Mirage F1 - National Air and Space Museum. Le Bourget, Paris

[wokka]

This is a nice little museum in what was Paris's first airport but closed to commercial flights in about 1977 and is now a very large business jet centre and hosts the Paris Airshow. So I took my daughter there and here's one of the more interesting aircraft on display.




Next photo is of the Cockpit and what surprises me is that the Liquid Oxygen tank (the green sphere) is directly behind the Pilot and directly above the Nose Undercarriage. Anyone who's worked with Lox will know the dangers grease and oil present when LOX is present and of course U/C bays are always well greased. The thing about the pilot is that if that thing takes a round in combat it will produce one great big fireball behind the pilot.




Now the business end. The beauty of this display is that it shows all the components under the skin. Now from the public's point of view, an aircraft is judged by how it looks and how good an air display it gives. From the pilot how fast and how maneuverable and from the techie's point of view how easy it is to get to the components. The Harrier was a classic aircraft that wooed the crowds but was an absolute pig to work on.





I have plenty more photos I'll put up over the next few days.