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Mirage was a name given to several types of jet aircraft designed by the French company Dassault Aviation (formerly Avions Marcel Dassault), some of which were produced in different variants. Most were of delta wing configuration. The most successful was the Mirage III fighter in its many variants, which were widely produced both by Dassault and by other companies. Some Mirage variants were given different names.

Mirage III/5/50 series[]

Two Mirage III of the Royal Australian Air Force 1

Two Mirage III fighters in RAAF colours

The most successful line of Mirages were a family of supersonic delta-winged fighters, all sharing the same basic airframe but differing in powerplant, equipment and minor details. Early examples were tailless, while many later variants had canard foreplanes added.

The main production variants include:

Minor projects and prototypes include:

  • Dassault Balzac, Dassault Mirage IIIT and Dassault Mirage IIIV: Prototypes researching supersonic VTOL design.[1] The Balzac and Mirage IIIV both had VTOL capability.
  • Dassault Milan: a Mirage III example, modified with retractable foreplanes or "moustaches".

Variants developed by other countries include:

Israel
South Africa
Chile
  • ENAER Pantera (Mirage 50CN and 50DC).

Other Mirage types[]

Production models[]

Projects and prototypes[]

  • Dassault Mirage I tailless delta prototype, modified and renamed from the Dassault MD550 Mystère Delta experimental aircraft.
  • Dassault Mirage II: Design project for a production fighter larger than the Mirage I. Dropped in favour of the even larger Mirage III.
  • Dassault Mirage F2 and Dassault Mirage G: Strike fighters, larger than the basic Mirage III airframe. The Mirage G prototypes were variable-geometry "swing wing" aircraft derived from the F2 fixed-wing design project.[3]
  • Dassault Mirage 4000 or Super Mirage 4000: Prototype larger version of the Mirage 2000 design.

References[]

Citations[]

  1. q-zon-fighterplanes.com
  2. Munson, K. Bombers, Pocket Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, Blandford, 1966.
  3. Green and Swanborough (1994)

Bibliography[]

  • Green, W. and Swanborough, G.; The Complete Book of Fighters, Salamander, 1994.
  • France (III), q-zon-fighterplanes.com (retrieved 11:54, 2 October 2015 (UTC))
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