For its May 2018 issue, to mark its 50-year anniversary, “Le Fana de l’Aviation” offers us insight into the special missions performed by the Mirage F1 opposite US fighters in 1990.
The Dassault Mirage F1 conducted its maiden flight on December 23, 1966, flown by René Bigand, and differs from the rest of the Mirage family in that it uses a swept wing rather than a delta wing.
This issue also reveals that in the 1990s, the Americans asked France to test its Mirage F1 against their fighter planes. The secret missions performed by the F1s at that time and the extremely high level of versatility they demonstrated during missions (ground attack, close air support, combat) are described in detail.
Also not to be missed in this issue of Le Fana de l’Aviation: an article on the new variant of the Sea Mosquito carried by the Royal Navy and christened “Sea Mossie”. This issue also recalls an anecdote from 1942, a period during which two Junkers Ju 86 aircraft were giving the Royal Air force a particularly hard time, causing every one of their interception attempts to fail.
“Le Fana de l’Aviation no. 594”, May 2019