The Dassault Mirage IIIV (three vee) fighter aircraft was one of the most interesting offshoots of the Dassault Mirage III family tree. A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter, the IIIV featured eight small vertical lift jets straddling the main engine.The design was in response to a mid-1960s NATO specification for a VTOL strike fighter. The Hawker Harrier, one of the famous examples of a plane with VTOL capability. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. ... Dassault Aviation is a French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1965: Events January January 2 - Denis Healey, the UKs Secretary of Defence cancels the nations fighter and military transport programmes and orders the purchase of the US-built F-4 Phantom and C-130 Hercules in their place. ... The French Air Force is the air force branch of the French Armed Forces. ... The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... The Hawker Harrier, one of the famous examples of a plane with VTOL capability. ... A lift jet is a jet engine angled to provide an aircraft with aerostatic (i. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague. ...

Balzac

To test the lift-engine concept, Dassault modified the first Mirage III prototype. Eight Rolls-Royce RB.108 lift engines were added, each with a thrust of 9.6 kN (2,160 lbf). It made its first hover flights in October 1962, with its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight in March 1963. The Short SC.1 used five RB.108s - the four lift engines are mounted vertically amidships in a cluster under the dark-coloured grilles whilst the fifth RB.108 is angle-mounted at the rear for forward propulsion The Rolls-Royce RB.108 was a jet engine designed by Rolls... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1962: Events January US Army CH-21 Shawnees are dispatched to Vietnam, the first US military aircraft to be deployed there January 10-11 - a B-52 Stratofortress is flown from Okinawa to Madrid, establishing a new distance record of 12... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1963: Events January January 7 - Aeroflot commences direct services between Moscow and Havana February February 14 - the Indian Air Force receives its first batch of Soviet fighters, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s March March 18 - the Dassault Balzac makes its first transitions...

The name was not actually given to the aircraft in honour of the French literary figure. As the machine was the first Mirage III, it was serial-numbered "001", and at the time there was a French movie advertising agency (Publicité Jean Mineur) that widely publicised its phone number, "BALZAC 0-0-1"^{[citation needed]}. The Balzac crashed in January 1964. The pilot was killed, but the aircraft was repaired, only to crash in September 1965 and be permanently destroyed, killing another pilot (who was on loan from the United States Air Force^{[citation needed]}) in the process. A major contributing factor to both crashes was held to be the inordinate amount of drag created by the deployment of the many lift engine intake/exhaust doors during transition. Balzac redirects here. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1964: // Events February February 7 - The Canadian Golden Hawks aerobatic team is disbanded. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1965: Events January January 2 - Denis Healey, the UKs Secretary of Defence cancels the nations fighter and military transport programmes and orders the purchase of the US-built F-4 Phantom and C-130 Hercules in their place. ... The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial warfare branch of the United States armed forces and one of the seven uniformed services. ... Parasitic drag (also called parasite drag) is drag caused by moving a solid object through a fluid. ...

NATO competition

Four designs were submitted, the Mirage IIIV design, the Fokker US-Republic D.24 Alliance, the BAC 584 and the Hawker P.1154, to NATO in January 1962 in competition for the AC/169 specification for a supersonic V/STOL strike fighter to meet NATO Basic Military Requirement 3. In May that year the resulting judgement that the P.1154 was the technically superior, but when considering as well the financing and work-sharing opportunities the Mirage IIIV was judged its equal in merit^{[citation needed]}. NATO was not in the position to fund the full development of either winner leaving it up to the individual member countries^{[citation needed]}. The Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was a supersonic VSTOL fighter aircraft being developed alongside the subsonic Hawker P.1127/Kestrel. ...

Mirage

In the meantime, the Balzac had led to the actual Mirage IIIV, which was twice as big. Two prototypes were built. The first Mirage IIIV performed its first hovering trial in February 1965. The IIIV had the general layout of earlier Mirage fighters, but it was longer and had a bigger wing, and, like the Balzac, nine engines: a single SNECMA-modified Pratt & Whitney JTF10 turbofan, designated TF104, with thrust of 61.8 kN (13,900 lb_f), and eight Rolls-Royce RB.162-1 engines, each with thrust of 15.7 kN (3,525 lbf), mounted vertically in pairs around the centreline. The TF-104 was originally evaluated on a special-built trials machine, the Mirage IIIT, which was much like a Mirage IIIC except for the change in engine fit. This is a list of aviation-related events from 1965: Events January January 2 - Denis Healey, the UKs Secretary of Defence cancels the nations fighter and military transport programmes and orders the purchase of the US-built F-4 Phantom and C-130 Hercules in their place. ... Société Nationale dÉtude et de Construction de Moteurs dAviation or SNÉCMA is one of the worlds leading aerospace corporations, specialized in propulsion, equipment and associated services. ... Pratt & Whitney is an American aircraft engine manufacturer whose products are widely used in both civil and military aircraft. ...

The TF104 engine was quickly replaced by an upgraded TF106 engine, with thrust of 74.5 kN (16,750 lb_f), before the first prototype made its initial transition to forward flight in March 1966. It later attained Mach 1.32 in test flights.

The second prototype featured a TF30 turbofan for forward thrust of 82.4 kN (18,500 lb_f), and first flew in June 1966. In September of that year, it attained Mach 2.04 in level flight, but was lost in an accident on 28 November 1966. The Mirage IIIV never was able to take off vertically and successfully go supersonic in the same flight; the thirsty and heavy lift jets prevented it^{[citation needed]}. The TF-30, produced by Pratt & Whitney was the worlds first afterburning turbofan. ... November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1966: Events Puerto Rican International Airlines begin services. ...

The loss of the second prototype effectively killed the program, and in fact killed any prospect of an operational Mach 2 vertical take-off fighter for decades. The British Hawker P.1154 had been cancelled in 1965 by the government just as the prototypes were being built, though its subsonic brother, the Hawker-Siddeley Kestrel VTOL attack aircraft was flying in tri-partite trials with the UK, US and West Germany. The French preferred the Mirage IIIV, and the international cooperation needed to make the P.1154 a reality never materialized. The Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was a supersonic VSTOL fighter aircraft being developed alongside the subsonic Hawker P.1127/Kestrel. ... The Hawker P.1127 was the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VTOL jet fighter bomber. ...

Some of the P.1154 work contributed to the final operational vertical take-off fighter based on the Kestrel, the highly successful Harrier. The Mirage IIIV was never a realistic combat aircraft. The eight lift engines would likely have been a maintenance nightmare, and certainly their weight imposed a severe range and payload penalty on the aircraft. Apparently the program was all but dead even before the loss of the second prototype^{[citation needed]}. See also BAE Sea Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier and the AV-8A are the first generation of the Harrier series, a successful close-support and reconnaissance fighter aircraft with V/STOL capabilities. ...

A piece of the technology of the IIIV was re-used in the extremely successful Mirage IIIF, later Mirage F1. The cockpit and ancillary electronics found a home in what has become one of the most successful French interceptors after the illustrious Mirage III^{[citation needed]}. The Dassault Mirage F1 is a single-seat air-superiority fighter and attack aircraft built by Dassault Aviation of France. ...

Specifications (Mirage IIIV)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 16.30 m (53 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan: 8.80 m (28 ft 10 in)
• Height: m (ft)
• Wing area: ()
• Empty weight: 6,750 kg (14,880 lb)
• Powerplant:
  • 1× Pratt & Whitney TF106 turbofan, 17,600 lbf (78.5) kN
  • 8× RollsRoyce RB162 turbofans, 4,400 lbf (19.6 kN) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: (Mach 2)

For an explanation of the units and abbreviations in this list, please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/Units key. The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... Schematic diagram of high-bypass turbofan engine CFM56-3 turbofan, lower half, side view. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ...

References

External links

• Aircraft InFormation

Related content

Related development

• Dassault Mirage III
• Dassault Mirage F1

Comparable aircraft

• Hawker Siddeley Harrier
• Hawker P.1154
• Rockwell XFV-12
• Yakovlev Yak-38
• Yakovlev Yak-141

Designation sequence

• III - IIIV - IV - 5 - 50

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of France
• List of fighter aircraft
• List of VTOL aircraft

The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... The Dassault Mirage F1 is a single-seat air-superiority fighter and attack aircraft built by Dassault Aviation of France. ... See also BAE Sea Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier and the AV-8A are the first generation of the Harrier series, a successful close-support and reconnaissance fighter aircraft with V/STOL capabilities. ... The Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was a supersonic VSTOL fighter aircraft being developed alongside the subsonic Hawker P.1127/Kestrel. ... The Rockwell XFV-12 was a prototype supersonic United States Navy fighter which combined the Mach 2 speed and AIM-7 Sparrow armament of the F-4 Phantom II in a VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) fighter for the small Sea Control Ship which was under study at the time. ... The Yakovlev Yak-38 (NATO reporting name: Forger) was Soviet Naval Aviations first and only operational VTOL multi-role combat aircraft. ... The Yakovlev Yak-141 (NATO reporting name Freestyle) was a supersonic VTOL fighter aircraft from the Russian Federation. ... The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France by Dassault Aviation during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... The Dassault Mirage IV is a French jet-propelled supersonic strategic bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. ... Former South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... Former South African Air Force Mirage IIICZ The Dassault Mirage III is a supersonic fighter aircraft designed in France during the 1950s, and manufactured both in France and a number of other countries. ... France has used many military aircraft both in its air force, the Armée de lAir, and other branches of its armed forces. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... This is a list of planes capable of vertical take-off and landing arranged under manufacturer. ...