Mirage F.1B
Mirage F.1B
Kitty Hawk 1/48
The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraftdesigned and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the Mirage III family.
During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would become the Mirage F1 as a private venture, alongside the larger Mirage F2. Work on the F1 eventually took precedence over the costlier F2, which was cancelled during the late 1960s. The French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) took interest in the fledgling fighter to meet its requirement for an all-weather interceptor aircraft. Accordingly, initial production units were equipped with the Thomson-CSFCyrano IVmonopulse radar.
During the latter half of 1974, the Mirage F1 entered service in the
French Air Force. Shortly thereafter, the type was deployed as the main
interceptor of the French Air Force, a capacity which it continued to
serve in until the arrival of the Mirage 2000. It later transitioned to an aerial reconnaissance role. In July 2014, the last French Mirage F1s were retired from service.
Mirage F1B
The French Air Force also ordered 20 Mirage F1Bs, a two-seat
operational conversion trainer; these were delivered between October
1980 and March 1983. The extra seat and controls added only 30 cm (12 in) to the length of
the fuselage, but at the cost of less internal fuel capacity and the
loss of the internal cannons.
The empty weight increased by 200 kg (440 lb), partly due to the addition of two Martin-Baker Mk 10 zero-zero ejection seats, in place of the Mk 4 used in the F1C, which had a forward speed limitation.
In all other aspects the F1B is a combat-capable aircraft and it
can compensate for lost capacity with cannon pods and drop tanks.
- Mirage F1BD : Export version of the Mirage F1D for Libya. Six delivered 1978–1979.
- Mirage F1BE : Mirage F1B for Spain, local designation CE.14A. Six delivered 1980–1981.
- Mirage F1BJ : Mirage F1B for Jordan. Two built.
- Mirage F1BK : Export version of the Mirage F1B for Kuwait. Two built.
- Mirage F1BK-2 : Multi-role two-seater for Kuwait, equivalent to F1Dl. Four built.
- Mirage F1BQ : Two-seat trainer for Iraq, some of which fitted with
dummy flight refuelling probe. 18 ordered of which 15 were delivered
between 1980 and 1989
