History

The Dassault Mirage IIIO was flown by the Royal Australian Air Force between 1964 and 1989. They flew with five operational squadrons, an Operational Conversion Unit and the Armament Research Development Unit.

Of the 100 aircraft acquired the first 50 were fitted as fighters and the second 50 for ground attack, although all were eventually fitted for ground attack.

They were flown by Nos 3, 75, 76, 77 and 79 Squadrons.

Two of these squadrons were usually based at Butterworth in Malaysia while those in Australia were mainly based at RAAF Williamtown near Newcastle.

No 2 OCU also flew a number of single and two-seat Mirage IIIs used in training pilots for squadron duties.

This model represents A3-42, flown by 2 Operational Conversion Unit during Operation Pitch Black in 1984.

Novo 1/72 kit with High Planes decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in October 2005.

Data

MODEL: Dassault Mirage IIIO (A3-42, 2OCU, RAAF, 1984)

ROLE: single-seat fighter

TIME PERIOD: 1965-1990s

ENGINES: one SNECMA Atar 9C afterburning turbojet of 6000kg thrust

WING SPAN: 8.22m

LENGTH: 14.75m

MAXIMUM TAKE OFF WEIGHT: 12,700kg

MAXIMUM SPEED: 2112km/h

RANGE: 1200km

CREW: 1

ARMAMENT: two 30mm DEFA cannon and provision for two AIM-9 and one Matra 530 missile

SCALE: 1/72

KIT:

GALLERIES:

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