1/72 Airfix Mirage III CZ SAAF

Gallery Article by Dirk Schenk on Feb 10 2021

 

      

The Dassault Mirage III is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizontal flight.

During the South African Border War, the Mirage III formed the bulk of the South African Air Force's fleet, comprising a cluster of Mirage IIICZ interceptors, Mirage IIIEZ fighter-bombers and Mirage IIIRZ reconnaissance fighters; following the introduction of the newer Mirage F1, the type was dedicated to secondary roles in the conflict, such as daytime interception, base security, reconnaissance and training.

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This is my built of the Airfix kit (#50087) pretty much OOB with scratch built Sidewinder rails and using Hasegawa Sidewinders and a Matra R530 from the F1 kit. I do not believe this would have been a typical weapons load but demonstrates the various weapons carried by the CZ.

This plane is finished in the mid-1970s camo, brush painted with Humbrol enamels. The marking configuration (using MAV Decals) was used about the time of Ops Savannah, although they were not actively deployed as part of Ops Savannah to my knowledge.

I hope you enjoy the article and photos.

Dirk Schenk

Photos and text © by Dirk Schenk