Dassault Super Mystere

Super Mystere

Role: Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer: Dassault Aviation
First flight: 2 March 1955
Retired: 1977 (French Air Force)
Status: Not Active
Primary users: French Air Force Israeli Air Force Military of Honduras
Produced: 1956-????
Number built: 180

The Dassault Super Mystere was a French fighter-bomber, the first Western European supersonic aircraft to enter mass production.

Development

The Super Mystere represents the final step in evolution which began with the Dassault Ouragan and progressed through the Mystere II/III and Mystere IV. While earlier Mystere variants could attain supersonic speeds only in a dive, the Super Mystere could exceed the speed of sound in level flight. This was achieved thanks to the new thin wing with 45° of sweep (compared with 41° of sweep in the Mystere IV and only 33° in Mystere II) and the use of an afterburner-equipped turbojet engine.

The first prototype Super Mystere B.1, powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon RA.7R, took to the air on March 2, 1955. The aircraft broke the sound barrier in level flight the following day. The aircraft entered production in 1957 as the Super Mystere B.2. The production version differed from the prototype by having a more powerful SNECMA Atar 101G engine. In 1958, two Super Mystere B.4 prototypes were built. Equipped with a new 48° swept wing and a more powerful SNECMA Atar 9B engine, the aircraft were capable of Mach 1.4. Production never materialized because the faster Dassault Mirage III was entering service. In 1973, the Israeli Air Force upgraded their Super Mystere B.2s with a non-afterburning version of the Pratt & Whitney J52-P8A and new avionics.

A total of 180 Super Mystere B.2s were built.

Operational history

The Super Mystere served with the French Air Force until 1977. In addition, 36 aircraft were sold to the Israeli Air Force in 1958. The aircraft saw action in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. They were well-liked by the Israeli pilots and were a match for the Arab MiG-19 aircraft in air-to-air combat.

In 1976, Israel sold 12 complete airframes to Honduras. In 1979, 4 more complete airframes were purchased by the Hondurans, totaling 16 aircraft. They were involved in numerous border skirmishes with Sandinista Nicaragua and were finally withdrawn from service in 1996 replaced by 12 Northrop F-5Es. The 11 surviving aircraft are for sale as surplus and 1 more is preserved at the Honduras Air Museum.

Operators

Picture - former Super Mystere Operators

France

French Air Force

Honduras

Honduras Air Force

Israel

Israeli Air Force
105 Squadron

Picture - Two Super Mystere B.2 aircraft of the Honduran Air Force (1988)

Specifications (Super Mystere B.2)

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 14.13 m (46 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 10.51 m (34 ft 6 in)
Height: 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 ft²)
Empty weight: 6,390 kg (14,090 lb)
Loaded weight: 9,000 kg (20,000 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 10,000 kg (22,000 lb)
Fuel capacity: 2,000 kg (4,400 lb)
Powerplant: 1x— SNECMA Atar 101G-2 turbojet
Dry thrust: 33.3 kN (7,490 lbf)
Thrust with afterburner: 44.1 kN (9,920 lbf)

Picture - Super Mystere at the Israeli Air Force Museim in Hatzerim

Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 1.12 (1,195 km/h, 743 mph) at 11,000 m (36,000 ft)
Combat range: 870 km (470 NM, 540 mi)
Ferry range: 1,175 km (634 NM, 730 mi)
Service ceiling: 17,000 m (56,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 89 m/s (18,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 281 kg/m² (57.6 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.50

Armament

Guns: 2x— 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA 552 cannons with 150 rounds per gun
Rockets: 2x— Matra rocket pods with 18x— SNEB 68 mm rockets each
Missiles: 2x— Rafael Shafrir AAMs; 2x— AS-30L
Bombs: 2,680 kg (5,000 lb) of payload on four external hardpoints, including a variety of bombs, reconnaissance pods or Drop tanks

Related development

Dassault Mystere IV
Dassault Etendard II
Dassault Mirage III

Comparable aircraft

F-100 Super Sabre
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19

Donald, David; Lake, Jon (editors) (1996). Encyclopedia of world military aircraft. AIRtime Publishing. ISBN 1-880588-24-2.
Kopenhagen, W. (editor) (1987). Das groxŸe Flugzeug-Typenbuch. Transpress. ISBN 3-344-00162-0. (Written in German)

http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/americas/el_salvador/El_Salvador-af-EscCazaBomb.htm

Dassault Super Mystere Pictures and Dassault Super Mystere for Sale.

Living Warbirds: The best warbirds DVD series.

Source: WikiPedia