In the History of the IAF there is a very important chapter called the "french era". There was a good reason for that as the French were the only country that was willing to supply new jets
to Israel. At the 50's US and Britain were both reluctant to sell modern jets to Israel. Britain sold small number of meteors in 1953 but by then the meteor was considered an old design.
In 1955 the first French jet fighter entered service with the IAF - Dassault Ouragan. The plane
was very straitforward design and rivaled the straight wing f-84 Thunderjet series.
But even before it there was a need for a first line fighter. In 1954 an israeli test pilot flew
the Saab 29 Tunan and gave a positive report on the plane but Sweden refused to sell it.
The French were more than willing to sell the mystere IIC to Israel and a delegation came to
test it. After some 20 test flights the pilots gave negative opinion on the mystere IIC. The
main complains were about it's flight characteristics which were found lacking in many areas.
At the time the mystere IV was in advanced devolopment stages and was a much more
promising design with much better performance. A big argue started in Israel between the
airforce and procurement department . The officer's in the procurement department point was simple - if the mystere IIC is good for the French airforce it should be good as well for
the IAF. At the end it was decided to wait for the much better mystere IV - history proved that it was the right decision.
As I am very fond of french jet fighters I started a build diary of the mystere IIC from Ecardmodels in an adapted 1:48 scale instead of the original 1:33 scale.
Yair
to Israel. At the 50's US and Britain were both reluctant to sell modern jets to Israel. Britain sold small number of meteors in 1953 but by then the meteor was considered an old design.
In 1955 the first French jet fighter entered service with the IAF - Dassault Ouragan. The plane
was very straitforward design and rivaled the straight wing f-84 Thunderjet series.
But even before it there was a need for a first line fighter. In 1954 an israeli test pilot flew
the Saab 29 Tunan and gave a positive report on the plane but Sweden refused to sell it.
The French were more than willing to sell the mystere IIC to Israel and a delegation came to
test it. After some 20 test flights the pilots gave negative opinion on the mystere IIC. The
main complains were about it's flight characteristics which were found lacking in many areas.
At the time the mystere IV was in advanced devolopment stages and was a much more
promising design with much better performance. A big argue started in Israel between the
airforce and procurement department . The officer's in the procurement department point was simple - if the mystere IIC is good for the French airforce it should be good as well for
the IAF. At the end it was decided to wait for the much better mystere IV - history proved that it was the right decision.
As I am very fond of french jet fighters I started a build diary of the mystere IIC from Ecardmodels in an adapted 1:48 scale instead of the original 1:33 scale.
Yair
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire