In 1971, the Normandie-Niemen squadron were stood down as the Vautour's role (Night Fighter) had been rendered generally obsolete by the new generation of all-weather fighters, on top of which the Vautours were a bit careworn after nearly fifteen years' service, not a bad record for a second generation jet. After a brief absence from the AdlA order of battle, the squadron was reformed on its Norman homeground in 1973, the first recipients of the new Dassault Mirage F1. This was to be by far the longest serving type in NN service, from 1973 to 1994 in an interceptor role, and transiting to the Mirage F1-CT ground attack version in 1994, serving until the replacement by Dassault Rafales in 2006.
This was the old Heller boxing of the F1, a gift from Old Tonto (thanks mate), built pretty well out of the box except for a Pavla replacement ejector seat to replacement the kit's rather featureless one. Filler use was minimal, not bad for a kit from the late seventies. the only thing to watch for is the complex landing gear, very badly described in the instructions and cause of much cursing in the Owlery. Decals were a mix of kit ones (which don't like Microscale products, I found), an Airfix set from OT and a few bits hanging around the spares box. Thanks again to Old Tonto for the two MATRA Magic missiles which were missing from the kit, and the RS-530 missile that I decided not to go ahead with because a/ I couldn't find a decent picture of the pylon used by the French Air Force for this bulky piece of kit and b/ it looked terrible - almost as if this actually quite small fighter had another fighter hanging off it, Mistel-style.
Still, a fun build except for the undercarriage. On to the high-tech stuff with the last build, the nearest thing modern science can give us to the Angel Interceptor - the Dassault Rafale. Watch this space.
