The Mirage F.1 owes its creation to a private initiative by the Dassault company. The first prototype took off for the first time on 23 December 1966 and the production machines went to serve with the Armée de l'Air as the Mirage F.1C single seat jet and the Mirage F1.B two seat trainer aircraft. During the service, some of the machines were modified to the F.1C-200 standard by adding the IFR probe on the nose section. The French military used two recon versions of the Mirage, too. These were the Mirage F.1CR and Mirage F.1CT, the latter being converted from the F.1C-200 airframes. The Armée de l'Air received a total of 246 Mirages of all versions and the type also marked an export success. They flew in Spain and Greece in Europe, in South America they saw service with a sole operator, the air force of Ecuador, whilst in Africa and Asia, the Mirages flew in Gabon, South Africa, Morocco, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait. As a result, the Mirage F.1 fighters were involved in many armed conflicts and wars all around the globe, in mock combats between Greece and Turkey as well as in hot missions in Chad, over-border clashes between Ecuador and Peru, in South Africa they fought against Cuban aircraft flying from Angola bases and perhaps most known might be their involvement in the Iran-Iraq conflict where they were used by both sides.
Our nicely detailed Mirage F.1C/C-200 model has its parts broken up to six grey styrene sprues plus one with clear parts. The decal sheet covers a quartet of machines, three of which sport grey-blue on the upper surfaces with aluminium paint below, they all carry various colourful trim and the fourth machine is in a desert scheme as it flew in Djibouti. Its centre-line fuel tank is adorned with a pair of eyes and a shark mouth.
- very interesting colour schemes
- finely detailed model kit set with plenty of accessory sets available, from masks to figures
Kit #SH72388 is available now from Special Hobby - Price: 20.19 Euros
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