HERITAGE SERIES THE RAAF MIRAGE STORY compiled by Wing Commander M.R. Susans W IN N ER OF THE 1989 HERITAGE AWARD THE RAAF MIRAGE STORY compiled by Wing Commander M. R. Susans OFFICE Hr AIR FORCE HISTORY LEVEL £ TUGGEJMJK^f r '”-‘"'CKF3 CENTRE Royal Australian Air Force Museum 205 ANKETEU. Sir.tui TU6GERANONG ACT 2900 AUSTRMM V First published in 1990 by CONTENTS Royal Australian Air Force Museum RAAF Base Point Cook Vic 3029 Australia ©Royal Australian Air Force Museum FOREWORD (iv) Cover & Text designed by David Constable Air Marshal J.W. Newham, AC Production by Sylvana Scannapiego, Island Graphics Typeset in Palatino by Trade Graphics PREFACE (vi) Printed in Australia by Impact Printing Wing Commander M.R. Susans National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication data: 1 THE FRENCH CONNECTION 01 Air Vice Marshal R.T. Susans, CBE, DSO, DFC The RAAF Mirage story. Bibliography. 2 PRODUCTION ASPECTS 19 ISBN 0 642 14835 X. Mr E.R. Bennet and Mr PB. Talbot 1. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force. 2. Mirage 3 FROM SABRE TO MIRAGE 32 (Fighter planes). 3. Fighter planes — Australia. I. Air Vice Marshal F.W . Barnes, AO, DFC, AFC and Air Commodore Susans, M. R. II. RAAF Museum (Point Cook, Vic.). S.S.N. Watson, AM All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by 4 THE EDGE OF THE ENVELOPE 49 any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, Air Commodore G.W. Talbot, AFC without the prior permission of the publisher. 5 OPERATION 'FAST CARAVAN' 64 Air Vice Marshal J.H. Flemming, AO 6 ROLES AND DISPOSITION 75 Air Vice Marshal R.J. Bomball, AFC et al 7 A PILOTS'VIEWPOINT 112 Wing Commander J.A. Smith et al 8 AN ENGINEER'S VIEWPOINT 143 Group Captain G. Grantham GLOSSARY OF TERMS 166 of military and civil offset opportunities, or in winning additional contracts in the fiercely competitive international free-bid arenas. So we grew up all round. Ted Bennet's and Pierce Talbot's final statement appeals to me enormously - . the most successful aircraft proJect undertaken'. Many times I reflected on this evident fact in my final years of service as yet another single service responsibility was transferred to the central committee system because 'it will be more efficient'. Some assertion, when we had clear evidence of a most successful cooperative arrangement established between men of good will and competence, without the 'benefit' of the gauntlet today's proJects must run. FOREWORD Earlier I alluded to unexpected spin-off and the Mirage's great combat record. I don't think Air Vice-Marshals Susans and Barnes or Air Marshal Rowland would have appreciated at the time the long term value of the liaison established so effectively with other countries during those early days in Paris. Our men were remembered twenty years later with evident professional respect. Doors opened that much easier when we sought he Marcel Dassault Mirage III came into service with the French Air first-hand comment on the Mirage's operational track record. Force in the late 1950's. Thirty years later variants still fly in France The Mirage turned out to be an honest aircraft. On reflection, I believe T and places like Israel, South Africa and The Argentine; other countries we failed the fighter force by not remedying deficiencies identified early seek refurbished aircraft. The Mirage has been distinguished in war service, in the aircraft's life (for example, providing an inertial system) and through claiming somewhere between 600 and 1 000 kills, perhaps more. being forced to reduce our permanent liaison staff in France, which I'm sure This month after 25 years service with the RAAF, the Mirage III0 is contributed to our slowness to stay on top of serious technical problems — to be withdrawn from operational service. The stories and impressions another example of 'penny wise and pound foolish'. This neglect became chronicled in this book testify to the importance of the Mirage to the RAAF more pressing as we extended and re-extended the Mirage's operational and to Australia, to its quite specific limitations and most importantly to the life when the F/A-18 date of introduction slipped several years affection that grew with experience with this great and beautiful aircraft. Notwithstanding these strictures and millstones, morale stood up when This spontaneous affection was common to all operators and linked them times were tough; the technicians worked harder to keep the Mirage flying, in a professionally useful way. and the pilots continued to fly them hard and enJoy it. So passes an September 1988 is indeed a sad date in RAAF fighter history although important era in RAAF history, and a much respected aircraft. sentiment cannot drive our force structure. I am delighted that Wing Commander Martin Susans has taken the initiative to produce this volume. J.W Newham The contributors form a nice mixture of those selected to acquire the Mirage Air Marshal and put it into service, and those charged with keeping it there; they speak with authority. The result is a valuable collection of important historical Farrer, ACT material and stories about interesting events and people. Many important September 1988 contributors to the program are not mentioned by name. I'm sure they will appreciate the limitations of such a volume and will not mind. I compliment the authors on the excellence of their work. Many principles and lessons are both explicitly and implicitly stated. There is ample mention of the Mirage's multi-role deficiencies, in particular for service in the Australian area. Yet the aircraft did a first class Job as events transpired. The RAAF moved into new operational and technical regimes. Industry and the bureaucracy moved forward too; the spin- off covered a wider range of airframe, engine and electronic capabilities than we had expected. Cooperation between 'them and us' hurdled old barriers. The infrastructure grew in its widest sense; without the Mirage experience we'd not be capable of tackling new technology: building it, operating it and fixing it. Industry would not be so successful in meeting our full share iv v intense programme of French interceptor development following on from the Mystere series of aircraft and the previous Mirage I and Mirage II developmental types. These had been designed in an attempt to meet a French Air Force interceptor specification of achieving 60 000 feet in six minutes from take-off. The Mirage III was performing well and also showed potential for further development of external load and ground attack capabilities. It was against this background that Wing Commander L.S. Compton (RESENG London) and Flying Officer G.W. Talbot (RAAF Exchange at RAF Boscombe Down) were tasked in December 1959 to visit France, Belgium and Sweden to evaluate and report on some of the contenders for the Sabre replacement. PREFACE After introductory briefings and factory inspections with Dassault in Paris, the pair proceeded to the GAMD airfield at Istres, near Marseilles for flight evaluation. The weather at the time was atrocious with heavy monsoonal rain and embedded thunderstorms covering much of the area. However, after much perseverance, sufficient flying was achieved to enable an appraisal to be made. he RAAF Mirage Story is a compilation of personal accounts by those Flying Officer Talbot flew Mirage IIIA-01 on 8, 12, 14 and 15 December who built, maintained and operated the RAAF Mirage. It is not an 1959. The first flight was a general handling and familiarisation sortie; the T official history but is a story as recalled by those who took part. Throughout second flight included an acceleration to Mach 2 at 35 000 feet, the third was the text, the words of the authors appear in italics, whereas my own words a heavy weight range validation and handling flight with external stores, of introduction or explanation appear in this standard font. and the fourth comprised some performance validation spot checks and Before the introduction of the Mirage, the RAAF's operational fighter further exploration of low speed handling characteristics. Continuing bad force comprised four squadrons and an OCU equipped with the Avon weather prevented any further flying during the visit. The airfield became Sabre. Numbers 3 and 77 Squadrons were based at Butterworth, whilst flooded and the team moved on to Brussels and Stockholm. 75,76 and 20CU were based at Williamtown. The Butterworth contingent A long report was prepared by the two-man team, not only on flight also provided aircraft, pilots and groundcrew on a rotational basis for No aspects, but on other areas of purchase interest; engineering, maintenance, 79 Squadron, a permanent detachment of eight aircraft in Ubon, Thailand costs and financing, potential for licence production, delivery schedule, under a SEATO arrangement. A total of 112 Avon Sabres were built in etcetera, etcetera. Australia, the last one being delivered to the RAAF on 19 December 1961. On completion of the European aircraft evaluation, Wing Commander The requirement to replace the Avon Sabre arose early in the era Compton and Flying Officer Talbot returned, each to his respective Job in of the US Century Series fighters when level supersonic flight became the UK, with no further involvement in the Sabre replacement selection commonplace and a Mach 2 capability was regarded as a standard for process. a combat fighter aircraft. US-built aircraft of this calibre were the F-104, Following this initial appraisal, a Fighter Evaluation Team toured Europe F-105 and F-106. In Europe, promising comparable aircraft were the English and the US from May-August 1960.