Originally Posted by
DozyWannabe
Was there a reason - other than it was the second example built - that the French pre-production model had the longer tail assembly fitted, whereas 101 did not?
Maybe somebody else here has the more complete story?
01 first flew in December 1971, 02 in January 1973, more than a year later.
So I suppose a lot of the planned improvements "came to fruition" just about then.
Apart from the new visor, 01 still looked a lot like another prototype, while 02 was externally almost indistinguishable from the production aircraft (long tail, new nozzles/thrust reversers, tail wheel, etc.).
However, from my own limited experience, as far as the cockpit layout, and systems like the AFCS, were concerned, 01 was already
far closer to the production version than to the prototypes, which were still very much mid/late '60s designs.
The two prototypes were very much experimental and proof-of-concept aircraft, and it's interesting to see in how many aspects they differ from the final production aircraft.
CJ