The Mirage 3 or Mirage III was developed in the late 1950's by the French aircraft designed Dassault. It was designed as an interceptor aircraft as successor of the MD.550 Mystere aircraft. More than 1400 have been built, with the French Air Force as primary user, however it was also exported. Exports took place to: Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, Swiss and Venezuela. Currently only Pakistan is still operating the aircraft as front line fighter. Some survivors can also be found in Swiss where they are flown by private pilots in the airshow/war bird scene.
Mirage 3C:
The French Aerospace museum at Le Bourget also has some gems, a good example is Mirage 3C 42/EF which is actually in the storage area of the museum in Dugny and can normally not be seen in the museum.
Mirage 3E:
This old aircraft is/was used at the French Air Force base Creil as a instructional airframe. Nowadays it is standing in some corner of the airfield fading away.
Another Mirage 3E which is at the Dugny storage area of Le Bourget museum.
MIRAGE F-1:
The Mirage F-1 was developed as the successor of the Mirage 3 aircraft in the 1960's. Nowadays the French Air Force retired them (in 2014), but these gems can still be seen in Morocco, Iran, Libya and Gabon. Other passed operators where the Spain (see picture added further below with some stunning tiger marks), Iraq and Greece (see further below).
Some winter shots at Reims-Champagne Air Base in French back in February 2006.
A pair of French Mirage F1CT (the ground attack version of the aircraft) can be seen during landing.
A Spanish Mirage F1M during its climb for another mission:
And the Spanish Mirage F1M in special tiger marks for the NATO Tigre meet in 2006:
The Hellinic Air Force (a.k.a. the Greece Air Force) was also an operator of the Mirage F1. The export version to Greece was known as the Mirage F1CG. Although the Greece Air Force ceased Mirage F1 operations long time ago, many can still be found stored or preserved at Tanagra Air Force base like these examples.
Mirage F1CG s/n 105, s/n 114 and s/n 123, can be found at Tanagra Air Base near the Officers mess:
Also two special colored aircraft can be found on-base at Tanagra.
Mirage F1CG 115 and 129
And last both not least Mirage F1CM 140 in its standard two-tone grey/blue camouflage colors, which is my personal favorite.
My next blog will cover the other Mirage aircraft, see you soon!