Luftwaffe Mirage F1.C, JG71, NATO operation over Bosnia, April 1999

[nönöbär]

Luftwaffe Mirage F1.C

Introduction:

The Mirage F1 is a French air-superiority fighter and attack aircraft introduced in the early 1970s. The F1.C is the all-weather interceptor variant of the Mirage F1 aircraft. 


Alternate History:

The Luftwaffe introduced the F4 Phantom II as its main fighter aircraft between 1973-1975, a total of 175 aircraft were bought. In need of a lighter, smaller fighter plane the Luftwaffe tested different other aircraft, and decided in 1978 to buy the Mirage F1.C as the light fighter alternative.
Like the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, which entered Luftwaffe services at the same time, the German used Mirages were build at Dornier. A total of 125 aircraft were build ans assigned to the various Jagtgeschwader of the Luftwaffe.
A typical Jagdgeschwader constisted of two squadrons of F4-Phantom II and one squadron of Mirage F1.C.
After the end of the cold war, the number of Luftwaffe planes was reduced step by step and with the planned introduction of the eurofighter (former Jäger 90), the older fighter planes like the Phantom and Mirage were about to be removed from service.

However, with the wars in the Balkans - Bosnia and Kosovo - and the NATO air operations there, the F1.C went into operation and provided air cover for German ECR Tornados.

By 2004, all Mirage F1 were retured form Luftwaffe services.


The Plane:

The model shows a German Mirage F1.C of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen" during the NATO operations over Bosnia and Serbia in April 1999.






Mirage F1.C and ECR Tornado

The Model:

I always liked the Mirage F1, so there was the idea to build a Luftwaffe version of it. I used a old (1976) Airfix Mirage for it. Its build directly out of the box, without any changes ecxept the painting and the Luftwaffe decals. Despirte its age, it was simple but quite good to build. For the color scheme, I used a one of e Luftwaffe Eurofighter. Additionally I tried some weathering wihch I tihnk worked quite good on the model, it looks as if it is heaviely used. Decals are a mix of those of a Luftwaffe Do28 and what else was found in the spare parts box.

[Army of One]

Great build considering the age of the kit.....like the colour scheme as well.....

[kitbasher]

Nifty F.1 there, sir.  Never been a huge fan of the Mirage but I do like the F.1 and the M2000.  The M4 I think would have looked better with 'bigger windows'.

Now I know I may be missing a trick here but everyone cast their minds back to the time of the European 'Sale of the Century' to replace F-104s and others.  Competitors were the F-16 and the Mirage F.1.  The F-16 won of course but are there any 'alternatives' to the F-16 on this forum, namely Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian F.1s?

[NARSES2]

Looks nice in German colours

[pyro-manic]

Looks good! Don't see enough Mirages, particularly the F.1.

I do think the crosses are a little too big? Their size coupled with their position on the wings doesn't look quite right IMO. But a minor nitpick at most - nicely done!

[lancer]

That Mirage DOES look good in Luftwaffe markings,,,,

[nönöbär]

Looks good! Don't see enough Mirages, particularly the F.1.

I do think the crosses are a little too big? Their size coupled with their position on the wings doesn't look quite right IMO. But a minor nitpick at most - nicely done!

I know, the markings are  a bit too big, but those that fitted better in size desintegrated into nothing when I tried to put them on the model. So I had to use those that were left... 

[Cobra]

Decal Problems or Not,You did a Superb Job   Don't See A lot of F1 Mirages,So You did a First Class Paint & Decal Job on the Plane   Dan

[Dizzyfugu]

The light grey livery suit the F.1 well - IMHO, the very large decals are a bit unfortunate, I'd had probably invested into an aftermarket decal sheet for the perfect look. And maybe replaced the Matra Magic with Sidewinders - but I like the overall impression.

Makes me think about a German Mirage III, since it competed with the Starfighter and lost. Maybe a reconnaissance version, in the green/black cammo scheme from the 80ies...?

Anyway, pretty Mirage, nevertheless!