RAAF Mirage Aircraft
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RAAF Mirage Aircraft
Whatever happened to the Mirages, were they ever disposed of or dispersed to museums or are they still in storage at Woomera?
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There is a two seat Mirage (A3-16) restored to static display at Classic Jets Fighter Museum at Parafield Airport in Adelaide. Great museum, well worth a look if you are out that way. CAC Sabre, Gloster Meteor, DH Sea Venom, Mirage. The current project is a Lockheed Lightening. I just wish they were all flying!
Grandpa Aerotart
Yeah like A3-18...the below quote doesn't really do it justice.
I flew with Lindsay, one of nature's true gentlemen, in PX...he had tried to eject several times but each time he pulled the handle with one hand (other on control column) nothing happened. Finally, in desperation, he grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled...and out he went...180'/160kts
...inadvertantly discovering a design fault that had been, as I remember the story, responsible for a few fatalities.
His 'minor injuries' sidelined him for a year if memory serves...he retired a Wingco off F111s and is now on the A320 at J*.
One of the prettiest fighters ever designed too...what a good looking aeroplane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu21W-ls_bE
lots of really good CGI and film including interviews with Isreali Mirage aces.
Engine failure during return to base from Song Song Range (75 Sqn). Pilot ejected at 180 ft and 160 kts with only minor injuries. Crew; FLGOFF L.D.Boyd. RAAF Ejection number 44.
...inadvertantly discovering a design fault that had been, as I remember the story, responsible for a few fatalities. His 'minor injuries' sidelined him for a year if memory serves...he retired a Wingco off F111s and is now on the A320 at J*.
One of the prettiest fighters ever designed too...what a good looking aeroplane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu21W-ls_bE
lots of really good CGI and film including interviews with Isreali Mirage aces.
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 13th Sep 2007 at 05:28.
The Mirage was indeed an awesome bit of kit - when the fan was turning.
When I was in NZ in the mid-80s I visited the Control Tower at Ohakea Airforce Base, home of the then NZ Skyhawk fighter squadron. Every couple of years the Aussie Mirages would arrive there for joint exercises.
Apparently it became something of a tradition for them to depart for Oz via the space between the Control Tower and its neighbouring hangar - below the level of the Control Tower windows.
One NZ CO decided to put a stop to this practice, so he strung a wire from the Control Tower to the hangar, and so it would be obvious, he strung some of those plastic propellors, that anyone of my vintage might remember used to be a common decoration of used car yards, along the wire.
You guessed it! The next time the Mirages were in town, one of the Aussie pilots just could not resist the challenge and departed for Oz in the usual way - between the Control Tower and the hangar - UNDERNEATH the wire - full afterburner.
Story goes that the MPs were waiting for him on arrival back in Oz.
Dr
When I was in NZ in the mid-80s I visited the Control Tower at Ohakea Airforce Base, home of the then NZ Skyhawk fighter squadron. Every couple of years the Aussie Mirages would arrive there for joint exercises.
Apparently it became something of a tradition for them to depart for Oz via the space between the Control Tower and its neighbouring hangar - below the level of the Control Tower windows.
One NZ CO decided to put a stop to this practice, so he strung a wire from the Control Tower to the hangar, and so it would be obvious, he strung some of those plastic propellors, that anyone of my vintage might remember used to be a common decoration of used car yards, along the wire.
You guessed it! The next time the Mirages were in town, one of the Aussie pilots just could not resist the challenge and departed for Oz in the usual way - between the Control Tower and the hangar - UNDERNEATH the wire - full afterburner.
Story goes that the MPs were waiting for him on arrival back in Oz.
Dr
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..............there's one floating around at Wangaratta airport I believe. can't believe the cramped cockpit & when you look up close at it the ergonomics seem like a typical pommy job...............!& that wing !!!................now I know where they got the design of razor blades from !
Capt Wally :-)
Capt Wally :-)
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...........hey I didn't say the Mirage was a 'pommy' job just referring to it's cockpit layout (ealry pommy jobs where a joke in teh cockpit!)................we all know that the Frogs put together this speed machine..............saw one land at ML airport many moons ago............so what you might say...........it was a 'wheeless' landing, nice to watch tho:-).............clever boy & he was a military guy...........see you don't need to be so called expertly trained to just be human !:-)
..............Capt wally
..............Capt wally
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Originally Posted by Capt Wally
..............saw one land at ML airport many moons ago............so what you might say...........it was a 'wheeless' landing, nice to watch tho:-).............clever boy & he was a military guy...........see you don't need to be so called expertly trained to just be human !:-)
..............Capt wally
..............Capt wally
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.......very perceptive peter...........he did just that!.....he used to drive an old Saab to........silly bugger 
Wander what ever became of him?
..........................ahhhh those where the days...........way back when Steve Knott (may he rest in piece) was an apprentice Alan was about........learnt a lot from him as did Steve............memories will never die
capt wally.....reminiscing
Wander what ever became of him?..........................ahhhh those where the days...........way back when Steve Knott (may he rest in piece) was an apprentice Alan was about........learnt a lot from him as did Steve............memories will never die
capt wally.....reminiscing
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................& WHY DON'T THEY (ATC) SAY CHECK.........damn caps locks !!!..........wheels to 400 tons???................nothing to do with being single pilot I hope...the old "PUFF" checks I still secretly use even to this day.......costs nothing unlike the formentioned !
capt Wally:-)
capt Wally:-)
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There is also another one up in darwin that the then FLGOFF John Quaiffe put into the coconut grove mudflats after the fan stopped turning, considdering it spent a few good yrs in the flats with the weather up here its polished up alright
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gav
If you are talikg about A3-100, that was not JQ's mud lark.
A3-100 is the Darwin RAAF Base gate guardian (display and memorial) left by 75SQN back in the late 90s
JQ's sat outside the Darwin Aviation museum for a few years, looked real good with that big ding under the intakes and that, Banana look to it. The Army carted it away to Tindal a few years back under a chook. I hav'nt seen it since but I understand it was rebuilt from some spares from other aircraft and maybe even the old tail from outside DN Ops. If its all shiny and new now so be it, but personally I prefered it the way it looked when he left it. (no offence JQ)
richo
If you are talikg about A3-100, that was not JQ's mud lark.
A3-100 is the Darwin RAAF Base gate guardian (display and memorial) left by 75SQN back in the late 90s
JQ's sat outside the Darwin Aviation museum for a few years, looked real good with that big ding under the intakes and that, Banana look to it. The Army carted it away to Tindal a few years back under a chook. I hav'nt seen it since but I understand it was rebuilt from some spares from other aircraft and maybe even the old tail from outside DN Ops. If its all shiny and new now so be it, but personally I prefered it the way it looked when he left it. (no offence JQ)
richo
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ForkTailedDrKiller: Your story has obviously had more than the usual amount of embellishment with constant retelling.
There was no tradition of flying between the tower and its neighbouring hangar below the level of the Control Tower windows, they turned straight on track for New Caledonia.
The wire you refer to was not strung up for that purpose, it was an aerial.
The aerial did not have little plastic propellors on it, it was marked by small coloured triangular flags.
IF someone had flown between under that aerial in full afterburner they would have almost certainly collected the roof of the fire section or one of the adjacent Pohutekawa trees.
There was no tradition of flying between the tower and its neighbouring hangar below the level of the Control Tower windows, they turned straight on track for New Caledonia.
The wire you refer to was not strung up for that purpose, it was an aerial.
The aerial did not have little plastic propellors on it, it was marked by small coloured triangular flags.
IF someone had flown between under that aerial in full afterburner they would have almost certainly collected the roof of the fire section or one of the adjacent Pohutekawa trees.