CARRIER-BORNE STRIKE/ RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT
HISTORY
A long history of prototypes
Faced with the success of the
jet fighter during the Korean war and its generalization on flight lines
and carrier decks, France initiated a important series of prototypes like
the SNCASO Trident, the SFECMAS Gerfaut II, the GAMD Mirage I ant the
SNCASE Durandal, mainly to catch up with the USSR, Great Britain and the
UK.Faced with the success of the jet fighter during the Korean war and
its generalization on flight lines and carrier decks, France initiated
a important series of prototypes like the SNCASO Trident, the SFECMAS
Gerfaut II, the GAMD MirageI ant the SNCASE Durandal, mainly to catch
up with the USSR, Great Britain and the UK.
Eventually in December 1953 it started an important program for a fighter
capable of defending the French mainland. Two planes were in competition:
the Breguet Br.1100 and the Dassault Mystère XXII. Both featured
two Turboméca Gabizo engines with a 1 100kg thrust (1 500kg in
afterburner).
Meanwhile Nato, upon a request from General Lauris Norstad, commander
in chief of the alliance, issued a bid to various European airplane manufacturers
in April 1954 for a versatile light fighter (the LWTSF program: Light
Weight Tactical Strike Fighter).
When the European air forces launch the programs, they have in mind a
possible aggression from the USSR or Warsaw Pact nations on one or several
Nato countries. The aircraft has to able to rapidly defend Nato airbases,
which would likely be the main targets of the first Soviet nuclear strike.
Furthermore, this plane would then have to be able to operate from damaged
airfields and attack the USSR or its allies.
Dassault-Aviation's answer to the bid will be a series of prototypes,
which will eventually lead to the Étendard IVM/P as we know it
today.
The Dassault Mystère XXII was renamed, just before its first flight on July 23rd 1956 at Melun-Villaroche, flown by Paul Bourdier.This planes featured a fuselage inspired by that of the MD-550 (Mystère-Delta or Mirage I) and a 45°swept wing similar to the one on the Super-Mystère B2. It was the first batch of a two plane order in November 1954.
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The plane was to be fitted with two SNECMA R-105 engines, but this prototype was issued two Turboméca Gabizo engines instead. According to instructions from the Armée de l'Air, it carried two 30mm canons on an internal frame easy to remove for maintenance, and a Matra rocket launcher in a weapons bay. |
After forty + test flights, it became obvious that the weakness of these engines rendered the tests useless and irrelevant. Indeed Mach 1 was never reached, not even in a dive, and the planes took 12 minutes to reach 10,000m. The program was halted and the construction of the second prototype was abandoned in November 1956.
Briefly interested with the naval version of the Mystère XXII (Mystère XXII"M"), the French Navy almost ordered in July 1956 a third prototype, a naval version of the Étendard II.
As for Breguet, the company built a naval version of its prototype, the Br.1100 "M" which flew in November 1957 but was abandoned following the success of the Étendard IV.
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The winner: the Étendard
IV (Mystère XXIV)
On July 24th 1956 at Bordeaux-Mérignac, the day following the Étendard
II's first flight, a second plane designated Étendard IV took the
air with Georges Brian in the cockpit. Upon first glance it looks like
an Étendard II, but was in fact 15% larger, and was fitted with
a single SNECMA Atar 101E engine with an 8-stage compressor and a single
stage reactor (3 500kg of thrust).
Only one prototype was ordered. This plane turned out to have brilliant
performances; it beat a Mystère IV (main interceptor in the French
Air Force) in aerial combat; and looked like a good contestant for the
Nato LWSTSF competition. The competition indeed required the adoption
of an English Bristol Orpheus 12 engine, which was inferior to the Atar,
even lacking afterburner !
Yet, since the plane is 100% French, its chances for the Nato competition
were slim; thus Dassault developed a special Étendard with the
Orpheus engine: the Étendard VI.
This plane was the Saint-Cloud based company's answer to the competition, which could have brought up to 1 000 orders for several European countries.
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During the summer of
1954 in Paris, the LWTSF consulting committee presided over by Von
Karman chose three projects: the Fiat G.91, the Breguet Br.1001
Taon and the GAMD Étendard VI, all three being fitted with
the Bristol Orpheus 3, 2 200kg engine and armed with two 30mm canons
and four 12.7 machine guns. |
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The different Étendard IV versions
Étendard IVM:
the ground attack plane
Since the concept of light, twin engined planes did not go through, the
French Navy decided to return to the initial Dassault 1954 solution: a
Mystère XXIV (Étendard IV) derivative offered by the Armée
de l'Air, a carrier based plane.
A naval version had already been considered, and provisions had been made
to navalize the plane (folding wings, arrestor hook, gear and fuselage
strengthening, radar and navigation avionics).
To go a step further from the tactical aircraft, the Aeronautical Technical
Service asked Dassault on January 14th 1955 to study the possibility of
navalizing the plane as a multirole attack and low altitude fighter.
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Its missions are the
following : On December 19th 1956,
official services announced the order for the study, the manufacturing
and the testing of a prototype Étendard IVM carrier plane.
It is an attack and medium/low interception aircraft fitted with
a SNECMA Atar 8 4 500kg engine, based on the then in construction
Clemenceau and Foch aircraft carriers. |
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-Improvement of the
plane's aerodynamics according to "area ruling" (the coke bottle/wasp
waist) and an increase of the wing area to compensate for the increase
of the total weight. The Aéronautique Navale also demanded that the Étendard IVM be able to refuel in-flight by another Étendard. This was an innovation in France. The solution adopted was an under fuselage tank (Douglas buddy-buddy type) which could unreel a long hose ended with a basket in which a retractable probe on the receiving plane would insert itself. The first tests convinced the Armée de l'Air to adopt the system itself. |
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The first Étendard
IVM01 took the air on May 21st 1958 at Melun-Villaroche, flown by
Jean-Marie Saget. |
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December 18th 1958 |
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March 28th 1960 |
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Jean-Marie Saget |
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April 11th 1960 |
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Jean-Marie Saget |
15 with charges and sheathing |
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July 21st 1960 |
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Jean-Marie Saget |
4 |
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November 21st 1960 |
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Jean-Marie Saget |
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The Étendard IV M02 took the air on December 21st 1958 with Paul Boudier in the cockpit. It received the same avionics as production aircraft, as well as their weapons system, in-flight refuelling system and folding wings. |
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September 24th 1960 |
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Jacques Jesberger Pierre Galland Jean-Marie Saget |
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(Mediterranean) |
December 13 1960 |
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Jacques Jesberger Pierre Galland |
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January 20th 1961 |
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The first production
aircraft flew on July 16th 1961 at Mérignac with Jean-Marie
Saget. Yet the Étendard IVM's final production modifications
turned out to be troublesome. Étendard
IVP: the recce plane
This task was given to Jacques Estèbe, program coordinator,
assisted by Xavier d'Irbarne.
The complicated weapons system, including a Swedish bombing calculator
(SAAB AX 26), had not been planned for from the beginning, and required
several structural modifications on the planes. Its radar is the
Aïda 2 for pinpointing and range finding of ground and aerial
targets.
Ordered in September 1959, prototype n°07, in the IVP photoreconnaissance
version, made its first flight on November 19th 1960 in the hands
of Jean-Marie Saget.
Since the French Navy only ordered 21 photo recce Étendard IVPs, it became obvious some fifteen years later that a solution was needed to compensate attritions. Eleven planes were indeed lost between October 1964 and June 1977 (flight 59. S lost two planes in less than a year!). Furthermore, none of the 71 Super Etendards being delivered were supposed to replace the IVP in the recce mission.
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The decision was taken to reactivate squadron 11.F with the new plane, and retrofit some Étendard IVM airframes to the IVP standard. This task was given to the Cuers Aviation Workshop (Atelier Aviation de Cuers), a part of the Naval Ordnance and Construction Department, already in charge of the Étendard overhauls. Work started on December 12th 1977, a few minutes after Étendard IVM n°63 landed on the NAS Cuers-Pierrefeu runway. Eight and a half months later, on August 31st 1978 at 14:00, Étendard n°63 now Étendard IVPM n°163 took off the Cuers runway for its first test flight. |
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To give an idea
of the work required to transform a IVM into a IVPM, you have to
strip and cut many parts of the airframe, add 500+ parts of sheet
metal, replace 6 000m of cables and 220 sockets. Then you have to
fit the new nose and all subsequent switches and controls in the
cockpit. Eventually the Étendard IVPM looked exactly like
a production IVP, except for the outer wing elements that lacked
the BW warning receiver on the IVPM.
Beyond that, only the hull number above 121 gave away the IVPM. |
In service in the Aéronautique Navale from 1962 to 2000
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The first Étendard
squadron : 15.F (1962-1969)
Squadron
15.F was deactivated with its
Chance-Vought
F4U-7 Corsairs on February 1st
1962. It was reactivated on June 1st 1962 with its new GAMD Étendard
IVMs, at NAS Hyères on the Riviera.
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The squadron was part of most tests on the Étendard IV performed at the CEPA in Saint-Raphaël, while CC Murgue was CO (June 1962-December 1963). The "tritons" went aboard the new carrier Foch, then still in its test phase, but also aboard the Clemenceau to adapt the plane to the carrier. The squadron became the Étendard Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) for the different other Étendard IVM squadrons: 11.F and 17.F. |
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Squadron 15.F was chosen to participate with the Foch to the Alpha mission in the Pacific (first French nuclear tests in Polynesia). A detachment of Étendard IVPs from 16.F squadron joined along from march to December 1966 when the carrier returned to Hyères, after some 1 800 flight hours and 1 300 traps. In July 1967 the "tritons" moved to the new base in Brittany, NAS Landivisiau. Until late 1968, the squadron continued its training and its operational missions, with carrier deployments and live firing campaigns at Cazaux in Gironde. |
The "Kimono" from
squadron 11.F (1963-1978)
The squadron was shut down with its SNCASE Aquilons on April 18th 1962,
only to be reactivated with eleven Etendards IVMs at NAS
Hyères on April 1st 1963
under the command of LV de la Forcade. Its main missions were defence
of the fleet and attack, until March 1966 when Vought
F-8E took over the interception
role with squadrons 12.F
and 14.F.
In June 1963, the squadron started a testing campaign for the AIM-9B Sidewinder,
using CT-20 and CT-10 targets. On June 16th, all planes were part of a
fly-by closing the 25th Le Bourget Airshow. By April 23rd, the squadron
had flown 1 000 hours on the Etendard.
After a first carqual (carrier qualification) campaign on the Foch,
unfortunately interrupted by the first lethal accident on an 11.F Etendard
on September 23rd, the squadron participated to bilateral manoeuvres with
the US VIth Fleet in the Mediterranean.
In April 1964 an "AS-20" and then a "Sidewinder" campaign are held under
the command of LV Thireaut. On July 14th the squadron was part of the
aerial parade over the Champs-Elysées. In March 1966, 10 000 hours
had been flown. In March 1967 the Etendard IVMs went aboard the Foch
headed for the Pacific. On May 2nd the squadron moved to its new base
at NAS Landivisiau.
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October 1968 saw
the first AS-30 air-to-ground weapons fired, as well as the first
practice night traps. On January 9th 1969, squadron 11.F celebrated
its 20 000 flight hours on Etendard, and in May the first real
night traps are performed on the Foch. |
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This squadron was shut down with its SNCASE Aquilons at NAS Hyères on April 1st 1964, but only to be reactivates a month later on Etendard IVP. Formerly an all-weather fighter squadron, it became a photo recce squadron, the French Navy's first and last!
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The Etendard IVP were handed over at the Dassault assembly line at Bordeaux-Mérignac, and flew towards their temporary "nest" at Istres-Le Tubé. The Cranes (the squadron's insignia) were based there because the NAS Hyères airfield was overcrowded. They eventually moved to Hyères in September 1964 when squadron 14.F was deactivated. There it was rapidly declared operational on Etendard IVP, and made no less than five cruises on the Clemenceau in 1965. Several planes and pilots were detached to squadron 15.F in 1966 as part of the Alpha Force patrolling the Pacific Ocean. In January 1967 the 16.F reached its full strength of twelve planes, but in October it once again lost five planes, detached to squadron 17.F. |
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In April 1969 the squadron followed the other attack units to the new base, NAS Landivisiau. The next summer the squadron gave up night photography and finished the Etendard IVP's mission execution guide. In 1970 the squadron worked on its side photography ability, which allows detailed sideways shots of warships. It also worked on long-range photo shots. In 1972 the Lepus illuminating bomblet appeared to replace the flares, too dangerous. In July the planes received electro-magnetic chaffs for the first time. In December the squadron beat its traps record by performing 494 carrier landings in a single year. The following year saw the introduction of color photography.
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In 1974 the Thiokol flares were tested, and six cruises were made on the Clemenceau and one on the Foch. In autumn, after attending the Sardane, Datex and Sterne exercises, the squadron went aboard the Clemenceau for a cruise in the Indian Ocean, until March 1975. During this cruise it shot the first western photographs of the soviet Kiev STOVL carrier and its Yak-36 Forger-A air wing. From April 5th to June 21st 1976, the Pirates were aboard Clemenceau for the Saphir II mission in the Aden Gulf, but returned to France in December on the Foch, having made 500 traps. |
In 1983 several detachments went aboard the Foch and the Clemenceau for missions Olifant XIII, XVII, XVIII and XIX off the Lebanese coast. Twenty-nine sorties are flown for thirteen combat missions. A plane from 16.F was hit by a SAM as it was over flying anti-governmental troops, but managed to return to the ship.
Another plane from the squadron went on a photo run to obtain a bomb damage assessment (BDA) after a Super-Etendard raid on Baalbeck, in retaliation for the terrorist bombing of the French "Drakkar" barracks in Beyruth.
On January 24th, three Etendard IVPs went aboard the Clemenceau for mission Olifant XX (March 14th-May 4th). On July 25th 1987, two IVPs were once again on the Clemenceau for Operation Prométhée in the Persian Gulf.
From January 28th to March 15th 1993, the squadron was part of the first Balbuzard mission over Yugoslavia with three Etendards IVP from the Clemenceau. The carrier returned to the area on March 29th. On May 17th 1993 an Etendard IVP made the first Aéronautique Navale flight for a Deny Flight / Crécerelle mission.
The Foch left for the Adriatic between July and August 1993. The Clemenceau took over the missions and made its third cruise in the Adriatic from September 2nd to October 15th with four Etendard IVPs.
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By September 18th,
some 64 tactical recce sorties had been flown for the Sharp Guard
missions. The "Pirates" went aboard the Foch in mid February
and mid March. |
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Squadron 16.F
transferred to the Foch, which had replaced the Clemenceau
on the scene between May and July. From July 4 to 29, the Clemenceau
left for the Adriatic for its fifth cruise, with 16.F's four Etendard
IVPM in the air wing. Fifty
recce missions were flown during this mission. From December 17th
1995 to February 8th 1996, squadron 16.F went aboard the Clemenceau
for a cruise on the Adriatic and mission Salamandre. From March
16th to 27th, no less than thirty-eight recce sorties were made
during mission Salamandre II (March 13 to 29). From November 25th
to December 9th, twenty-six recce sorties were made during Salamandre
III, once again from the deck of the Clemenceau. The last
Etendard IVPM combat mission was during Opération Trident
(Kosovo) between January and June 1999, aboard the Foch.
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The four detached Etendard
IVPMs flew fifty-eight recce sorties. On June 27th 2000, Etendard
IVPM n°115 flown by CC Philippe Goetz made the last launch
from the Foch, during the carrier's last cruise. On July 27th
2000, squadron 16.F, the fleet's sole photo recce squadron, the
last unit to fly the Etendard, was officially shut down at NAS
Landivisiau. |
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January - June 1999 |
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Squadron 17.F (1964-1980)
The squadron was shut down with its Chance-Vought F4U-7 Corsairs on April
1st 1962,but was reactivated under the command of LV Hamel de Monchenault
on January 6th 1964 at NAS Hyères. The first flight of an Etendard
IVM (n°34) by squadron 17.F was made on January 10th. Just like squadron
16.F, 17.F was briefly based at NAS Istres in its early days. It was then
transferred to NAS
Nîmes-Garrons
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In March 1968, the
squadron went aboard Clemenceau headed for the Pacific
(second nuclear test campaign in Polynesia). For this mission
(protection of the test grounds, aerial interceptions, weather
updates, photo surveillance of nuclear clouds and of the test
sites), it received six Etendard IVMs and four Etendard IVPs.
In October it came home with the Clemenceau. |
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In November, the squadron experimented its first night deck landings. In April it went aboard the Clemenceau two months, for a mission in the North Sea. In 1971, squadron 17.F became truly operational. In 1974 the squadron made the Aéronautique Navale's 20 000th Etendard trap, aboard the Foch. In autumn eleven Etendards were sent on the Clemenceau headed for Djibouti (mission Saphir I). In April 1977 the squadron went aboard the Clemenceau for operation Saphir II until June 21st. |
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The Etendard operational transformation unit (OTU) was squadron 15.F until 1965, when the mission was taken over by flight 59.S, also called Carrier Fighter Combat School, based at NAS Hyères. In addition to the Etendard IVMs, the unit also fielded some spare IVPs from 16.F squadron. But with the loss of two IVPs in less than a year, the type was assigned to squadron 16.F only, to save as many IVPs as possible. |
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Flight 59.S was equipped with the CM-175 Zéphyr which trained pilots (fresh out of Fighter School at Tours) in navigation, night and all weather flying and carrier operations. Later in their training, the young "penguins" were trained in Dassault-Aviation's single seater until totally operational on the type, and their assignment to an attack or air defence squadron. When the first Br-1050 Alizés (9) arrived to the flight in 1972, the number of Etendards assigned to it went down from 11 to 6. Faced with the gradual phasing out of the Alizé, in 1984 the flight line eventually counted 10 planes. |
sources - acknowledgements :
Jean-Pierre Dubois
"Avion Marins" Luc Berger - Dassault Aviation
- 1998.
"Dassault Etendard IV & Super-Etendard"
Alain Crosnier & Jean-Michel Guhl - SupAir publications - 1984.
"Avions Marcel Dassault Breguet Aviation - from
Ouragan to Super-Mirage 4000, 30 years of combat aircraft" 1979.
"Dassault, les programmes 1945-1995, 50 ans
d'aventure aéronautique" Claude Carlier et Luc Berger - Editions
du Chêne - 1996.
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