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180-576: The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed 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

360-497: A Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15C. Of a pre-conflict force of 88 Mirage F1EQs, 23 were destroyed in the war, a further six were damaged, 24 were flown to Iran and interned; only 23 aircraft remained in service by the end of the Gulf War. Of the 23 destroyed Iraqi Mirage F1EQs, 9 were claimed to have been destroyed in aerial combat. In December 1975, Morocco ordered 25 Mirage F1CH interceptors. In March 1977, an additional contract

540-563: A belly landing . In May 1982, an Angolan Mi-8 helicopter that the SADF believed to be carrying senior officers was located and destroyed in the Cuvelai area. The helicopter was located with rotors running on the ground by a pair of F1CZs and destroyed by 30mm cannon fire. Two F1AZs of 1 Squadron were lost over Angola. On 20 February 1988, while flying an interdiction sortie in F1AZ '245' against

720-529: A Mirage F1 fired a pair of Exocet missiles at the United States Navy (USN) warship USS Stark as it patrolled the Persian Gulf , causing extensive damage to the ship, killing 37 and wounding 21 members of Stark's crew. The exact motive and orders of the pilot remain unclear, although Iraq later apologized for the attack, referring to the incident as "a mistake" and blaming Iran. Prior to

900-473: A broad-span biconical delta, with each side bulging upwards towards the rear in a manner characteristic of the modern Rogallo wing . During the following year, in America U. G. Lee and W. A. Darrah patented a similar biconical delta winged aeroplane with an explicitly rigid wing. It also incorporated a proposal for a flight control system and covered both gliding and powered flight. None of these early designs

1080-584: A by now mediocre performance. The first Eindecker victory came on 1 July 1915, when Leutnant Kurt Wintgens , of Feldflieger Abteilung 6 on the Western Front, downed a Morane-Saulnier Type L. His was one of five Fokker M.5 K/MG prototypes for the Eindecker , and was armed with a synchronized aviation version of the Parabellum MG14 machine gun. The success of the Eindecker kicked off

1260-470: A cadre of exceptional pilots. In the United Kingdom, at the behest of Neville Chamberlain (more famous for his 'peace in our time' speech), the entire British aviation industry was retooled, allowing it to change quickly from fabric covered metal framed biplanes to cantilever stressed skin monoplanes in time for the war with Germany, a process that France attempted to emulate, but too late to counter

1440-435: A competitive cycle of improvement among the combatants, both sides striving to build ever more capable single-seat fighters. The Albatros D.I and Sopwith Pup of 1916 set the classic pattern followed by fighters for about twenty years. Most were biplanes and only rarely monoplanes or triplanes . The strong box structure of the biplane provided a rigid wing that allowed the accurate control essential for dogfighting. They had

1620-511: A conventional tail surface as used by the F2. Although it has a smaller wingspan than the Mirage III, the Mirage F1 nevertheless proved to be superior to its predecessor, carrying more fuel while possessing a shorter take-off run and superior maneuverability. On 23 December 1966, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight . The first flight had been delayed due to a funding shortage affecting

1800-405: A delta foreplane just in front of and above the main delta wing. Patented in 1963, this configuration was flown for the first time on the company's Viggen combat aircraft in 1967. The close coupling modifies the airflow over the wing, most significantly when flying at high angles of attack. In contrast to the classic tail-mounted elevators, the canards add to the total lift as well as stabilising

1980-443: A difficult deflection shot. The first step in finding a real solution was to mount the weapon on the aircraft, but the propeller remained a problem since the best direction to shoot is straight ahead. Numerous solutions were tried. A second crew member behind the pilot could aim and fire a swivel-mounted machine gun at enemy airplanes; however, this limited the area of coverage chiefly to the rear hemisphere, and effective coordination of

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2160-520: A final appearance in a flypast during Bastille Day celebrations over Paris prior to their disposal. Between 1979 and 1980, Ecuador received 16 F1JAs (a variant of the F1E) and a pair of F1JEs. The Ecuadorian Air Force's (FAE) squadron of Mirage F1JAs ( Escuadrón de Caza 2112 ) went into action in January–February 1981 during the brief Paquisha War between Ecuador and Peru , less than two years after

2340-552: A form that would replace all others in the 1930s. As collective combat experience grew, the more successful pilots such as Oswald Boelcke , Max Immelmann , and Edward Mannock developed innovative tactical formations and maneuvers to enhance their air units' combat effectiveness. Allied and – before 1918 – German pilots of World War I were not equipped with parachutes , so in-flight fires or structural failures were often fatal. Parachutes were well-developed by 1918 having previously been used by balloonists, and were adopted by

2520-618: A further four Mirage F1CRs of ER 33 were deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Daguet in September 1990. To avoid the risk of being mistaken for hostile Iraqi Mirage F1s, all of the French F1CRs were grounded during the first few days of the Allied air attacks, flying their first combat mission on 26 January 1991; an additional reason for their initial grounding was the lack of compatible night vision equipment. They were used in

2700-664: A great deal of ground-attack work. In World War II, the USAAF and RAF often favored fighters over dedicated light bombers or dive bombers , and types such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Hurricane that were no longer competitive as aerial combat fighters were relegated to ground attack. Several aircraft, such as the F-111 and F-117, have received fighter designations though they had no fighter capability due to political or other reasons. The F-111B variant

2880-676: A larger swept wing derivative of the Mirage III , which became the Mirage F2 , to serve as a vertical take-off and landing ( VTOL ) propulsion testbed akin to the Dassault Mirage IIIV , however, it was soon recognized that the emerging design could function as the basis for a competent fighter as well. Both the Mirage F2 and a smaller derivative, referred to the Mirage F3, received substantial attention from both Dassault and

3060-595: A loss of lift known as the stall . However, for a sharply-swept delta wing, as air spills up round the leading edge it flows inwards to generate a characteristic vortex pattern over the upper surface. The lower extremity of this vortex remains attached to the surface and also accelerates the airflow, maintaining lift. For intermediate sweep angles, a retractable "moustache" or fixed leading-edge root extension (LERX) may be added to encourage and stabilise vortex formation. The ogee or "wineglass" double-curve, seen for example on Concorde , incorporates this forward extension into

3240-431: A number of twin-engine fighters were built; however they were found to be outmatched against single-engine fighters and were relegated to other tasks, such as night fighters equipped with radar sets. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the turbojet engine was far less than a piston engine, having two engines

3420-661: A pair of Turkish Air Force F-100F Super Sabre fighter jets of 182 Filo “Atmaca” penetrated Iraqi airspace. A Mirage F1EQ of the Iraqi Air Force intercepted the flight and fired a Super 530 F-1 missile at them. One of the Turkish fighter jets (s/n 56-3903) was shot down and crashed in Zakho valley near the Turkish-Iraqi border. The plane's pilots reportedly survived the crash and were returned to Turkey. The incident

3600-743: A pair of 2/33 F1CRs, along with 3 pilots, a photo interpreter, an intelligence officer and ground crews were always deployed to N'Djamena, Chad. The two 2/33 F1CRs operated with three Mirage 2000Ds, also based on rotation from France to Chad. During March 2011, 2/33 Mirage F1CRs were deployed to Solenzara Air Base , Corsica and conducted reconnaissance missions over Libya (also a Mirage F1 operator) as part of Opération Harmattan . In 2013 2/33 F1CRs also participated in Operation Serval in Mali. On 10 January, launching from their base in N'Djamena in Chad,

3780-550: A part of military nomenclature, a letter is often assigned to various types of aircraft to indicate their use, along with a number to indicate the specific aircraft. The letters used to designate a fighter differ in various countries. In the English-speaking world, "F" is often now used to indicate a fighter (e.g. Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II or Supermarine Spitfire F.22 ), though "P" used to be used in

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3960-406: A potential French Air Force specification for an all-weather interceptor to succeed its fleet of Mirage IIIC aircraft. The Mirage F1 was of similar size to the delta-winged Mirage III and Mirage 5, and was powered by the same SNECMA Atar engine as had been used on the larger Dassault Mirage IV ; however, unlike its predecessors, it shared the layout of a swept wing mounted high on the fuselage and

4140-638: A range of specialized aircraft types. Some of the most expensive fighters such as the US Grumman F-14 Tomcat , McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle , Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and Russian Sukhoi Su-27 were employed as all-weather interceptors as well as air superiority fighter aircraft, while commonly developing air-to-ground roles late in their careers. An interceptor is generally an aircraft intended to target (or intercept) bombers and so often trades maneuverability for climb rate. As

4320-400: A replacement for the Mirage III; as a result, it chose to purchase a licence to manufacture both the Mirage F1 and its engine with the intention of producing up to 100 Mirage F1s. However, this license was quickly cancelled as a consequence of the impending 1977 arms embargo . The SAAF proceeded to procure 16 Mirage F1CZs and 32 Mirage F1AZs, which were quickly delivered by Dassault prior to

4500-471: A result of the cancellation of two major projects, the company's design team found themselves with a decreased workload. Accordingly, in mid-1964, Dassault decided to commence design work on the smaller aircraft, subsequently designated as the Mirage F1 , with the intention of producing a successor to its Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighters; This work was performed under a government contract in anticipation of

4680-742: A result, during the early months of these campaigns, Axis air forces destroyed large numbers of Red Air Force aircraft on the ground and in one-sided dogfights. In the later stages on the Eastern Front, Soviet training and leadership improved, as did their equipment. By 1942 Soviet designs such as the Yakovlev Yak-9 and Lavochkin La-5 had performance comparable to the German Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 . Also, significant numbers of British, and later U.S., fighter aircraft were supplied to aid

4860-755: A road convoy during Operation Hooper , Major Ed Every was shot down by an SA-13 Gopher SAM . F1AZ '223' was lost almost a month later, on 19 March, when Captain Willie van Coppenhagen flew into the ground while returning from a diversionary strike at night. A SAAF Board of Inquiry was unable to determine the causes of the crash. Two F1AZs and a F1CZ were also damaged by enemy action, but were able to return to base. On 7 June 1980, while attacking SWAPO 's Tobias Haneko Training Camp during Operation Sceptic (Smokeshell) , Major Frans Pretorius and Captain IC du Plessis were both hit by SA-3 Goa SAMs. The aircraft piloted by Du Plessis

5040-643: A separate (and vulnerable) radiator, but had increased drag. Inline engines often had a better power-to-weight ratio . Some air forces experimented with " heavy fighters " (called "destroyers" by the Germans). These were larger, usually twin-engined aircraft, sometimes adaptations of light or medium bomber types. Such designs typically had greater internal fuel capacity (thus longer range) and heavier armament than their single-engine counterparts. In combat, they proved vulnerable to more agile single-engine fighters. The primary driver of fighter innovation, right up to

5220-408: A significant increase in drag. However, on supersonic designs the opportunity is often taken to use a thinner aerofoil instead, in order to actually reduce drag. Like any wing, at low speeds a delta wing requires a high angle of attack to maintain lift. At a sufficiently high angle the wing exhibits flow separation , together with an associated high drag. Ordinarily, this flow separation leads to

5400-420: A single operator, who flew the aircraft and also controlled its armament. They were armed with one or two Maxim or Vickers machine guns, which were easier to synchronize than other types, firing through the propeller arc. Gun breeches were in front of the pilot, with obvious implications in case of accidents, but jams could be cleared in flight, while aiming was simplified. The use of metal aircraft structures

5580-407: A slender delta, the centre of lift approximates to halfway back along the leading edge. The sideways effect also leads to an overall reduction in lift and in some circumstances can also lead to an increase in drag. It may be countered through the use of leading-edge slots, wing fences and related devices. With a large enough angle of rearward sweep, in the transonic to low supersonic speed range

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5760-636: A squadron of Atlas Cheetah fighters bought from South Africa. Greece operated 40 Dassault Mirage F1CG single-seat fighters. The F1CG was first ordered in 1974 and entered service with the Hellenic Air Force in 1975. The aircraft were used by the 334th All-Weather Squadron and the 342nd All-Weather Squadron . Mirage F1CGs were armed with the AIM-9P missile, rather than the more commonly used R.550 Magic , and could carry four AIM-9Ps, rather than just two. Mirage F1s were used in mock dogfights with

5940-579: A strike package of eight Jaguars during the air raid against the Libyan airbase at Ouadi Doum, on 16 February. A pair of F1CRs also conducted pre and post-strike reconnaissance missions. In response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait , France performed two deployments of Mirage F1s to the Persian Gulf. In October 1990, 12 Mirage F1Cs were dispatched to Doha , Qatar in order to boost air defences, while

6120-669: A third of its fighter force, the Mirage F1 served as the primary air defence fighter of the RMAF for the next two decades. Starting in October 1979, these aircraft were engaged in combat missions against the forces of the Polisario Front , operating in Western Sahara . During their early combat operations, Moroccan Mirage F1s used unguided bombs, rockets, and their internal cannons to attack Polisario targets. In November 1979,

6300-402: Is a fast, heavily armed and long-range type, able to act as an escort fighter protecting bombers , to carry out offensive sorties of its own as a penetration fighter and maintain standing patrols at significant distance from its home base. Bombers are vulnerable due to their low speed, large size and poor maneuvrability. The escort fighter was developed during World War II to come between

6480-549: Is able to defend itself while conducting attack sorties. The word "fighter" was first used to describe a two-seat aircraft carrying a machine gun (mounted on a pedestal) and its operator as well as the pilot . Although the term was coined in the United Kingdom, the first examples were the French Voisin pushers beginning in 1910, and a Voisin III would be the first to shoot down another aircraft, on 5 October 1914. However at

6660-668: Is conformed and often attributed to a dogfight with the Mirage F1. A further claim—that is denied—is the loss of a Mirage on the 7th of November 1994 to a Turkish F-16. The loss of a further RF-4E on 5 November 1997 is recorded and may have been the victim of either an F-16 or a Mirage F1. The Hellenic Air Force retired the remaining 27 Mirage F1CGs on 30 June 2003 after 28 years of service and 160,000 flying hours. A number of F1CG aircraft have been preserved, permanently grounded, for display. At least four are preserved in Tanagra Air Base (LGTG) (115, 124, 129 and 140). One more (134)

6840-623: Is known as an interceptor . Recognized classes of fighter include: Of these, the Fighter-bomber , reconnaissance fighter and strike fighter classes are dual-role, possessing qualities of the fighter alongside some other battlefield role. Some fighter designs may be developed in variants performing other roles entirely, such as ground attack or unarmed reconnaissance . This may be for political or national security reasons, for advertising purposes, or other reasons. The Sopwith Camel and other "fighting scouts" of World War I performed

7020-434: Is known to have successfully flown although, in 1904, Lavezzani's hang glider featuring independent left and right triangular wings had left the ground, and Dunne's other tailless swept designs based on the same principle would fly. The practical delta wing was pioneered by German aeronautical designer Alexander Lippisch in the 1930s, using a thick cantilever wing without any tail. His first such designs, for which he coined

7200-549: Is preserved at the HAF History Department, Delta Falirou. Starting in 1977 and continuing through the 1980s, Iraq placed several orders for Mirage F1s. Although the first version, designated as the Mirage F1EQ, was quite similar to the original French Mirage F1C, those developed subsequently were increasingly modified with custom-tailored equipment (notably in the field of electronic warfare), according to

7380-654: The 2011 military intervention in Libya , and the Northern Mali conflict . Although sources differ, and no official record exists, somewhere in the region of 726 Mirage F1s of all variants and trainers were manufactured during its run between 1966 and 1992. It was succeeded in production by the Dassault Mirage 2000 . The Mirage F1 emerged from a series of design studies performed by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation . Having originally sought to develop

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7560-562: The Combined Bomber Offensive . Unescorted Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, however, proved unable to fend off German interceptors (primarily Bf 109s and Fw 190s). With the later arrival of long range fighters, particularly the North American P-51 Mustang , American fighters were able to escort far into Germany on daylight raids and by ranging ahead attrited

7740-496: The Delta wing of the Mirage III, which resulted in a more than 50% reduction in required runway lengths and increased internal fuel tankage for 40% greater combat range. The approach speed prior to landing is 25% less than the preceding Mirage IIIE. According to Dassault, the negative performance impact associated with the increased thickness of the Mirage F1's wing over the Mirage III's counterpart had been offset by improvements made to

7920-502: The French Air Force , the latter being interested in its adoption as a long-range fighter bomber as a stopgap measure prior to the adoption of the envisioned Anglo-French Variable Geometry (AFVG) strike aircraft. Parallel with the Mirage F3 study, which was intended to serve as an interceptor aircraft , Dassault decided to study a single-seat derivative which featured the all-French SNECMA Atar 9K-50 turbojet engine. As

8100-468: The Iran–Iraq War , Iraq's Mirage F1EQs were used intensively for interception, ground attack and anti-shipping missions. The Mirage F1EQ allowed for Iraqi strikes to be conducted over a greater combat radius into Iran than had been previously possible. In November 1981, an Iraqi Mirage F1 accounted for the first Iranian F-14 Tomcat to be shot down, followed by several more in the following months, giving

8280-585: The Junkers D.I , made with corrugated duralumin , all based on his experience in creating the pioneering Junkers J 1 all-metal airframe technology demonstration aircraft of late 1915. While Fokker would pursue steel tube fuselages with wooden wings until the late 1930s, and Junkers would focus on corrugated sheet metal, Dornier was the first to build a fighter (the Dornier-Zeppelin D.I ) made with pre-stressed sheet aluminum and having cantilevered wings,

8460-690: The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 . Canard delta  – Many modern fighter aircraft, such as the JAS 39 Gripen , the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Dassault Rafale use a combination of canard foreplanes and a delta wing. Like other tailless aircraft , the tailless delta wing is not suited to high wing loadings and requires a large wing area for a given aircraft weight. The most efficient aerofoils are unstable in pitch and

8640-510: The RAF and the USAAF against German industry intended to wear down the Luftwaffe. Axis fighter aircraft focused on defending against Allied bombers while Allied fighters' main role was as bomber escorts. The RAF raided German cities at night, and both sides developed radar-equipped night fighters for these battles. The Americans, in contrast, flew daylight bombing raids into Germany delivering

8820-588: The Sopwith Tabloid and Bristol Scout . The French and the Germans didn't have an equivalent as they used two seaters for reconnaissance, such as the Morane-Saulnier L , but would later modify pre-war racing aircraft into armed single seaters. It was quickly found that these were of little use since the pilot couldn't record what he saw while also flying, while military leaders usually ignored what

9000-792: The Stangensteuerung in German, for "pushrod control system") devised by the engineers of Anthony Fokker 's firm was the first system to enter service. It would usher in what the British called the " Fokker scourge " and a period of air superiority for the German forces, making the Fokker Eindecker monoplane a feared name over the Western Front , despite its being an adaptation of an obsolete pre-war French Morane-Saulnier racing airplane, with poor flight characteristics and

9180-532: The Turkish Air Force over disputed waters and airspace in the Aegean Sea during 1987, and on 18 June 1992, a Greek Mirage F1 crashed while attempting to intercept two Turkish F-16s, another is claimed to have crashed in similar circumstances on 4 September 1995, and on 8 February 1995, a Turkish F-16 crashed after dogfighting Greek F1s. The loss of a Turkish RF-4E (69-7485) on the 20 October 1995

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9360-668: The British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force referred to them as " scouts " until the early 1920s, while the U.S. Army called them "pursuit" aircraft until the late 1940s (using the designation P, as in Curtiss P-40 Warhawk , Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Bell P-63 Kingcobra ). The UK changed to calling them fighters in the 1920s , while the US Army did so in the 1940s. A short-range fighter designed to defend against incoming enemy aircraft

9540-639: The British, the Americans, the Spanish (in the Spanish civil war) and the Germans. Given limited budgets, air forces were conservative in aircraft design, and biplanes remained popular with pilots for their agility, and remained in service long after they ceased to be competitive. Designs such as the Gloster Gladiator , Fiat CR.42 Falco , and Polikarpov I-15 were common even in the late 1930s, and many were still in service as late as 1942. Up until

9720-663: The European battlefield, played a crucial role in the eventual defeat of the Axis, which Reichmarshal Hermann Göring , commander of the German Luftwaffe summed up when he said: "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." Delta-wing Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age , when it proved suitable for high-speed subsonic and  supersonic flight. At

9900-413: The F1AZ, F1CZs were initially assigned the strike role in southern Angola using Matra M155 rocket pods or 250 kg bombs. F1CZs of 3 Squadron downed two Angolan MiG-21s in 1981 and 1982. On 6 November 1981, during Operation Daisy , two F1CZs were vectored by GCI to intercept two MiG-21s heading south. Major Johan Rankin shot down the wingman with cannon fire, as the missiles failed to lock on to

10080-475: The French Air Force's requirement for an all-weather interceptor, the first production Mirage F1C was equipped with a Thomson-CSF Cyrano IV radar system. The later Cyrano IV-1 version added a limited look-down capability. However, Mirage F1 pilots reported that the radar was prone to overheating, which reduced its efficiency. During May 1973, the first deliveries to the French Air Force took place;

10260-503: The French Air Force. Following a redesign period, on 20 March 1967, the second prototype performed its first flight. On 26 May 1967, an order for three Mirage F1 prototypes was placed, while the larger and more expensive Mirage F2 was formally abandoned. These three pre-service aircraft, along with a static structural test airframe, soon joined the test programme. By late 1971, the construction of an initial batch of 85 production standard Mirage F1 had been authorised. In order to comply with

10440-701: The French Air Force. In 1977, the R550 Magic was released, which the Mirage F1 mounted on wingtip rails. Around the same time, the American AIM-9 Sidewinder was also introduced to the Mirage F1's armament; both the Spanish and Hellenic Air Forces had requested the integration of the Sidewinder upon their own Mirage F1CE and Mirage F1CG fighters. During 1984, the first operational deployment to be performed by French Air Force Mirage F1s

10620-483: The German flying services during the course of that year. The well known and feared Manfred von Richthofen , the "Red Baron", was wearing one when he was killed, but the allied command continued to oppose their use on various grounds. In April 1917, during a brief period of German aerial supremacy a British pilot's average life expectancy was calculated to average 93 flying hours, or about three weeks of active service. More than 50,000 airmen from both sides died during

10800-500: The German invasion. The period of improving the same biplane design over and over was now coming to an end, and the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire started to supplant the Gloster Gladiator and Hawker Fury biplanes but many biplanes remained in front-line service well past the start of World War II. While not a combatant in Spain, they too absorbed many of the lessons in time to use them. The Spanish Civil War also provided an opportunity for updating fighter tactics. One of

10980-403: The Iraqis' wishes. During this period, France was a major supplier of military equipment to the nation; in 1983, the former loaned five Super Étendards to Iraq while the latter was awaiting the delivery of the Exocet -capable Mirage F1EQ-5, which wouldn't be available until September 1984. The Super Étendard had been strongly advocated for by Dassault, who had feared the potential cancellation of

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11160-414: The Italians developed several monoplanes such as the Fiat G.50 Freccia , but being short on funds, were forced to continue operating obsolete Fiat CR.42 Falco biplanes. From the early 1930s the Japanese were at war against both the Chinese Nationalists and the Russians in China, and used the experience to improve both training and aircraft, replacing biplanes with modern cantilever monoplanes and creating

11340-642: The Japanese Nakajima Ki-27 , Nakajima Ki-43 and Mitsubishi A6M Zero and the Italian Fiat G.50 Freccia and Macchi MC.200 . In contrast, designers in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States believed that the increased speed of fighter aircraft would create g -forces unbearable to pilots who attempted maneuvering dogfights typical of the First World War, and their fighters were instead optimized for speed and firepower. In practice, while light, highly maneuverable aircraft did possess some advantages in fighter-versus-fighter combat, those could usually be overcome by sound tactical doctrine, and

11520-408: The Javelin following the early loss of an aircraft to such conditions. Gloster's design team had reportedly opted to use a tailed delta configuration out of necessity, seeking to achieve effective manoeuvrability at relatively high speeds for the era while also requiring suitable controllability when being flown at the slower landing speeds desired. A lifting-canard delta can offer a smaller shift in

11700-509: The Luftwaffe to establish control of the skies over Western Europe. By the time of Operation Overlord in June 1944, the Allies had gained near complete air superiority over the Western Front. This cleared the way both for intensified strategic bombing of German cities and industries, and for the tactical bombing of battlefield targets. With the Luftwaffe largely cleared from the skies, Allied fighters increasingly served as ground attack aircraft. Allied fighters, by gaining air superiority over

11880-420: The Luftwaffe, and while the Luftwaffe maintained a qualitative edge over the Red Air Force for much of the war, the increasing numbers and efficacy of the Soviet Air Force were critical to the Red Army's efforts at turning back and eventually annihilating the Wehrmacht . Meanwhile, air combat on the Western Front had a much different character. Much of this combat focused on the strategic bombing campaigns of

12060-420: The MiGs. On 5 October 1982, while escorting a Canberra of 12 Squadron on a photo-reconnaissance sortie, Rankin and his wingman engaged two MiG-21s on an intercept course. He fired two Magic AAMs at one of the MiGs, damaging the aircraft with the second missile. Rankin then attacked the second MiG and destroyed it with cannon fire. The first MiG was able to return to base, but sustained additional damage making

12240-408: The Mirage F1 for ground attack duties as a secondary role during its early design. Developed by the company to function as a successor to the successful Mirage III and Mirage 5 families, it drew heavily upon its predecessors as well, sharing the same fuselage as the Mirage III, while adopting a considerably different wing configuration. The Mirage F1 used a shoulder-mounted swept wing , instead of

12420-410: The Mirage F1 has been operated as a light multipurpose fighter and has been exported to around a dozen nations. The type has seen action in a large number of armed conflicts involving several of its operators, including the Western Sahara War , the Paquisha War , the Cenepa War , the Iran–Iraq War , the Gulf War , the South African Border War , the War in Afghanistan , the Chadian–Libyan conflict ,

12600-414: The Mirage F1 was a pair of internal 30 mm cannons, and a single Matra R530 medium-range air-to-air missile , which was carried under the fuselage. It could carry a total combined payload of 13,889lb of bombs and missiles, all of which would be carried externally. After 1979, the medium-range R530 was replaced by the improved Matra Super 530 F missile as the latter came into service in quantity with

12780-450: The Mirage F1 was the Escadron de Reconnaissance 2/33 Savoie , home-based at Mont-de-Marsan, which flew the latest version of the F1CR. The unit's primary mission was tactical reconnaissance, with a secondary mission of ground-attack; because of the unique missions of the 2/33, their unofficial motto among the pilots had become, "Find; Identify; and Photograph or Destroy." In accordance with a bilateral defense agreement between France and Chad,

12960-550: The Mirage IIIE, serves as the main sensor; it operates in three different modes: air-target acquisition and tracking , ground mapping, and terrain avoidance . The later Cyrano IV-1 model also provided for a limited look-down capability. According to aerospace publication Flight International , the Cyrano IV radar was capable of detecting aerial targets at double the range of earlier models. The standard production Mirage F1

13140-777: The Moroccan pilots (including during joint exercises with the French and the Americans), resulted in much improved effectiveness of operations against Polisario forces. In total, over the course of the war in Western Sahara, twelve Mirage F1s were shot down by the POLISARIO. Four pilots were killed, and five were taken prisoner. On 17 August 2015, a Moroccan Mirage F1 crashed due to a bird strike ; its pilot ejected successfully. During 1971, South Africa commenced its search for

13320-660: The Mozambican Air Force defected with his MiG-17 . He flew from his base near Maputo towards South Africa. Two F1AZs returning from a training exercise intercepted the MiG-17. In March 1981 two F1AZs intercepted a Zimbabwean Army CASA C-212 and forced it to land in South Africa after asserting that the aircraft had strayed into South African airspace. The SAAF lost an additional six F1AZs and three F1CZs to various mishaps. F1CZ '205' caught fire after landing and

13500-587: The Second World War brought a halt to flight testing of the Pa-22 , although work continued for a time after the project garnered German attention. During the postwar era, Payen flew an experimental tailless delta jet, the Pa.49 , in 1954, as well as the tailless pusher-configuration Arbalète series from 1965. Further derivatives based on Payen's work were proposed but ultimately went undeveloped. Following

13680-544: The Second World War, developed the theory of the thin delta wing for supersonic flight. First published in January 1945, his approach contrasted with that of Lippisch on thick delta wings. The thin delta wing first flew on the Convair XF-92 in 1948, making it the first delta-winged jet plane to fly. It provided a successful basis for all practical supersonic deltas and the configuration became widely adopted. During

13860-555: The Soviet Polikarpov I-16 . The later German design was earlier in its design cycle, and had more room for development and the lessons learned led to greatly improved models in World War II. The Russians failed to keep up and despite newer models coming into service, I-16s remaining the most common Soviet front-line fighter into 1942 despite being outclassed by the improved Bf 109s in World War II. For their part,

14040-585: The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 , the Tupolev first flying in 1968. While both Concorde and the Tu-144 prototype featured an ogival delta configuration, production models of the Tu-144 differed by changing to a double delta wing. The delta wings required these airliners to adopt a higher angle of attack at low speeds than conventional aircraft; in the case of Concorde, lift was maintained by allowed

14220-598: The Soviet war effort as part of Lend-Lease , with the Bell P-39 Airacobra proving particularly effective in the lower-altitude combat typical of the Eastern Front. The Soviets were also helped indirectly by the American and British bombing campaigns, which forced the Luftwaffe to shift many of its fighters away from the Eastern Front in defense against these raids. The Soviets increasingly were able to challenge

14400-552: The US for pursuit (e.g. Curtiss P-40 Warhawk ), a translation of the French "C" ( Dewoitine D.520 C.1 ) for Chasseur while in Russia "I" was used for Istrebitel , or exterminator ( Polikarpov I-16 ). As fighter types have proliferated, the air superiority fighter emerged as a specific role at the pinnacle of speed, maneuverability, and air-to-air weapon systems – able to hold its own against all other fighters and establish its dominance in

14580-480: The US, typically to lower its drag, resulting in the replacement of its large vertical stabilizer with a smaller and more conventional counterpart, along with a normal cockpit canopy taken from a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star . The work of French designer Nicolas Roland Payen somewhat paralleled that of Lippisch. During the 1930s, he had developed a tandem delta configuration with a straight fore wing and steep delta aft wing, similar to that of Causarás. The outbreak of

14760-592: The United States, Russia, India and China. The first step was to find ways to reduce the aircraft's reflectivity to radar waves by burying the engines, eliminating sharp corners and diverting any reflections away from the radar sets of opposing forces. Various materials were found to absorb the energy from radar waves, and were incorporated into special finishes that have since found widespread application. Composite structures have become widespread, including major structural components, and have helped to counterbalance

14940-497: The ability to gather information by reconnaissance over the battlefield. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were biplanes built with a wooden frame covered with fabric, and a maximum airspeed of about 100 mph (160 km/h). A successful German biplane, the Albatross, however, was built with a plywood shell, rather than fabric, which created a stronger, faster airplane. As control of

15120-568: The advantages of fighting above Britain's home territory allowed the RAF to deny Germany air superiority, saving the UK from possible German invasion and dealing the Axis a major defeat early in the Second World War. On the Eastern Front , Soviet fighter forces were overwhelmed during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa . This was a result of the tactical surprise at the outset of the campaign,

15300-485: The aerodynamic characteristics change considerably. It is in this flight regime that the waverider design, as used on the North American XB-70 Valkyrie , becomes practicable. Here, a shock body beneath the wing creates an attached shockwave and the high pressure associated with the wave provides significant lift without increasing drag. Variants of the delta wing plan offer improvements to

15480-589: The aircraft a maximum speed of 1,453 MPH and an altitude ceiling of 65,615 feet. Flight International described the Atar engine as being "unexpectedly simple", despite the adoption of an afterburner . An improved engine, initially known as the Super Atar and later as the Snecma M53 , was intended to be eventually adopted on production Mirage F1 aircraft, as well as for successor aircraft. The initial armament of

15660-632: The aircraft had been delivered to the FAE. At that time, the Ecuadorians decided against directly challenging the Peruvian Air Force (abbreviated FAP), whose Mirage 5Ps and Sukhoi Su-22 were providing air cover to Peruvian heliborne operations within the combat zone. Instead, the Mirages were kept at a distance, performing combat air patrols (CAPs) on the fringes of the combat area, in case

15840-671: The airflow over the main wing. This enables more extreme manoeuvres, improves low-speed handling and reduces the takeoff run and landing speed. During the 1960s, this configuration was considered to be radical, but Saab's design team judged that it was the optimal approach available for satisfying the conflicting performance demands for the Viggen, which including favourable STOL performance, supersonic speed, low turbulence sensitivity during low level flight, and efficient lift for subsonic flight. The close-coupled canard has since become common on supersonic fighter aircraft. Notable examples include

16020-534: The airspace over armies became increasingly important, all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations. Between the wars, wood was largely replaced in part or whole by metal tubing, and finally aluminum stressed skin structures (monocoque) began to predominate. By World War II , most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of machine guns or cannons and some were capable of speeds approaching 400 mph (640 km/h). Most fighters up to this point had one engine, but

16200-413: The airspeed normal to the leading edge of the wing, thereby allowing the aircraft to fly at high subsonic , transonic, or supersonic speed, while the subsonic lifting characteristics of the airflow over the wing are maintained. Within this flight regime, drooping the leading edge within the shock cone increases lift, but not drag to any significant extent. Such conical leading edge droop was introduced on

16380-420: The basic configuration. Cropped delta  – tip is cut off. This helps maintain lift outboard and reduce wingtip flow separation (stalling) at high angles of attack. Most deltas are cropped to at least some degree. In the compound delta , double delta or cranked arrow , the leading edge is not straight. Typically the inboard section has increased sweepback, creating a controlled high-lift vortex without

16560-502: The basis for an effective "fighter" in the modern sense of the word. It was based on small fast aircraft developed before the war for air racing such with the Gordon Bennett Cup and Schneider Trophy . The military scout airplane was not expected to carry serious armament, but rather to rely on speed to "scout" a location, and return quickly to report, making it a flying horse. British scout aircraft, in this sense, included

16740-414: The bombers and enemy attackers as a protective shield. The primary requirement was for long range, with several heavy fighters given the role. However they too proved unwieldy and vulnerable, so as the war progressed techniques such as drop tanks were developed to extend the range of more nimble conventional fighters. The penetration fighter is typically also fitted for the ground-attack role, and so

16920-615: The border clashes escalated into wider hostilities. During one incident, a Peruvian Sukhoi Su-22 was intercepted and a single air-to-air R.550 missile was launched; however, it failed to strike the Peruvian aircraft. In 1995, during the Cenepa War , the Ecuadorian Mirages went back into action against Peru. This time, while the bulk of the squadron was kept back at Taura AFB, a small detachment of Mirage F1s and Kfir C.2s

17100-400: The center of lift with increasing Mach number compared to a conventional tail configuration. An unloaded or free-floating canard can allow a safe recovery from a high angle of attack. Depending on its design, a canard surface may increase or decrease longitudinal stability of the aircraft. A canard delta foreplane creates its own trailing vortex. If this vortex interferes with the vortex of

17280-590: The combat zone in the Cenepa valley. After making visual contact, the Mirages fired their missiles, claiming two Peruvian Su-22Ms shot down, while a Kfir claimed a further A-37B Dragonfly . Sources in Peru, however, deny the claim that the Sukhois Su-22Ms were shot down by Ecuadorian aircraft, stating that one was shot down by Ecuadorian anti-aircraft artillery fire during a low flying ground-attack mission, while

17460-610: The defense budgets of modern armed forces. The global combat aircraft market was worth $ 45.75 billion in 2017 and is projected by Frost & Sullivan at $ 47.2 billion in 2026: 35% modernization programs and 65% aircraft purchases, dominated by the Lockheed Martin F-35 with 3,000 deliveries over 20 years. A fighter aircraft is primarily designed for air-to-air combat . A given type may be designed for specific combat conditions, and in some cases for additional roles such as air-to-ground fighting. Historically

17640-724: The design approach of the Italians and Japanese made their fighters ill-suited as interceptors or attack aircraft. During the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France , Luftwaffe fighters—primarily the Messerschmitt Bf 109 —held air superiority, and the Luftwaffe played a major role in German victories in these campaigns. During the Battle of Britain , however, British Hurricanes and Spitfires proved roughly equal to Luftwaffe fighters. Additionally Britain's radar-based Dowding system directing fighters onto German attacks and

17820-522: The early 1960s since both were believed unusable at the speeds being attained, however the Vietnam War showed that guns still had a role to play, and most fighters built since then are fitted with cannon (typically between 20 and 30 mm (0.79 and 1.18 in) in caliber) in addition to missiles. Most modern combat aircraft can carry at least a pair of air-to-air missiles. In the 1970s, turbofans replaced turbojets, improving fuel economy enough that

18000-790: The elderly F1CRs of ER 2/33, a number of Rafales were outfitted with an advanced reconnaissance pod. The Rafale's range, maneuverability and combat load is far superior to the F1CR that it replaces, as well as its reconnaissance capabilities: after the Rafale's pod has taken photographs, these can be almost instantly transmitted back to its base or where the imagery would be required if provisioned with compatible down link equipment. The French Air Force's last Mirage F1 fighters were retired from operational service on 13 June 2014. The last units in service, these being 11 single-seat Mirage F1CRs and three two-seat F1Bs were transferred to storage; six aircraft performed

18180-658: The embargo being implemented, the first of these deliveries occurring in 1975. Both the F1CZ and F1AZ variants of the South African Air Force (SAAF) saw considerable action during operations in the Border War . In November 1978, the first five F1CZs were deployed to South-West Africa (Namibia), tasked with providing escort for reconnaissance flights over Southern Angola. From 1980, such deployments as escort aircraft became regular. Due to teething problems with

18360-586: The enemy from doing the same. The key performance features of a fighter include not only its firepower but also its high speed and maneuverability relative to the target aircraft. The success or failure of a combatant's efforts to gain air superiority hinges on several factors including the skill of its pilots, the tactical soundness of its doctrine for deploying its fighters, and the numbers and performance of those fighters. Many modern fighter aircraft also have secondary capabilities such as ground attack and some types, such as fighter-bombers , are designed from

18540-778: The fighter bomber role, using their more capable navigation systems to lead formations of French Jaguar fighter bombers, as well as to fly reconnaissance missions; in this capacity, 114 sorties had been flown by the end of hostilities. Following the end of the Gulf War, France deployed a number of Mirage F1CRs to bases in neighbouring Turkey as part of Operation Provide Comfort to protect Kurds from Iraqi aggression. In October 2007, three Mirage 2000s and three Mirage F1s were deployed at Kandahar Air Force Base , where they flew close air support and tactical reconnaissance missions in support of international forces in Southern Afghanistan . The last French unit to be equipped with

18720-513: The fighter. Rifle-caliber .30 and .303 in (7.62 and 7.70 mm) calibre guns remained the norm, with larger weapons either being too heavy and cumbersome or deemed unnecessary against such lightly built aircraft. It was not considered unreasonable to use World War I-style armament to counter enemy fighters as there was insufficient air-to-air combat during most of the period to disprove this notion. The rotary engine , popular during World War I, quickly disappeared, its development having reached

18900-611: The first French air intervention mission against Islamist rebels in Mali, was undertaken by F1CRs and Mirage 2000Ds, supported by a French Air Force C-135 tanker. The 2/33 F1CRs provided valuable photo information for strike aircraft flying the next day from France. Later on 16 January, two 2/33 F1CRs, were deployed from Chad to Bamako, Mali. Both aircraft were fitted with extra long range 2,200 liter ventral tanks; and when operating over Mali also carried two 250 kg unguided bombs, plus their internal 30mm cannons, in case they were called on for close air support missions. In order to replace

19080-587: The first Moroccan Mirage F1 was shot down by a Polisario 9K31 Strela-1 , and its pilot was killed. Another one was shot down by an SA-7 on 6 December, and two more followed in February 1980. With the losses to Polisario air defences mounting, Moroccan pilots started using toss bombing tactics to minimize their exposure to air defences, that had meanwhile been reinforced with 2K12 Kub /SA-6 medium-range SAM systems. Using this technique, in early January 1982, Moroccan Mirages even started attacking SA-6 sites. However,

19260-407: The first operational jet fighters to feature a tailless delta wing when they entered service in 1956. Dassault's interest in the delta wing produced the Dassault Mirage family of combat aircraft, especially the highly successful Mirage III . Amongst other attributes, the Mirage III was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizontal flight. The tailed delta configuration

19440-524: The foreplane can increase drag at supersonic speeds and hence reduce the aircraft's maximum speed. Triangular stabilizing fins for rockets were described as early as 1529-1556 by the Austrian military engineer Conrad Haas and in the 17th century by the Polish-Lithuanian military engineer Kazimierz Siemienowicz . However, a true lifting wing in delta form did not appear until 1867, when it

19620-665: The formation of large low pressure vortices over the entire upper wing surface. Its typical landing speed was 170 miles per hour (274 km/h), considerably higher than subsonic airliners. Multiple proposed successors, such as the Zero Emission Hyper Sonic Transport ZEHST), have reportedly adopted a similar configuration to that Concorde's basic design, thus the Delta wing remains a likely candidate for future supersonic civil endeavours. During and after WWII, Francis and Gertrude Rogallo developed

19800-533: The ground, making it the only F-111 to achieve an aerial victory over another aircraft. Later in the war, an Iraqi Mirage piloted by Capt. Nafie Al-Jubouri successfully downed an American EF-111 Raven through aerial maneuvering as it crashed while attempting to avoid a missile fired by Al-Jubouri. Coalition forces shot down several Iraqi F1s during the Gulf War, such as six F1EQs that were shot down by USAF F-15 Eagles . A pair of F1EQs, which were preparing to carry out an attack on Saudi oil facilities were shot down by

19980-406: The guns were subjected). Shooting with this traditional arrangement was also easier because the guns shot directly ahead in the direction of the aircraft's flight, up to the limit of the guns range; unlike wing-mounted guns which to be effective required to be harmonised , that is, preset to shoot at an angle by ground crews so that their bullets would converge on a target area a set distance ahead of

20160-569: The idea of a flexible wing which could be collapsed for storage. Francis saw an application in spacecraft recovery and NASA became interested. In 1961 Ryan flew the XV-8 , an experimental "flying Jeep" or "fleep". The flexible wing chosen for it was a delta and in use it billowed out into a double-cone profile which gave it aerodynamic stability. Although tested but ultimately never used for spacecraft recovery, this design soon became popular for hang gliders and ultra-light aircraft and has become known as

20340-433: The innovations was the development of the " finger-four " formation by the German pilot Werner Mölders . Each fighter squadron (German: Staffel ) was divided into several flights ( Schwärme ) of four aircraft. Each Schwarm was divided into two Rotten , which was a pair of aircraft. Each Rotte was composed of a leader and a wingman. This flexible formation allowed the pilots to maintain greater situational awareness, and

20520-514: The interceptor. The equipment necessary for daytime flight is inadequate when flying at night or in poor visibility. The night fighter was developed during World War I with additional equipment to aid the pilot in flying straight, navigating and finding the target. From modified variants of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c in 1915, the night fighter has evolved into the highly capable all-weather fighter. The strategic fighter

20700-420: The last piston engine support aircraft could be replaced with jets, making multi-role combat aircraft possible. Honeycomb structures began to replace milled structures, and the first composite components began to appear on components subjected to little stress. With the steady improvements in computers, defensive systems have become increasingly efficient. To counter this, stealth technologies have been pursued by

20880-460: The late 1940s, the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation became interested in the delta wing, its proposals led to the experimental Fairey Delta 1 being produced to Air Ministry Specification E.10/47 . A subsequent experimental aircraft, the Fairey Delta 2 set a new World air speed record on 10 March 1956, achieving 1,132 mph (1,811 km/h) or Mach 1.73. This raised

21060-542: The late 1940s. When used with a T-tail, as in the Gloster Javelin , like other wings a delta wing can give rise to a " deep stall " in which the high angle of attack at the stall causes the turbulent wake of the stalled wing to envelope the tail. This makes the elevator ineffective and the airplane cannot recover from the stall. In the case of the Javelin, a stall warning device was developed and implemented for

21240-473: 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-CSF Cyrano IV monopulse radar . During the latter half of 1974, the Mirage F1 entered service in the French Air Force. Shortly thereafter, the type was deployed as

21420-584: The leadership vacuum within the Soviet military left by the Great Purge , and the general inferiority of Soviet designs at the time, such as the obsolescent Polikarpov I-15 biplane and the I-16 . More modern Soviet designs, including the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 , LaGG-3 and Yakolev Yak-1 , had not yet arrived in numbers and in any case were still inferior to the Messerschmitt Bf 109 . As

21600-402: The main delta wing, this can adversely affect the airflow over the wing and cause unwanted and even dangerous behaviour. In the close-coupled configuration, the canard vortex couples with the main vortex to enhance its benefits and maintain controlled airflow through a wide range of speeds and angles of attack. This allows both improved manoeuvrability and lower stalling speeds, but the presence of

21780-515: 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. Powered by a single SNECMA Atar 9K-50 turbojet engine, which provided about 7 tonnes-force (69  kN ; 15,000  lbf ) of thrust, and armed with an array of French and American-sourced armaments,

21960-410: The mid-1930s, the majority of fighters in the US, the UK, Italy and Russia remained fabric-covered biplanes. Fighter armament eventually began to be mounted inside the wings, outside the arc of the propeller, though most designs retained two synchronized machine guns directly ahead of the pilot, where they were more accurate (that being the strongest part of the structure, reducing the vibration to which

22140-495: The most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage…" Throughout the war, fighters performed their conventional role in establishing air superiority through combat with other fighters and through bomber interception, and also often performed roles such as tactical air support and reconnaissance . Fighter design varied widely among combatants. The Japanese and Italians favored lightly armed and armored but highly maneuverable designs such as

22320-527: The multinational Eurofighter Typhoon , France's Dassault Rafale , Saab's own Gripen (a successor to the Viggen) and Israel's IAI Kfir . One of the main reasons for its popularity has been the high level of agility in manoeuvring that it is capable of. When supersonic transport (SST) aircraft were developed, the tailless ogival delta wing was chosen for both the Anglo-French Concorde and

22500-444: The name "Delta", used a very gentle angle so that the wing appeared almost straight and the wing tips had to be cropped sharply (see below). His first such delta flew in 1931, followed by four successively improved examples. These prototypes were not easy to handle at low speed and none saw widespread use. During the latter years of World War II , Alexander Lippisch refined his ideas on the high-speed delta, substantially increasing

22680-616: The need for a foreplane. Examples include the Saab Draken fighter, the experimental General Dynamics F-16XL , and the Hawker Siddeley HS. 138 VTOL concept. The ogee delta (or ogival delta ) used on the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner is similar, but with the two sections and cropped wingtip merged into a smooth ogee curve. Tailed delta  – adds a conventional tailplane (with horizontal tail surfaces), to improve handling. Common on Soviet types such as

22860-607: The opposition. Subsequently, radar capabilities grew enormously and are now the primary method of target acquisition . Wings were made thinner and swept back to reduce transonic drag, which required new manufacturing methods to obtain sufficient strength. Skins were no longer sheet metal riveted to a structure, but milled from large slabs of alloy. The sound barrier was broken, and after a few false starts due to required changes in controls, speeds quickly reached Mach 2, past which aircraft cannot maneuver sufficiently to avoid attack. Air-to-air missiles largely replaced guns and rockets in

23040-523: The other end of the speed scale, the Rogallo flexible wing proved a practical design for the hang glider and other ultralight aircraft . The delta wing form has unique aerodynamic characteristics and structural advantages. Many design variations have evolved over the years, with and without additional stabilising surfaces. The long root chord of the delta wing and minimal area outboard make it structurally efficient. It can be built stronger, stiffer and at

23220-488: The outbreak of World War I , front-line aircraft were mostly unarmed and used almost exclusively for reconnaissance . On 15 August 1914, Miodrag Tomić encountered an enemy airplane while on a reconnaissance flight over Austria-Hungary which fired at his aircraft with a revolver, so Tomić fired back. It was believed to be the first exchange of fire between aircraft. Within weeks, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian aircraft were armed. Another type of military aircraft formed

23400-575: The outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War , the Mirage F1EQ was the second most numerous type operated by the Iraqi Air Force (the most numerous being the MiG-21 ). On 17 January 1991, during the opening minutes of the conflict, an unarmed, United States Air Force (USAF) EF-111 , crewed by Captain James A. Denton and Captain Brent D. Brandon scored a kill against an Iraqi Mirage F1EQ, which they managed to maneuver into

23580-451: The outset for dual roles. Other fighter designs are highly specialized while still filling the main air superiority role, and these include the interceptor and, historically, the heavy fighter and night fighter . Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been considered essential for victory in conventional warfare . Fighters continued to be developed throughout World War I, to deny enemy aircraft and dirigibles

23760-409: The overall program. During its fourth flight, the prototype was recorded as having attained a top speed in excess of Mach 2 . On 18 May 1967, the first prototype was lost in an accident at DGA Essais en vol , Istres ; the crash had resulted from a loss of control after encountering flutter , killing its pilot. Despite this misfortune, during late 1966, the Mirage F1 programme was officially adopted by

23940-529: The period March 1977 to December 1983. These were of the Mirage F1C-200 version, which featured a fixed refuelling probe, which required an extension of the fuselage by 7 cm. The Dassault Mirage F1 was a single-engine fighter aircraft, designed to function as both an interceptor aircraft and a ground attack platform. While officially developed for the French Air Force as an air defense aircraft, Dassault had placed considerable emphasis on developing

24120-487: The period of rapid re-armament in the late 1930s, were not military budgets, but civilian aircraft racing. Aircraft designed for these races introduced innovations like streamlining and more powerful engines that would find their way into the fighters of World War II. The most significant of these was the Schneider Trophy races, where competition grew so fierce, only national governments could afford to enter. At

24300-433: The period, going from a typical 180 hp (130 kW) in the 900 kg (2,000 lb) Fokker D.VII of 1918 to 900 hp (670 kW) in the 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) Curtiss P-36 of 1936. The debate between the sleek in-line engines versus the more reliable radial models continued, with naval air forces preferring the radial engines, and land-based forces often choosing inlines. Radial designs did not require

24480-456: The pilot's maneuvering with the gunner's aiming was difficult. This option was chiefly employed as a defensive measure on two-seater reconnaissance aircraft from 1915 on. Both the SPAD S.A and the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.9 added a second crewman ahead of the engine in a pod but this was both hazardous to the second crewman and limited performance. The Sopwith L.R.T.Tr. similarly added a pod on

24660-451: The pilots reported. Attempts were made with handheld weapons such as pistols and rifles and even light machine guns, but these were ineffective and cumbersome. The next advance came with the fixed forward-firing machine gun, so that the pilot pointed the entire aircraft at the target and fired the gun, instead of relying on a second gunner. Roland Garros bolted metal deflector plates to the propeller so that it would not shoot itself out of

24840-410: The point where rotational forces prevented more fuel and air from being delivered to the cylinders, which limited horsepower. They were replaced chiefly by the stationary radial engine though major advances led to inline engines gaining ground with several exceptional engines—including the 1,145 cu in (18,760 cm ) V-12 Curtiss D-12 . Aircraft engines increased in power several-fold over

25020-479: The previously timid Iraqi Air Force new confidence in air-to-air combat engagements with the Iranians. According to research by journalist Tom Cooper, during the war 33 Iraqi Mirage F1s were shot down by Iranian F-14s and two were downed by Iranian F-4 Phantom II units. Iraqi F1EQs claimed at least 35 Iranian aircraft, mostly F-4s and Northrop F-5E Tiger IIs , but also several F-14 Tomcats. On 14 September 1983,

25200-489: The production Convair F-102A Delta Dagger at the same time that the prototype design was reworked to include area-ruling . It also appeared on Convair's next two deltas, the F-106 Delta Dart and B-58 Hustler . At high supersonic speeds, the shock cone from the leading edge root angles further back to lie along the wing surface behind the leading edge. It is no longer possible for the sideways flow to occur and

25380-436: The profile of the wing. In this condition, the centre of lift approximates to the centre of the area covered by the vortex. In the subsonic regime, the behaviour of a delta wing is generally similar to that of a swept wing. A characteristic sideways element to the airflow develops. In this condition, lift is maximised along the leading edge of the wing, where the air is turned most sharply to follow its contours. Especially for

25560-575: The propeller arc was evident even before the outbreak of war and inventors in both France and Germany devised mechanisms that could time the firing of the individual rounds to avoid hitting the propeller blades. Franz Schneider , a Swiss engineer, had patented such a device in Germany in 1913, but his original work was not followed up. French aircraft designer Raymond Saulnier patented a practical device in April 1914, but trials were unsuccessful because of

25740-461: The propeller arc. Wing guns were tried but the unreliable weapons available required frequent clearing of jammed rounds and misfires and remained impractical until after the war. Mounting the machine gun over the top wing worked well and was used long after the ideal solution was found. The Nieuport 11 of 1916 used this system with considerable success, however, this placement made aiming and reloading difficult but would continue to be used throughout

25920-458: The propeller blades were fitted with metal wedges to protect them from ricochets . Garros' modified monoplane first flew in March 1915 and he began combat operations soon after. Garros scored three victories in three weeks before he himself was downed on 18 April and his airplane, along with its synchronization gear and propeller was captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, the synchronization gear (called

26100-426: The propensity of the machine gun employed to hang fire due to unreliable ammunition. In December 1914, French aviator Roland Garros asked Saulnier to install his synchronization gear on Garros' Morane-Saulnier Type L parasol monoplane . Unfortunately the gas-operated Hotchkiss machine gun he was provided had an erratic rate of fire and it was impossible to synchronize it with the propeller. As an interim measure,

26280-470: The propulsion system. The wing is fitted with both double-slotted trailing edge flaps and full-span leading edge slats , the latter being automatically operated to reduce the aircraft's turn radius during combat. A key area of advancement on the Mirage F1 over its predecessors was in its onboard avionics. The Thomson-CSF Cyrano IV monopulse radar system, developed from the Cyrano II unit installed on

26460-443: The record above 1,000 mph for the first time and broke the previous record by 310 mph, or 37 per cent; never before had the record been raised by such a large margin. In its original tailless form, the thin delta was used extensively by the American aviation company Convair and by the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation . The supersonic Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and transonic Douglas F4D Skyray were two of

26640-448: The same time lighter than a swept wing of equivalent aspect ratio and lifting capability. Because of this it is easy and relatively inexpensive to build—a substantial factor in the success of the MiG-21 and Mirage aircraft series. Its long root chord also allows a deeper structure for a given aerofoil section. This both enhances its weight-saving characteristic and provides greater internal volume for fuel and other items, without

26820-460: The seat and suffered major spinal injuries. In February 1987, three F1AZs fired several V-3B missiles at a group of MiG-23s without success. This was repeated again in February 1988 when a F1AZ fired a missile at a MiG-23 and fired its 30mm cannon, again without success. Various other unsuccessful attempts were made during the 1987–88 period. Apart from operations from Namibia in July 1981, a pilot of

27000-584: The second was lost because of an engine fire. Banderas served as Commander of the Ecuadorian Air Force between May 2014 and February 2016, while Uzcátegui died in a training accident in 2002 at Salinas air base , in the Santa Elena Province . In 2011, all of the remaining Ecuadorian Mirage F1s still in service were retired after having flown more than 33,000 flight hours during their 32 years in active service; they were replaced by

27180-409: The sizable Mirage F1 order by Iraq if the request was not granted. From 1983 onwards, Iraqi Mirage F1s were also used for ground attack. In this role, the Mirage F1 was used to replace Iraq's aging fleet of Hawker Hunters . In September 1985, an agreement was signed between Dassault and Iraq for the delivery of a further 24 aircraft, consisting of 18 Mirage F1EQ-6 fighters and 6 F1BQ trainers. During

27360-532: The skies above the battlefield. The interceptor is a fighter designed specifically to intercept and engage approaching enemy aircraft. There are two general classes of interceptor: relatively lightweight aircraft in the point-defence role, built for fast reaction, high performance and with a short range, and heavier aircraft with more comprehensive avionics and designed to fly at night or in all weathers and to operate over longer ranges . Originating during World War I, by 1929 this class of fighters had become known as

27540-417: The sky and a number of Morane-Saulnier Ns were modified. The technique proved effective, however the deflected bullets were still highly dangerous. Soon after the commencement of the war, pilots armed themselves with pistols, carbines , grenades , and an assortment of improvised weapons. Many of these proved ineffective as the pilot had to fly his airplane while attempting to aim a handheld weapon and make

27720-408: The steady increases in aircraft weight—most modern fighters are larger and heavier than World War II medium bombers. Because of the importance of air superiority, since the early days of aerial combat armed forces have constantly competed to develop technologically superior fighters and to deploy these fighters in greater numbers, and fielding a viable fighter fleet consumes a substantial proportion of

27900-585: The strikes had very poor results, due to the inaccuracy of this technique. Moreover, the soft sand of the Sahara desert caused a lot of bombs to fail to detonate. To solve these issues, several measures were taken. The Moroccans started using bombs equipped with daisy cutter fuses , and later South African-made Jupiter airburst fuses . Moroccan Mirages also starting operating in hunter-killer teams , with one aircraft fitted with long-range cameras and/or ESM equipment guiding one or two low-flying Mirage F1s to attack

28080-662: The sweepback of the wing's leading edge. An experimental glider, the DM-1 , was built to test the aerodynamics of the proposed P.13a high-speed interceptor . Following the end of hostilities, the DM-1 was completed on behalf of the United States and the shipped to Langley Field in Virginia for examination by NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, forerunner of today's NASA ) It underwent significant alterations in

28260-635: The tailless type must use a less efficient design and therefore a bigger wing. Techniques used include: The main advantages of the tailless delta are structural simplicity and light weight, combined with low aerodynamic drag. These properties helped to make the Dassault Mirage III one of the most widely manufactured supersonic fighters of all time. A conventional tail stabiliser allows the main wing to be optimised for lift and therefore to be smaller and more highly loaded. Development of aircraft equipped with this configuration can be traced back to

28440-401: The targets it detected. These tactics proved highly successful, and they became the principal way in which Moroccan Mirages operated for the remainder of the war. Moreover, the aircraft were modified with chaff / flare dispensers. Lastly, ECM pods were bought to increase the aircraft's survivability against SA-6s, and the first were delivered in 1983. All this, combined with better training of

28620-485: The top wing with no better luck. An alternative was to build a "pusher" scout such as the Airco DH.2 , with the propeller mounted behind the pilot. The main drawback was that the high drag of a pusher type's tail structure made it slower than a similar "tractor" aircraft. A better solution for a single seat scout was to mount the machine gun (rifles and pistols having been dispensed with) to fire forwards but outside

28800-464: The two Rotten could split up at any time and attack on their own. The finger-four would be widely adopted as the fundamental tactical formation during World War Two, including by the British and later the Americans. World War II featured fighter combat on a larger scale than any other conflict to date. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel noted the effect of airpower: "Anyone who has to fight, even with

28980-422: The type entered squadron service with EC 2/30 Normandie-Niemen in December of that year. By October 1971, the Mirage F1 was under production at both Dassault's Bordeaux facility and at SABCA 's own plant in Belgium , work at the latter having been performed under an industrial arrangement associated to Belgium's order for 106 Mirage 5 aircraft. The 79 aircraft of the next production run were delivered during

29160-422: The very end of the inter-war period in Europe came the Spanish Civil War . This was just the opportunity the German Luftwaffe , Italian Regia Aeronautica , and the Soviet Union's Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily needed to test their latest aircraft. Each party sent numerous aircraft types to support their sides in the conflict. In the dogfights over Spain, the latest Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters did well, as did

29340-422: The war as the weapons used were lighter and had a higher rate of fire than synchronized weapons. The British Foster mounting and several French mountings were specifically designed for this kind of application, fitted with either the Hotchkiss or Lewis Machine gun , which due to their design were unsuitable for synchronizing. The need to arm a tractor scout with a forward-firing gun whose bullets passed through

29520-407: The war, the British developed a number of subsonic jet aircraft that harnessed data gathered from Lippisch's work. One such aircraft, the Avro 707 research aircraft, made its first flight in 1949. British military aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan (a strategic bomber ) and Gloster Javelin (an all-weather fighter) were among the first delta-equipped aircraft to enter production. Whereas the Vulcan

29700-443: The war. Fighter development stagnated between the wars, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, where budgets were small. In France, Italy and Russia, where large budgets continued to allow major development, both monoplanes and all metal structures were common. By the end of the 1920s, however, those countries overspent themselves and were overtaken in the 1930s by those powers that hadn't been spending heavily, namely

29880-405: The wing's leading edge remains behind the shock wave boundary or shock cone created by the leading edge root. This allows air below the leading edge to flow out, up and around it, then back inwards creating a sideways flow pattern similar to subsonic flow. The lift distribution and other aerodynamic characteristics are strongly influenced by this sideways flow. The rearward sweep angle lowers

30060-559: Was patented by J.W. Butler and E. Edwards in a design for a low-aspect-ratio, dart-shaped rocket-propelled aeroplane. This was followed by various similarly dart-shaped proposals, such as a biplane version by Butler and Edwards, and a jet-propelled version by the Russian Nicholas de Telescheff . In 1909 a variant with a canard foreplane was experimented with by the Spanish sculptor Ricardo Causarás. Also in 1909, British aeronautical pioneer J. W. Dunne patented his tailless stable aircraft with conical wing development. The patent included

30240-439: Was a classic tailless design, the Javelin incorporated a tailplane in order to improve low-speed handling and high-speed manoeuvrability, as well as to allow a greater centre of gravity range. Gloster proposed a refinement of the Javelin that would have, amongst other changes, decreased wing thickness in order to achieve supersonic speeds of up to Mach 1.6. The American aerodynamicist Robert T. Jones , who worked at NACA during

30420-426: Was adopted by the TsAGI (Central Aero and Hydrodynamic Institute, Moscow ), to improve high angle-of-attack handling, manoeuvrability and centre of gravity range over a pure delta planform. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 ("Fishbed") became the most widely built combat aircraft of the 1970s. Through the 1960s, the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab AB developed a close-coupled canard delta configuration, placing

30600-507: Was conducted during Operation Manta , the French intervention in Chad to counteract the growing Libyan encroachment in the region. A force of four Mirage F1C-200s provided air cover for a further group of four Jaguar strike aircraft; they also participated in a number of skirmishes against pro-Libyan Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) rebels. In 1986, French Mirage F1s were redeployed to Chad as part of Operation Epervier . A flight of four F1C-200s provided fighter cover for

30780-474: Was deployed to undisclosed forward air bases to dissuade Peruvian attack aircraft from entering the combat zone. By this time, the planes had been upgraded with Israeli electronics and Python Mk.III air-to-air missiles, usually mounted on the outer underwing pylons, and Matra R550 Magic AAMs on wing-tip launch rails. On 10 February 1995, a pair of Mirage F1JAs, piloted by Maj. Raúl Banderas and Capt. Carlos Uzcátegui, were directed over five targets approaching

30960-409: Was furnished with an Instrument Landing System (ILS), radar altimeter , UHF / VHF radio sets, Tactical Air Navigation system (TACAN) and a ground data link . Other avionics include an autopilot and yaw damper . The Mirage F1 was powered by a single SNECMA Atar 9K-50 turbojet engine, which was capable of providing roughly 7 tonnes-force (69  kN ; 15,000  lbf ) of thrust, giving

31140-476: Was hit in a fuel line and he had to perform a deadstick landing at AFB Ondangwa. Pretorius's aircraft sustained heavier damage and had to divert to Ruacana forward airstrip, where he landed with only the main undercarriage extended. Both aircraft were repaired and returned to service. During the last phase of the Bush war 683 combat sorties were flown by the F1AZs, and more than 100 SAMs were fired at them. On 27 September 1987, during Operation Moduler , an attempt

31320-444: Was mounted to intercept two Cuban FAR MiG-23MLs . Captain Arthur Piercy's F1CZ was damaged by either an AA-7 Apex or AA-8 Aphid AAM fired head-on by Major Alberto Ley Rivas. The explosion destroyed the aircraft's drag chute and damaged the hydraulics. Piercy was able to recover to AFB Rundu , but the aircraft overshot the runway. The impact with the rough terrain caused Piercy's ejection seat to fire; he failed to separate from

31500-420: Was no longer a handicap and one or two were used, depending on requirements. This in turn required the development of ejection seats so the pilot could escape, and G-suits to counter the much greater forces being applied to the pilot during maneuvers. In the 1950s, radar was fitted to day fighters, since due to ever increasing air-to-air weapon ranges, pilots could no longer see far enough ahead to prepare for

31680-405: Was not made public by either side, although some details surfaced in later years. The incident was revealed in 2012 by Turkish Defence Minister İsmet Yılmaz , in response to a parliamentary question by Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Metin Lütfi Baydar in the aftermath of the downing of a Turkish F-4 Phantom II in Syria , in 2012. On 17 May 1987, an Iraqi Falcon 50 modified with elements of

31860-399: Was originally intended for a fighter role with the U.S. Navy , but it was canceled. This blurring follows the use of fighters from their earliest days for "attack" or "strike" operations against ground targets by means of strafing or dropping small bombs and incendiaries. Versatile multi role fighter-bombers such as the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet are a less expensive option than having

32040-444: Was pioneered before World War I by Breguet but would find its biggest proponent in Anthony Fokker, who used chrome-molybdenum steel tubing for the fuselage structure of all his fighter designs, while the innovative German engineer Hugo Junkers developed two all-metal, single-seat fighter monoplane designs with cantilever wings: the strictly experimental Junkers J 2 private-venture aircraft, made with steel, and some forty examples of

32220-500: Was repaired using the tail section of F1CZ '206' (Piercy's aircraft). Fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also pursuit aircraft ) are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat . In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace . Domination of the airspace above a battlefield permits bombers and attack aircraft to engage in tactical and strategic bombing of enemy targets, and helps prevent

32400-440: Was signed, stipulating the delivery of five additional Mirage F1CHs, as well as 20 Mirage F1EHs (including six aircraft equipped with in-flight refuelling probes). The first deliveries to the Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) took place in 1978. Moroccan Mirage F1s flew with three squadrons: Assad and Atlas, which were multi-role (interceptor and fighter-bomber) units, and Iguider, a specialised reconnaissance squadron. Comprising over

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