Dassault Mirage 5 | with Marcel De Petter *PART 1*

Marcel De Petter chats about flying the Belgian Mirage 5 in the air-to-ground role, being an instructor, DACT and his ejection in 1985.
Mirage 5 BD 09 RESTORATION GROUP: groups/19093...
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[@willypeeters6136]

I know Marcel 'Celle' personally and was able to photograph BD-09, the twin seat Mirage he located in Bordeaux France and returned to Belgium where it is now in the final stages of restoration at the Regional Airport Limburg, formerly Brustem air base where they trained pilots on Fouga and Alpha Jet. He asked for pictures I made for my Lock On series of books I produced in the 1980s to restore the instrument panel you see behind him on top of the cabinet. It is of BA-19 from which he was forced to eject in the 70s and which he was able to salvage from behind some hangar on Bierset air base.

[@KRGruner]

Got a single flight in the Mirage 5 two-seater with No.2 Squadron at Florennes, in 1984. I was then based at RAF Lakenheath, UK, flying the F-111F and we had a two-week long squadron exchange, where some of us went to Florennes with a few jets and some of the No. 2 Sqdn Mirages went to Lakenheath. It was a lot of fun, and the Belgian pilots were awesome, getting away with some maneuvers in flight which definitely would have gotten a USAF pilot grounded for a while, if not worse. Great memories.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Awesome! A very lucky man flying the F-111 and then getting a trip in a M5.

[@KRGruner]

@@Aircrewinterview Yes. Later I flew the F-16 (at Hahn Air Base, among other places) and it turns out No.2 Sqdn switched the F-16 as well, around the same time.

[@thefrecklepuny]

@@Aircrewinterview Yes. And arguably the best F-111 version as well!

[@12345fowler]

AH ok, can you tell us a bit more about these manoeuvres ? Don't worry there is prescription now.

[@KRGruner]

@@12345fowler Not sure what you want to know. Mostly it was about learning each other's tactics and procedures, using the Belgian bombing ranges, flying low-level over Belgium, making friends, and drinking beer. The Mirage 5 was very primitive compared to the F-111F, as far as navigation and weapons control systems go. It flew well, very fast, but then again the F-111 was even faster. Except in the landing pattern: The F-111 was quite a bit slower there, as the Mirage's delta wing made for very fast landing speeds. The F-111 was a much large aircraft, of course, and could carry more, much farther. But the Mirage has very good handling characteristics and was also very stable at low altitude/high speed. One thing I remember well was that the Belgian pilots had far more latitude in doing whatever they wanted while flying compared to us. They did stuff we would have been grounded for, that's for sure.

[@RaduB.]

Mirage III-V is one of the coolest airplanes! Along with its entire family (Kfir, Cheetah). Looking forward to the second part!

[@michaellammens9029]

really instructive video ! thanx from a belgian BAF jets lover !! ;-)

[@michelbaguette3106]

👍👍👍 Merci beaucoup pour cette belle vidéo.

[@dankuettel5063]

Awesome! I just love the Mirage family and that influence comes from living in Switzerland as a kid and watching those beautiful III's darting around.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Same!

[@Aeronaut1975]

Very interesting interview, thank you!

[@hckyplyr9285]

Awesome interview. What a bailout story. I do hope he can get in touch with the former head of RAF. Very honest appraisal of two types F-104 engine with no wings Mirage III/5 wings with no engine. Indeed. Do you know Florian Baumler? He flew in Luftwaffe and claimed to have more F-104G hours than anyone else. Just under 4000 IIRC. Thanks for the upload and keep up the good work.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Thanks very much! I haven’t no but I shall look into it :)

[@hckyplyr9285]

Aircrew Interview Sorry it seems he passed away last year. Drat. I used to know him a bit.

[@AKlover]

Fascinating interview Mirage = Wings with no engine His comment on the Israeli Kifir addressing exactly that.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Thank you!

[@johanboes1]

I live nearby the pilot and always passionate about seeing the mirage as a child! Great to hear this man ! Ask him about the king of Belgium who also flew the mirage ! Wilde dat het mijn buurman was. Heb zijn boek dadelijk gekocht.

[@Aircrewinterview]

He does talk about that in part 2 that is out this Sunday.

[@rondo122]

amazing video!!

[@rembrandvandooren8027]

AWESOME! Belgian pilots are great! My neighbour is a Belgian F-104 pilot! :)

[@Aircrewinterview]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@willypeeters6136]

Who? I know most of the Starfighter pilots from 31 Tiger Sqn, including the other 'Celle' Marcel Van Der Auwera, fmr OSN in Kleine Brogel...

[@rembrandvandooren8027]

@@willypeeters6136 He was from Beauvecahain and is retired since 1976,

[@philippep4983]

Très intéressant Merci beaucoup

[@lonewolf0281]

Another awesome interview, Mike. I always liked the Mirage 5B, a fine looking machine that was quite uncommon within NATO. Nice camo on them too. It was very interesting to hear Celle's experience. Looking forward to Part 2!

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers!

[@R1door]

Knap verhaal Marcel! Groetjes!

[@RaNma_]

Get In!

[@thefrecklepuny]

Great stuff as per usual. I guess being the only NATO nation flying Mirage 5's put them in the same category as Denmark with their Saab 35 Drakens as a unique type.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Absolutely. Glad you enjoyed it buddy.

[@exhorderhd]

That‘s an interesting comparison! I‘ve read somewhere that the Danes selected the Draken mainly because they wanted to show some sort of Scandinavian solidarity. While I don‘t know if that‘s true, it would have been interesting to know why exactly the Belgians went for the Mirage. Their Dutch neighbors selected the F-5, after all, covering the same mud-moving role. It‘s interesting, anyway, seeing that all of the smaller European F-104 users bought a second, simpler type for A-G/CAS duties.

[@kpsig]

Mike did you manage to bring Sir Belford (if I got the name correctly) in contact with “Celle”?

[@Galf506]

Early typos crew in! :P

[@Aircrewinterview]

Good spot! Now rectified. 👍

[@Idahoguy10157]

The Starfighter compared to Mirage discussion is interesting. The F-104 became the Cold War standard NATO fighter. It gets a lot of criticism. Had the Mirage outsold the Starfighter how would that have worked out? Better or worse?

[@kpsig]

Much better for the European Industries and the European Air Forces -Human Resources and capability.

[@arminius6506]

Pakistan still have these eternal fighters in service.. They also carried out strikes inside Indian administered Kashmir on 28th of February, 2019.

[@viperdriver82]

Yay yaaaàyy

[@Nimitz0609]

Mirage V look like Kfir of Isalaeli Air Force.

[@LesBrouettesHyperactives]

The Kfir is a modified version of the Mirage 5, that's why.

[@12345fowler]

I don't know where this thing about the Mirage III beeing a wing without engine compared to the F-104 beeing an engine without a wing. True the Mirage III was underpowered and it showed at high alpha manoeuvre but comon it was rated a Mach 2,2 fighter. Don't think you can achieve that speed without en engine pushing strong.

[@suzannegoncalves9934]

123

[@terryboyer1342]

Stuffed cat in background?