Dassault Mirage IIIR

The Mirage IIIR is the tactical photo-reconnaissance version of the Mirage III, developed by Dassault in response to the Armée de l'Air's interest in a dedicated reconnaissance Mirage. The R in its designation stands for reconnaissance. Dassault built a pair of prototypes to meet the requirement; the first flew on 31 October 1961, and the first production aircraft followed on 1 February 1963.

Technically, the IIIR combined the Mirage IIIE airframe with simpler avionics similar to those of the Mirage IIIC fighter, together with a purpose-designed nose. That nose, slimmer than the fighter's and pierced by several glazed windows, housed up to five OMERA cameras. The lack of space in the nose meant the radar had to be deleted; the aircraft did, however, keep the fighters' twin DEFA cannon and full compatibility with external stores, including the Dassault RP-18R drop tank of 600 litres. Sources class it as a single-seat all-weather reconnaissance aircraft. Notably, the IIIR entered operational service before the Mirage IIIE whose airframe it shared.

The Armée de l'Air ordered 50 production aircraft, which with the two prototypes make 52 new-build airframes; deliveries of these and of the later IIIRD ran from 1963 to 1967. All went to the 33e escadre de reconnaissance, based at air base 124 Strasbourg-Entzheim and the only French Air Force unit dedicated to tactical reconnaissance. The first IIIRs reached the wing in January 1963, and the type is listed on its strength from 7 June 1963. The first squadron to convert was 3/33 Moselle, which moved to Mont-de-Marsan for its conversion in March 1963, six months before returning to Strasbourg-Entzheim; it flew the IIIR until 1968, when it switched to the IIIRD. Squadron 2/33 Savoie converted in 1965, and 1/33 Belfort, which had been detached to Luxeuil and returned to Strasbourg in January 1967, received the IIIR that same year. In the wing the IIIR replaced the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash.

On 14 June 1963, flying IIIR no. 307, the aviator Jacqueline Auriol set a world speed record over a 100 km closed circuit. In 1969 a modified IIIR also served as the test bed for the retractable foreplanes of the Milan project.

The type's service life left a record of accidents documented airframe by airframe: no. 305 was lost on 25 February 1964 at Nieder-Olm in Germany; no. 320 came down on 25 September 1967 near Osthoffen, where Captain Claude Saunois stayed at the controls to steer clear of the village and was killed, an event marked by a memorial stone; no. 308 flew into high ground in Corsica on 3 April 1979 during a weather reconnaissance sortie in exercise DATEX; on 27 June 1983 a mid-air collision with a civilian Partenavia P.68 near Biberach an der Riß killed both pilots and four people on the ground; and on 7 December 1983 no. 332 was hit by a ricocheting shell on the Diane range at Solenzara, its pilot ejecting.

From 1 July 1983 the Mirage F1CR began arriving at the 33e escadre and eventually replaced the IIIR. The last one retired was no. 317, withdrawn on 25 February 1988 and then used to train mechanics at Rochefort. Several survive, including no. 303 at the Canopée collection in Châteaudun, no. 335 at Lyon-Corbas and no. 324 in the museum at the château of Savigny-lès-Beaune.

The IIIR gave rise to the French IIIRD, with Doppler radar and interchangeable pods, and to export versions for Pakistan, South Africa and Switzerland, which have their own entries.