Fouga Magister
 

Anyone flown the Fouga Magister ?

General impressions and advice on common maintenance problems please

Never flown one but I tripped over one once.

(apologies if that's unhelpful).

I believe it was the only aircraft designed so that you could urinate into the cockpit from outside without a step ladder.

Flown in the back of one that used to be based at EMA, was maintained by some Irish Air Corp Guys for the owner, Details are here with addresses, so you could contact the owners and they may be able to give you some pointers....
GINFO Registration History | Aircraft Register | Safety Regulation

Yes, I have flown it. PM me for specifics if you wish.

Excellent book: Le Fouga Sous Toutes ses Couleurs ISBN 2-90-7341-11-1 (may only exist in French)

I only have 190hrs on it in 2 years, so can't speak with great authority.

You could also try Claus Colling at FlugWerke (they of the new build FW 190) who carried out a wonderful restoration and flies his regularly. The website is:

Flug Werk GmbH - Contact -

A mate who flew them tells me you'd get spurious engine fire warnings and the only way to be sure was to do a 360 and take a look at your smoke trail - if it was thick and healthy looking you were on fire. In that case you would bail out without the use of an ejection seat, merely a static line type system.:ooh:

Well, I flew a variety of airframes maintained by the French Air Force and never saw spurious indications, they were all Marbore II engines, maybe that was a factor (nor were they particularly smokey.)

Well beats the old Spey Engined RAF Phantom, you used to do a physical external examination on those from the comfort of your Seat as it passed by underneath you .. :ok:

Fouga Magister
 

I did an exchange tour, got 1000hrs on it. PM for details

Got the info from an ex French fighter pilot. Probably some time in the '60s he flew them. The 360 was to make sure there was no thick healthy smoke trail when the fire warning illuminated.

Have a look at this site

CM170 FOUGA MAGISTER n° 217

I took some pics of their Magister in France last year and posted them on a site. The chappie Courtot sent me an e-mail in English wrt pic- which I can't find! :confused:

He seemed a pleasant blokey, so maybe worth a mail...

Flew a Miles Magister!

http://nostalgair.free.fr/CM170/DSCF7227.jpg

This photo reminds me of the antenna coming out of Uncle Martin's head in My Favourite Martian ... weird looking jet but on paper it looks like it was a good package for it's day.

A while ago
 

In the '70s flew two and half hours of licensed hooliganism in the back seat of No 6 in La Patrouille de France during display practice. The bail out brief was interesting as the chute static line was clipped into the rear bulkhead behind one's left shoulder. If it became necessary to get out I was assured that I should jettison my canopy, matey in front would roll us inverted and then I was to undo harness and allow myself to drop out! Yeah right. But it was pure unadulterated magic honest guv

Fouga
 

I scrounged a few Fouga trips with French and Belgian pilots during my exchange and overseas tours. IIRC it was tricky to land in the correct place because you sit soooo close to the ground on landing and additionally the ground effect of such a high aspect ratio wing also makes it reluctant to touch down (of course it could simply have been my p##s poor piloting skills!).

During my happy time in France, the FAF unfortunately lost several Fougas due to lack of engine performance in icing conditions - they flamed out if you were not careful. At the time, French Air Force Stations used to use the Fouga as a Station hack for the sqns. For a period, I was led to believe that sadly, more fast jet pilots met an untimely end in the Fouga than in their front line types.

F.O.D

The noisiest aircraft in NATO. Excruciating, piercing intake/compressor noise.:yuk::yuk:

I recall, many years ago, the Patrouille de France arriving at RAFC Cranwell in their FMs.

After refuelling, they taxyed to their parking slots with the groundcrew happily perched on the wing - that had the Jet Provost line chiefs choking on their tea!

It was quite amazing how both the Patrouille de France and the BAF Diables Rouge put on the superb displays they did back then, with these motor gliders powered by a couple of APUs!

I worked with an RAF pilot a while ago who had done an FrAF exchange tour in Tours on the Ajet and Magister. He said a favourite pastime was to race the TGV train down the nearby line at low level. Apparently, if you dived at it from around 5000ft you could just about keep up.

He also said landings from the backseat using the periscopes were a real pig.

Did a couple of trips in them on a Sqn exchange to Salon de Provence. One in the front and one in the back. My impressions:

You're bloody close to the ground. Makes you feel like you're going much faster than you actually are on takeoff and landing.

The periscope is a bizarre concept for an aircraft, but it actually works! Just as well as the visibility on landing is dreadful from the back.

It's underpowered.

It's good thing it has a V tail. A conventional fin would slice you in half if you had to bail out.

Control harmonisation is OK, but the aircraft feels a bit odd with those long wings. I tried some slow rolls and they seemed quite difficult to me. Having said that, it was very nice to fly in formation.

It's very noisy on the ground.

It would probably make a good glider.