RAAF Mirage Aircraft

[Peter Fanelli]

Whatever happened to the Mirages, were they ever disposed of or dispersed to museums or are they still in storage at Woomera?

[tinpis]

To Pakistan goodness me yes....

[linedriva]

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!

[Hempy]

There is a good history of all our Mirages here (http://www.adf-serials.com/3a3.shtml). I was shocked at how many we lost :eek:

[Chimbu chuckles]

Yeah like A3-18...the below quote doesn't really do it justice.

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.

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:uhoh:...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:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu21W-ls_bE

lots of really good CGI and film including interviews with Isreali Mirage aces.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

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

[Peter Fanelli]

Story goes that the MPs were waiting for him on arrival back in Oz.


Damn right too, probably made the sheep all skittish! :E

[Capt Wally]

..............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 Claret]

Geez Wally, "typical pommy job", there'll be a few Froggies that won't like that! :}

[Bullethead]

And a few Poms!! :hmm:

[Capt Wally]

...........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

[Peter Fanelli]

Didn't he go on to be an examiner?

[Hempy]

..............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

The (trainee) ADC forgot to tell him to "check wheels", so he didn't :ouch:

[Capt Wally]

.......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

[Taildragger67]

My understanding was that 'landing' (controlled crashing?) one of those beasties gave a new meaning to 'aiming point'... :eek:

[Capt Wally]

................& 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:-)

[gav_20022002]

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

[Richo]

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

[gsf]

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.

[And Then]

Well anyways, B52 crews on low level navex over the NT would often muse at RAAF Mirages making guns passes and going underneath them.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

gsf - A good story is not going to go down without a fight. I suspect that the aerial with flags on it to which you refer was ripped out by a Mirage departing as I describe, and was replaced by the wire with the little plastic propellors that was there the day I visited the tower (Oct 85)!

As for the Pohutekawa (now there's a word I haven't heard for 25 years trees, well I guess that's why the Kiwis had never taken a Skyhawk through there - needed Aussie skill to dodge them!

Dr :cool:

[Bullethead]

I flew the SAR chopper at Willytown many yonks ago and one day was patrolling the beach along Stockton Bight towards the north. I might've been a couple of hundred feet high, when a black triangular shape appeared in front of and below me going like the clappers across the bight. Shocked the bejeezus out of me. :eek:

The noise hit a second later and some wake turbulence and by the time I realised what it was it was disappearing north east right on the wave tops. I knew who it was, this particular chaps signature was ultra low flying and later we discussed it in the bar over several ales.

Regards,
BH.

[gsf]

ForkTailedDrKiller: You will, no doubt, continue to believe and retell your story, but I know mine is correct.

PS: The only aircraft to take out that aerial was an Iroquois. :p

[Bullethead]

It wasn't mine!! :}

[Hempy]

I flew the SAR chopper at Willytown many yonks ago and one day was patrolling the beach along Stockton Bight towards the north. I might've been a couple of hundred feet high, when a black triangular shape appeared in front of and below me going like the clappers across the bight. Shocked the bejeezus out of me. :eek:

The noise hit a second later and some wake turbulence and by the time I realised what it was it was disappearing north east right on the wave tops. I knew who it was, this particular chaps signature was ultra low flying and later we discussed it in the bar over several ales.

Regards,
BH.

They aren't 111's, and they are French, but they still look good at 20'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeYnhMC_nM0

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

gsf - just curious, why would the Mirages go from Ohakea to New Caledonia when direct to Willytown is only 33nm further?

Dr :cool:

[Bullethead]

They had to go via New Caledonia as they generally couldn't handle the westerly headwind component direct to Willy, so they tacked to New Caledonia and then tacked to Willy. I flew support for one of their return journeys in a Herc around 1981ish.

Regards,
BH.

[stillalbatross]

capt claret,

I think he is referring to the fact that the design was bought from the british in the 1950's so the french Mirage is in fact a design offshoot of the Fairey Delta. The british govt didn't want to go any further with a delta wing fighter and the french took it on instead.

[gsf]

ForkTailedDrKiller: Bullethead has answered your question.

It also bears out my contention that they always turned straight on track.
It was a long leg and they would not be buggering around doing low level beatups in AB using up valuble fuel when going to an island destination.

Bullethead: I notice your #24 post.
It is a fact that unsolicited denials are usually made by culprits, so it is OK to fess up because this is an anonymous board, and confession is good for the soul. :)

[Bullethead]

I'll confess :oh: to responding in kind to a massed browneye from the boys at a surf club I flew past near the NSW border 30+ years ago, but I ain't never hit nuthin!!! :E

Ah, my soul feels much better now, though it's probably due to the Coopers Pale Ale I'm sampling. :ok:

[missy]

Back in '83, during a 2 week attachment to Willy I got a 20 minute ride in a Mirage. Barrel rolls out over the Tasman, what a hoot! Thanks Shaun.

[gav_20022002]

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


no, reffering to A3-36 ( i think) was choppered down to 75sqn Tindal bout 4 or so yrs ago and restored and now sits under the B-52 wing at the aviation museum. it came up to the mesuem restored on the back of a truck bout 18 mths ago
this is when it went to tindal:
http://www.defence.gov.au/news/raafnews/EDITIONS/2001/4311/story09.htm

and one we restored it:
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2005/Nov/20051123.cfm

[A37575]

There is a Mirage on display at RAAF Base Point Cook, Victoria. The pity is that it is out in the open in the salt laden air with only a flimsy canvas cover over it maybe to protect it from bird s...t.

[Peter Fanelli]

Back in '83, during a 2 week attachment to Willy


You were attached to a willy for 2 weeks?? :E

[WG774]

I think he is referring to the fact that the design was bought from the british in the 1950's so the french Mirage is in fact a design offshoot of the Fairey Delta. The british govt didn't want to go any further with a delta wing fighter and the french took it on instead.
Bought it? I think you'll find that no money changed hands...
The FD2 project became politically unpopular, so the project was moved to an airfield in France... Cynics might say this gave the French plenty of opportunity to keep a close eye on the project, but the French will argue that the Mirage concept was already well advanced by that point.

There's a thread in the archives where it's claimed that the Mirage took to the air before the FD2... I'll see if I can find the right search string to dig it up.

Nice thread!

[WG774]

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211650&page=2&highlight=Mirage

[l.garey]

I have a photo of A3-48 at the PAF Museum in Karachi on my web site:

http://l.garey.googlepages.com/pakistanairforcemuseum

http://l.garey.googlepages.com/DSCF0028.JPG/DSCF0028-full.jpg

[Hempy]

sob :(

http://l.garey.googlepages.com/DSCF0028.JPG/DSCF0028-full.jpg

[l.garey]

Yes it is sad.I was surprised to find the RAAF Mirage in Karachi.

There are some other nice planes in the museum's dump (look at the other photos on my site). I asked the CO what could be done, but he says "No funds".

[Capn Bloggs]

Eat your heart out FTDK!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/webpixx/prune/yeehaa.gif

I see the thread police are in action all of a sudden. Some mod just come back off leave? :ugh:

[komac2]

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.


A Photo of that prior to the wires being added has been posted on this website thread :

http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=Aussie&action=display&thread=1201386948&page=2#1201484335

[gsf]

komac2: Not so.
The Mirage in that pic is about to fly just to the east of #3 hangar (the half round shape) and above #4 hangar; which you may notice, is nowhere near as high as number 3.
There never were any wires or aerials between 3 and 4.

The only aerials/wires were the two strung from the tower to #2 and #3 hangar.

As I said earlier in this thread, the only wire strike was with an Iroquios between the tower and #3.

[komac2]

Gsf very aware of the location i.e old 75 sqn hanger now 3 sqn hanger and roof is now Black (has been since 1988) and the no 4 AMS Hanger etc and were the wires are strung between the tower etc - what I meant by the post or left out completely is that it is more likely to be where the mirages (as pictured) departed as opposed to between the tower and no 3 hanger like all things a large bit over exhagerated especially the under wire post - sorry wasn't very clear in my post-cheers.

[GK430]

I knew I had this photo somewhere:
Pt. Cook, Vic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v156/Emirates/RAAFMirage.jpg

[David Eyre]

Here's some photos of ex RAAF Mirage IIIs in PAF service, from the PakDefInfo website:

90-513 (formerly A3-13 with RAAF):
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/m4.jpg

90-525 (formerly A3-25 with RAAF):
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/mirageiii_525_01.JPG
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/mirageiii_525_02.JPG

90-554 (formerly A3-54 with RAAF):
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/90-554-starboard.jpg
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/90-554-nose.jpg
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/90-554-tail.jpg

90-560 (ex A3-60), at Masroor Air Base:
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/gallery/images/m2.jpg

You can also see my photos of these aircraft when they were in the last year of service, during their last visit to RAAF Pearce in September 1987:
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=&airlinesearch=&countrysearch=&specialsearch=&daterange=&keywords=mirage+iii+david+eyre&range=&sort_order=&page_limit=15&thumbnails=&calccount=15&truecount=true&engine_version=6.0

Regards,
David