French Air Force Museum at Le Bourget

[litzj]

During the Holidays, I have visited Paris and Munchen (Summer of 2017)

Organizing pictures of them took some time. Anyway, as the first article of this year, please enjoy it.

https://jaesan-aero.blogspot.com/2019/0 ... urget.html

[mixelflick]

Fantastic legacy of combat aircraft, would have loved to see the Mirage 4000.

The Rafale though is starting to show its age. France's stealth offering should be interesting, particularly if they go it alone. Always up for seeing what they're up to. Loved the Mirage 2000 too, great lines. It's the 4000 though that intrigued me most.

[litzj]

Fantastic legacy of combat aircraft, would have loved to see the Mirage 4000.

The Rafale though is starting to show its age. France's stealth offering should be interesting, particularly if they go it alone. Always up for seeing what they're up to. Loved the Mirage 2000 too, great lines. It's the 4000 though that intrigued me most.

It was pure fortune to find Mirage 4000 prototype hidden near the A380 !!

It would be better if they exhibit Mirage 4000 as regular stage.

[mixelflick]

Fantastic legacy of combat aircraft, would have loved to see the Mirage 4000.

The Rafale though is starting to show its age. France's stealth offering should be interesting, particularly if they go it alone. Always up for seeing what they're up to. Loved the Mirage 2000 too, great lines. It's the 4000 though that intrigued me most.

It was pure fortune to find Mirage 4000 prototype hidden near the A380 !!

It would be better if they exhibit Mirage 4000 as regular stage.

I agree, the Mirage 4000 deserves that kind of stage. Fantastic piece of engineering. I thought for sure when they were developing it many a middle eastern air force would bite. Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE... would have thought someone would have picked it up. And before they got the Lavi plans for the J-10, it would have been a quantum leap for the PLAF. Big radar, good range, French AAM's were among the best in the world at that point. The Flanker probably suits them better, but its not inconceivable the Mirage 4000 could have filled that role and would have had a much better pilot/plane interface - and weapons systems.

A real shame nobody picked it up...

[mixelflick]

This demo was incredible IMO, especially for the time..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc0NxzXTpXQ

Check out the tight turn at 1:24, the high alpha at 2:08 and the power loop at 2:55! And combat loaded with 6 AAM's!!! She would have been one of the first fighters capable of carrying 10AAM's, as the fuselage stations on that flight were empty. Incredible agility for such a big fighter..

At least you got to see one, up close and personal