The Dassault Mirage III V was an attempt to develop a supersonic strike fighter that could land and take off vertically.

It was not successful and the project was cancelled after only two aircraft had been made and tested.

The Dassault Mirage III V was designed in response to a 1961 NATO requirement for a supersonic vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) strike fighter.

It’s competition was the Hawker Siddeley P.1154 which was to use a single engine with vectored thrust while the Dassault design included nine engines, a main one for horizontal flight and eight smaller lift engines.

The Mirage III V was basically a Mirage III lengthened to accommodate the eight lift engines, not an ideal solution.

Two Mirage III Vs were manufactured, the first one making its first flight on 12 February 1965.

However, the second prototype crashed in November 1966 and the project terminated.

This model represents the first prototype Mirage III V, circa 1966.

Modelsvit 1/72 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds in July 2017.