The new life of some old Spanish Mirage F1 fighters as aggressors in the United States

@DefAviation ES 8·24·2024 · 23:40 0

After being retired from service, the life of a military aircraft can continue in various ways, often in civilian hands.

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The French Dassault Mirafe F1 fighter aircraft served in Spain between 1975 and 2013. This single-engine fighter aircraft had excellent performance, being able to reach a maximum speed of 2,335 km/h (Mach 2.2) with a flight ceiling of 20,000 metres. The Air Force came to operate 91 Mirage F1 in Wing 11 at Manises Air Base (Valencia), Wing 14 at Los Llanos Air Base (Albacete) and Wing 46 at Gando Air Base (Gran Canaria). Their farewell took place in Los Llanos on June 23, 2013.

Since their retirement from service, the old Spanish Mirage F1Ms have been stored at the Albacete Air Maestranza (MAESAL) awaiting a buyer. In 2017, it became known of the sale of 22 of these aircraft (20 single-seaters and 2 two-seaters) to Draken International, an American company that buys old fighter aircraft to use them as attacker aircraft in training US military pilots.

This week, while watching a video from AirshowStuffVideos with images of aircraft operating at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina, I came across images of one of the old Spanish Mirage F1s, the N565EM (formerly C.14-44):

Sadly, one of these Mirage F1s was lost in a crash on May 24, 2021 near Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing its pilot. The crashed aircraft was N567EM (formerly C.14-56), which you can see below. This aircraft had been operated by the 142 Squadron of the 12th Wing from Los Llanos. Here you can see one of their latest photos, posted by Flight Aware.

Unlike other aircraft in its fleet, which have been painted in camouflage livery, N567EM had been preserved in its Spanish grey scheme, with the Cross of Saint Andrew (used by all Air Force aircraft) and with the beautiful tail fin it sported at the end of its operational life in Spain, which showed a tiger and a cross of Burgundy. FlightSafety.org posted this photo of the state in which this aircraft was left:

You can see more photos of these aircraft published by Draken International here. In some images we see the Mirage F1s still with their old Spanish decoration and American civil registration, before receiving the new camouflage paint.