Dassault Ouragan

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Dassault Ouragan

Type	Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer	Dassault Aviation
Designed by	Marcel Dassault
Maiden flight	February 1949
Introduced	1952
Retired	1980s
Primary users	French Air Force El Salvador Air Force Indian Air Force Israeli Air Force

The Dassault MD.450 Ouragan (Hurricane) is an early French jet fighter-bomber built in the late 1940s.

1 Development
2 Operational history
3 Operators
4 Specifications (MD 450B)
5 References
6 Related content

[edit] Development

Although the French, as citizens of an occupied country, were not able to contribute significantly to the great strides made in aircraft design made during World War II, after the war Marcel Dassault saw no reason why the French could not jump back into the race. In 1947, he outlined his idea for a jet fighter. The government response to the proposal was positive but did not result in a development contract, so Dassault decided to proceed on his own.

Detailed design work on the new aircraft, which was given the designation MD (Marcel Dassault) 450, began in December 1947, with construction beginning in April 1948. A French government contract for three prototypes followed in June, and the first Ouragan fighter flew at the end of February 1949. The prototype lacked pressurization and armament.

The Ouragan was inspired by American designs, and had a general configuration like that of the Republic F-84 Thunderjet: essentially a "stovepipe" with intake in the nose, low-set straight wing, bubble canopy, and tricycle landing gear; all gear had single wheels, with the nosewheel retracting forward and the main gear hinging in the wings in towards the fuselage. The Ouragan was smaller than the Thunderjet, however, weighing about a tonne less, and used a thin wing much like that of the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star, as well as a swept-back tailplane. The prototype Ouragan was powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene 102 centrifugal-flow turbojet, license-built by Hispano-Suiza, with about 22.27 kN (2,270 kp / 5,000 lbf) thrust.

After delivery of the third prototype, the French government followed up with an order for 15 pre-production prototypes, which would eventually be used to evaluate different engines fits, as well as various weapons fits, such as rocket packs; reconnaissance payloads; and night-fighting radar (more on this last item later). Only 12 of the pre-production machines were actually built, however.

Well before delivery of the pre-production machines, the French government had placed an order with Dassault in late August 1950 for 150 full production Ouragans. This was disappointing for Dassault since the government had been considering the purchase of 850 fighters, but it was still a large order. In fact, the government would order 200 more Ouragans, and the firm would be strained to build them fast enough.

[edit] Operational history

The first operational Ouragans were delivered in 1952, replacing the De Havilland Vampire in French service. The first 50 Ouragans were built as MD 450A with the Nene 102 engine; the rest were MD 450B, fitted with a Hispano-Suiza-built Nene 104B engine, which was lighter than the Nene 102 and had slightly greater thrust. Wingtip fuel tanks were fitted as standard in both cases. The Ouragan was armed with four Hispano 20 mm cannon beneath the air intake, and could carry up to a tonne (2,200 pounds) of stores under the wings. Typical stores included two 450 kg (1,000 lb) bombs; 16x 105 mm (4 in) Matra T-10 rockets; or 8 rockets and two 460 L (121 US gal) napalm bombs.

Armee de l'Air (AdA) pilots found the Ouragan very pleasant to fly and a very stable gun and rocket firing platform, though it did have a tendency to snap into a spin in tight turns because of the somewhat stubby fuselage. Top speed was about 930 km/h (580 mph) at low level. The Ouragan was the demonstration aircraft for the "Patrouille de France" aerobatic team for two years.

Several production Ouragans were modified for rough field operation with the single-wheel main gear modified to a two-wheel configuration fitted with low pressure tires retracting into a fairing added under the wing roots. These aircraft were also fitted with brake parachutes. This configuration was intended for operations in the war in Algeria, and aircraft so fitted were nicknamed Barougans, from the Arab term "baroud", or "battle". However, nothing came of the project and some of the test machines were reconverted back to standard Ouragan configuration.

The Ouragan did not have a long first-line service life with the AdA, being phased out in favor of the much-improved Dassault Mystere IVA beginning in the spring of 1955. Ouragans would persist in French service into the early 1960s as advanced trainers.

They would fly much longer in foreign service. In 1953, India ordered 71 Ouragans with the slightly uprated Nene 105 engine, with most of the order delivered that year. Additional orders from India brought the total to 104, though only the first 71 were new-build aircraft, with the remainder passed on from AdA service.

The Indians named the aircraft the Toofani, the Hindi word for "Hurricane". As with the AdA, the Ouragan was quickly phased out of first-line service by the Dassault Mystere IVA, beginning in 1958, but the older aircraft would continue to be used as advanced trainers. The Indian Air Force apparently used the Ouragan in domestic counter-insurgency operations, but records are sketchy.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) was an enthusiastic Ouragan user. In 1955, the Egyptian government signed an agreement with Czechoslovakia to buy advanced Russian arms such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter. The only jet fighter the IAF possessed was the Gloster Meteor which was no match for the MiG-15, and the Israelis quickly moved to upgrade their force.

The Israelis ordered 24 Dassault Mystère IICs and 24 Canadair F-86 Sabre Mark 6 fighters, but the Mystere IIC was found to suffer from structural problems and the Canadians decided not to supply the Sabres for fear of inflaming Middle Eastern instability. The Israelis opted to buy the better Mystere IVA, but since it was not in production at the time, they ordered the Ouragan as a stopgap.

The IAF bought an estimated 75 Ouragans, with at least 12 of these being new-build aircraft, and the rest passed on from AdA service. First deliveries were in 1955, just in time for Operation Musketeer -- the 1956 Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt to seize the Suez Canal. The Israeli Ouragans were assigned to close support operations, since they could not match the performance of Egyptian MiG-15s. The Ouragan proved excellent in this role, being reliable and tough. Despite the fact that it wasn't assigned air combat missions, Egyptian pilots were poorly trained and Israeli pilots, flying Ouragans sometimes sporting lurid sharkmouth markings, took on Egyptian pilots with success. A senior IAF official later said: "The Ouragan was a much better aeroplane than had been thought."

Ouragans would be relegated to advanced training as better aircraft entered Israeli service but the type would see more combat in the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1975, the Israelis sold 18 of their Ouragans to El Salvador, where they remained in service until the late 1980s.

[edit] Operators

[edit] Specifications (MD 450B)

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[edit] General characteristics

Crew: One
Length: 10.73 m (35 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 13.16 m (43 ft 2 in) with tip tanks
Height: 4.14 m (13 ft 7 in)
Wing area: 23.4 m² (252 ft²)
Empty weight: 4,140 kg (9,130 lb)
Loaded weight:
Maximum gross takeoff weight: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)
Powerplant: 1x Rolls-Royce Nene 104B centrifugal compressor turbojet, 22.2 kN (4,990 lbf) of thrust/

[edit] Performance

Maximum speed: 940 km/h (585 mph, 510 kt)
Range: 965 km (660 mi, 575 nm)
Service ceiling: 14,900 m (49,000 ft)
Climb rate: 38 m/s (7,500 ft/min)

[edit] Armament

4x 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannons with 125 rounds/gun
Up to 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) of stores on two underwing hardpoints. Typical stores included 2x 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs; or 16x 105 mm (4 in) Matra T-10 rockets; or 8 rockets and 2x 458 L (120 US gal) napalm bombs.

[edit] References

Donald, D, Lake J. (eds.) (1996) Encyclopedia of world military aircraft. AIRtime Publishing. ISBN 1-880588-24-2
Kopenhagen, W (ed.) (1987) Das groβe Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Transpress. ISBN 3-344-00162-0 (The big aircraft book)