Dassault Super Mystère
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dassault Super Mystère | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Fighter-bomber |
| Manufacturer | Dassault Aviation |
| Maiden flight | 1955-03-02 |
| Retired | 1977 (French Air Force) |
| Status | Active service with Honduras |
| Primary users | French Air Force Israeli Air Force Military of Honduras |
| Produced | 1957-???? |
| Number built | 180 |
The Dassault Super Mystère French fighter-bomber was the first Western European supersonic aircraft to enter mass production.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 The aircraft were involved in numerous border skirmishes with Nicaragua and were finally withdrawn from service in 1996.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.
[edit] Operators
[edit] Specifications (Super Mystère B.2)
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 14.0 m (45 ft 11 in)
- Wingspan: 10.1 m (33 ft 2 in)
- Height: 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
- Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)
- Empty weight: 6,390 kg (14,090 lb)
- Loaded weight: 9,000 kg (20,000 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 10,000 kg (22,000 lb)
- Fuel capacity: 2,000 kg (4,400 lb)
- Powerplant: 1× SNECMA Atar 101G-2 turbojet
- Dry thrust: 33.3 kN (7,490 lbf)
- Thrust with afterburner: 44.1 kN (9,920 lbf)
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 1.12 (1,195 km/h, 743 mph) at 11,000 m (36,000 ft)
- Combat range: 870 km (470 nm, 540 mi)
- Ferry range: 1,175 km (634 nm, 730 mi)
- Service ceiling: 17,000 m (56,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: 89 m/s (18,000 ft/min)
- Wing loading: 281 kg/m² (57.6 lb/ft²)
- Thrust/weight: 0.50
Armament
- Guns: 2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannon
- Other: 900 kg (1,980 lb) on two wet underwing pylons
- fuel tanks or
- bombs or
- unguided rockets or
- MBDA AS 30 or Rafael Shafrir missiles
[edit] References
- Donald, David, Lake, Jon (editors) (1996). Encyclopedia of world military aircraft. AIRtime Publishing. ISBN 1-880-58824-2.
- Kopenhagen, W. (editor) (1987). Das groβe Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Transpress. ISBN 3-344-00162-0. (Written in German)
