Dassault Mystère IV

The Mystère IV was an evolutionary development of the Mystère II aircraft. Although bearing an external resemblance to the earlier aircraft, the Mystère IV was in fact a new design with aerodynamic improvements for supersonic flight. The prototype first flew on 28 September 1952, and the aircraft entered service in April 1953. The first 50 Mystere IVA production aircraft were powered by British Rolls-Royce Tay turbojets, while the remainder had the French-built Hispano-Suiza Verdon 350 version of that engine.

File:Mystere IVA Bitburg PdF 1960s.jpg

File:Dassault MD-520 Mystere IVA (468976577).jpg

Israeli Mystère IVs saw action during the Arab–Israeli wars and were joined by the French Mystères for the Suez crisis.

France was the main operator of the Mystère IV and at the peak usage operated 6 squadrons. Most of the aircraft were purchased under a United States Offshore Procurement contract{{Cite web |title = NATO announces $550,000,000 aircraft programme |date=23 April 1953 |author=Lord Ismay |publisher = NATO |url=https://www.nato.int/docu/speech/1953/s19530423.htm }} and many were returned to US custody after they were retired. In April 1953 the United States government and the United States Air Force placed an order for 223 aircraft to be operated by the French.

The new Mystère IVs were used in the 1956 Suez Crisis and continued in use into the 1980s.

The Mystère IV became Israel's first swept-wing fighter when an order for Mystère IIs was changed to 24 Mystère IVs in 1955, which were delivered from April to June 1956, equipping 101 Squadron. A further 36 were delivered in August 1956, with a final aircraft, equipped for reconnaissance duties, delivered in September 1956.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, pp. 15–16.

On 29 October 1956, when Israel attacked Egypt in the opening move of what became known as the Suez Crisis, invading the Sinai Peninsula, the Mystères of 101 Squadron were deployed on both air-to-air and ground attack missions.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, pp. 17–18. On 30 October the Mystère IV got its first kill when eight aircraft fought 16 Egyptian Air Force MiG-15s. The Mystères shot down one MiG while a second MiG and one of the Mystères were damaged. On the next day, two Mystères engaged claimed four Egyptian De Havilland Vampires shot down, with another MiG-15 and a MiG-17 claimed later that day.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, p. 18. Israeli Mystères flew a total of 147 sorties during the war, for the loss of a single aircraft, shot down by ground fire on 2 November.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, p. 19.

A second squadron, 109 Squadron was equipped with the Mystère IV in December 1956, while 101 Squadron passed its Mystères to 116 Squadron in November 1961.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, p. 20. Israel planned to replace the Mystère IV with the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, but 109 and 116 Squadron still operated the French fighter on the outbreak of the Six-Day War. The Mystère was used as a ground attack aircraft during the war, flying 610 sorties, claiming three Arab aircraft (two MiG-17s and a Jordanian Hawker Hunter) shot down for the loss of seven Mystères, five to ground fire and two by enemy fighters (one by an Egyptian MiG-21 and one by a Jordanian Hunter flown by PAF pilot Saiful Azam).Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, pp. 21–23.

The Mystère was finally retired from Israeli service on 18 March 1971.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, p. 23.

India procured 104 aircraft in 1957 and used them extensively in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

On 16 September 1965 a Mystère IVA shot down a Pakistani L-19. On 7 September an Indian Mystère was damaged in the air by a Pakistani Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in a raid over Sargodha. The much faster Starfighter inadvertently accelerated in front of the Mystère and was shot down. Both the Mystère and the Starfighter crashed. The Pakistani pilot was able to eject and parachute down safely but the Indian air force pilot Devayya died in the crash and was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously, 23 years after the battle.{{cite web|title=Maha Vir Chakra awards (IAF)|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Awards/Gallantry/302-MVC.html|publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces)|accessdate=22 June 2014|archive-date=10 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710183004/http://bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Awards/Gallantry/302-MVC.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Maha Vir Chakra awards (1988)|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Awards/awards.php?qyear=1988|publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces)|accessdate=22 June 2014}}

During the beginning of this offensive a PAF F-104 shot down an Indian Air Force Mystère IV with one of its AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles making the first combat kill with a Mach 2-capable aircraft.

During the campaign Mystère IVs also destroyed Pakistani aircraft on the ground including four F-86F, three F-104 and 2 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports.

The phasing out of the aircraft started soon after the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War, though it saw further action in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it was completely phased out of the Indian Air Force by 1973.

;Mystère IV

: Prototype powered by a Rolls-Royce Tay 250 engine

;Mystère IVA

File:Dassault Mystere IVA 8-MT.jpg]]

: Production fighter-bomber, 421 built, first 50 with the Rolls-Royce Tay 250 the remaining 371 with a French derivative of the Tay, the Hispano-Suiza Verdon.

;Mystère IVB

: In addition to production Mystère IVA, Dassault developed an upgraded Mystère IVB with either Rolls-Royce Avon (first two prototypes) or SNECMA Atar 101 (third prototype) afterburning engine and a radar ranging gunsight. Six pre-production aircraft were built but the project was abandoned in favour of the promising Super Mystère. In 1954, French pilot Constantin Rozanoff was killed while doing a low-level flyover of this aircraft.

File:Dassault Mystere IV N in flight c1956.jpg

;Mystère IVN

: Dassault also proposed a two-seat all-weather interceptor version called Mystère IVN. The aircraft was equipped with the AN/APG-33 radar in an arrangement similar to North American F-86D Sabre Dog, powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet, and armed with 55× 68 mm Matra rockets in a retractable belly tray. The first prototype flew on 19 July 1954. AdA eventually decided to purchase Sud Aviation Vautour and F-86K Sabre for the interceptor role but the Mystère IVN prototype continued to fly for several years as a testbed for radar equipment.

File:MystereIVweb.jpg

;{{FRA}}

• French Air Force, 241 delivered

;{{IND}}

• Indian Air Force, 110 delivered

;{{ISR}}

• Israeli Air Force, 61 delivered.Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, p. 16.

• 60 – Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the Israeli Air Force Museum.

• 70 – Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the Midland Air Museum in Coventry.
• 79 – Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum in Flixton.
• 83 – Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the Newark Air Museum in Winthorpe, Nottinghamshire.
• 121 – Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the City of Norwich Aviation Museum in Horsham St Faith, Norfolk.{{cite web |title=Aircraft List |url=http://www.cnam.org.uk/aircraft-list |website=City of Norwich Aviation Museum |access-date=27 August 2023}}
• 318 – Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum in Dumfries, Scotland.

• 57 – Dassault Mystère IVA at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona.{{cite web |title=Aiframe Dossier |url=https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=6229 |website=Aerial Visuals |access-date=30 December 2023}}

• 146 - Dassault Mystère {{not a typo|IVa}} at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków.{{cite web |title=Museum's website |url=https://muzeumlotnictwa.pl/aleja-migow/ |website=Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego |access-date=22 July 2024}}

• IA1007 – Dassault Mystère IVA at the Jahaz Chowk in Gurdaspur.{{cite web |title=Warbirds of India|url=https://www.warbirdsofindia.com/punjab/mystere-iva-ia1007-at-jahaz-chowk/ |website=Warbirds of India|access-date=25 February 2025}}

File:Mystere IVA.svg

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=The Complete Book of FightersGreen and Swanborough 1994, p. 149.

|prime units?=met

|crew=1

|length m=12.89

|length note=

|span m=11.12

|span note=

|height m=4.6

|height note=

|wing area sqm=32.06

|wing area note=

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=

|empty weight kg=5860

|empty weight note=

|gross weight kg=8510

|gross weight note=

|max takeoff weight kg=9500

|max takeoff weight note=Aloni Air Enthusiast March/April 2005, p. 15.

|fuel capacity=

|more general=

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Hispano-Suiza Verdon 350

|eng1 type=turbojet engine

|eng1 kn=34.32

|eng1 note=

|power original=

|thrust original=

|eng1 kn-ab=

|eng1 lbf-ab=

|max speed kmh=1110

|max speed note=at sea level

|max speed mach=

|cruise speed kmh=

|cruise speed note=

|stall speed kmh=

|stall speed note=

|never exceed speed kmh=

|never exceed speed note=

|range km=915

|range note=without external tanks

::::{{cvt|2280|km|mi nmi}} with external tanks

|combat range km=

|combat range note=

|ferry range km=

|ferry range note=

|endurance=

|ceiling m=15000

|ceiling note=

|g limits=

|roll rate=

|climb rate ms=40

|climb rate note=

|time to altitude=

|wing loading kg/m2=

|wing loading note=

|fuel consumption kg/km=

|power/mass=

|thrust/weight=

|more performance=

|guns=2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons with 150 rounds per gun

|rockets=55 air-to-air rockets in retractable packBridgman 1955, p. 139.

|missiles=

|bombs=1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of payload on four external hardpoints, including a variety of bombs, rockets or Drop tanks

|avionics=

}}

{{Portal|Aviation}}

{{aircontent

|related=

• Dassault Mystère
• Dassault Super Mystère

|similar aircraft=

• CAC Sabre
• Hawker Hunter
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17
• North American F-86D Sabre
• Shenyang J-5
• Supermarine Swift

|lists=

• List of fighter aircraft
• List of military aircraft of France

|see also=

}}

Record setting pilots

• Jacqueline Auriol

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web

| title=IAF COMBAT KILLS - 1965 INDO-PAK AIR WAR

| url=http://orbat.com/site/cimh/iaf/IAF_1965war_kills.pdf

| author=B. Harry

| publisher=orbat.com

| date=2 September 2006

| access-date=9 September 2010

| url-status=dead

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127234125/http://orbat.com/site/cimh/iaf/IAF_1965war_kills.pdf

| archive-date=27 November 2010

}}

Orbis 1985, pp. 3605-1608

{{cite web

| title= Armed Forces Overviews - Pakistan Air Force / پاک فضائیہ (Pakistan Fiza'ya)

| url=https://www.scramble.nl/orbats/pakistan/summary

| author=Dutch Aviation Society

| publisher=Dutch Aviation Society

}}

}}

• {{cite journal|last=Aloni|first=Shlomo|title=Swept-Wing Backbone: Mystère IVAs in Israeli Service|journal=Air Enthusiast |date=March–April 2005|issue= 116|pages= 12–23 |issn= 0143-5450}}
• {{cite book|last=Bridgman|first=Leonard|title=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1955–56|year=1955|publisher = McGraw-Hill |location=New York}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Buttler |first1=Tony |title=Dassault's X-Files: The Ouragan 30L, Barougan, Mystère de Nuit & Mystère IVN|journal=The Aviation Historian |date=January 2019 |issue=26 |pages=40–50 |issn=2051-1930}}
• {{cite book |last1=Carbonel |first1=Jean-Christophe |title=French Secret Projects |date=2016 |publisher=Crecy Publishing |location=Manchester, UK|volume=1: Post War Fighters |isbn=978-1-91080-900-6}}
• {{cite book | editor1-last=Donald | editor1-first= David | editor2-last =Lake | editor2-first = Jon |year = 1996 | title=Encyclopedia of world military aircraft |publisher=AIRtime Publishing |isbn= 1-880588-24-2}}
• {{cite book|last1=Green|first1=William|last2=Swanborough|first2=Gordon|title=The Complete Book of Fighters | year =1994|publisher=Smithmark|location=New York|isbn=0-83173939-8}}
• {{cite book | editor-last=Kopenhagen | editor-first= W |year=1987 | language = de | title=Das große Flugzeug-Typenbuch |trans-title=The large airplane type book |publisher=Transpress |isbn= 3-344-00162-0}}
• {{cite journal |editor-last1=Rocher|editor-first1=Alexis|title=Les 70 ans de la Patrouille de France: L'âge d'or des "Mystère" IV supersoniques; première partie|journal=Le Fana de l'Aviation |date=May 2023 |issue=642 |pages=18–30 |issn=0757-4169 |language=fr|trans-title=70 Years of the Patrouille de France: The Golden Age of the Supersonic Mystere IV, Part 1}}
• {{cite book | title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft | volume = Part Work 1982–1985 |publisher= Orbis Publishing}}

{{Commons category|Dassault Mystère IV}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090724144024/http://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/passion/aircraft/military-dassault-aircraft/mystere-iv.html?L=1 Dassault Aviation Mystère IV page]

{{Dassault aircraft}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dassault Mystère IV}}

Mystere IV

Category:1950s French fighter aircraft

Category:Low-wing aircraft

Category:Single-engined jet aircraft

Category:Cruciform tail aircraft

Category:Aircraft first flown in 1952

Category:Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear