The MD 30 R engines were fitted with after-burner jet pipes, bringing the unit thrust to 1,000 kg. With its new sweptback fin (called the F fin) and its modified servo actuator for the elevons, the aircraft was ready to fly again. The side-by-side twin engine configuration also posed some development problems flanges were added to the rear fuselage, thereby changing the curvature.Īlteration work was completed at the beginning of May 1956. It was clear that the delta fin would have to be changed to a sweptback fin.
The first series of flight tests gave rise to refinements in the aerodynamic configuration. After a brief 6-month period of fine-tuning, it reached Mach 1.3 flying horizontally. Even with this engine configuration, it reached Mach 0,95 in a dive on its 4th sortie, on July 24. For its first flights, the aircraft had neither after-burners nor rockets. A second flight was made that evening et 18 :25. During its 20-minute flight, the aircraft climbed to 3,000 feet. The raised pilot’s seat, paired with retracted air intakes and a slender nose built to house a standard Dassault radar – afforded a clear, unobstructed view.Īt 08 :50 on the morning of June 25, 1955, Roland Glavany took off from Melun-Villaroche in the MD 550. The contract for the design, production and development of two MD 550 twin-engine rocket-boosted prototypes was made official on March 22.
It was a delta-wing single-seater powered by twin Viper engines that GAMD produced under license The MD 550 was designed in the Saint Cloud plant in early 1953. In response to that, GAMD developed a plane using its own funds. One French Air Force program involved a lightweight (5-ton to 6-ton) interceptor it could use on small unprepared airfields.
In reply, the Dassault Corporation submitted its draft project for a Mystère-Delta to the authorities, a single seat delta-plane with twin Turboméca Gabizo jet engines with after-burners and an SEPR rocket for substantial extra-power at altitude. In 1953, the Air Force general staff and the authorities, concerned at the rising weight – and cost- of aircraft, began drawing up specifications for a light interceptor.