prototype by having a more powerful SNECMA Atar 101G engine. In 1958, two Super Mystère B.4 prototypes were built. Equipped with a new 48° swept wing and a more powerful SNECMA Atar 9B engine, the aircraft were capable of Mach 1.4. Production never materialized because the faster Dassault Mirage III was entering service. In 1973, Israeli Air Force upgraded their Super Mystère B.2 with a non-afterburning version of the Pratt & Whitney J52-P8A and new avionics.
A total of 180 Super Mystère B.2 were built.
Operational history
Super Mystère served with French Air Force until 1977. In addition, 36 aircraft were sold to Israeli Air Force in 1958. The aircraft saw action in Six-Day War in 1967 and Yom Kippur War in 1973. They were well-liked by the Israeli pilots and were a match for the Arab MiG-19 in air-to-air combat.In 1975, Israel sold 12 complete airframes and 6 sets of spares to Honduras. The aircraft were involved in numerous border skirmishes with Nicaragua and were finally withdrawn from service in 1996. However, the 11 surviving aircraft were pressed back into service in 1998 to deal with drug traffickers illegally crossing Honduran airspace.
Operators
- France, Israel, Honduras,
Specifications (Super Mystère B.2)
References
- Donald, D, Lake J. (eds.) (1996) Encyclopedia of world military aircraft. AIRtime Publishing. ISBN 1880588242
- Kopenhagen, W (ed.) (1987) Das groβe Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Transpress. ISBN 3344001620 (The big aircraft book)
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