The Mirage III C (The IAF Aircraft Series 3/1)
By Amos Dor Publisher: AD Graphics 1999 36 Pages
ISBN: 8887841004
PDF 27 MB
It is very difficult to cover in a single book the detailed history of the Mirage, Nesher and Kfir in the IAF; a better approach would be an encyclopedia. However, this book and the next two to follow are a fair trial to present the most important facts about these fighters and the legendary pilots who flew them.
Many chapters of this history shaped the air fighting doctrine are still being taught in Air Force academies of many countries, including the famous Top Gun of the U.S. Navy.
Marcel Dassault named it "Mirage" because he wanted the aircraft to be like a "Fata Morgana": you can see it, but you can not reach it, So it was in it's time, at least when flown by I AF pilots.
The Kfir (Lion Cub, in Hebrew) was a natural evolution of the Mirage. Following it's enormous success during the Six-Day War, the IAF ordered and paid for 50 Mirage M5Js, but never received them, because of President De Gaule's arms embargo on Israel. The time was fit and the way was paved then to begin producing Israel's own fighter aircraft. And so started the production of the A/esfterthat lead later to the Kfir.
To my humble opinion, as an aviation fan and researcher, the Mirage should be considered as "The aircraft of the century": if not for it's aerodynamics and performances - a big step forward in it's time -then certainly for the bright pages of military aviation history it wrote.
