The Mirage 50 is basically the Mirage V fitted with the Snecma Atar 9K-50 engine, more powerful and similar to the one used in the Mirage F1. The first client for this version of the Mirage was Chile, who bought 16 on 1979-83. These planes are operated by the Air Group N° 4 , based at Punta Arenas. With the help of the israeli company IAI, the chilean aviation company ENAER has updated them to Mirage 50CN Pantera standard, including improved avionics and the fitting of canard fins.
In 1979 Chile bought 8 Mirage 5F de la Armée
de l'Air, modified by Dassault to the Mirage 50FC standard.
During 1982-83 Dassault delivered also six Mirage 50C of
new build, with the Agave radar. Two of these were of the
two-seater variant, the Mirage 50DC, using the Atar 09C
engine, instead of the more powerful Atar 09K50 used by the other
aircrafts. One of these two-seaters crashed and was replaced with
a Mirage IIIBE converted.
The Mirage 50 entered service with Group N° 4 on
September 15th 1980, based at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez
airport, in Santiago. In March of 1986, the unit moved to the Carlos
Ibáñez airbase, at Punta Arenas.
Since 1986, the chilean company ENAER has been updating the 15 Mirage 50 under the Pantera program, but budgetary restrictions and technical dificulties have led to a very slow progress and only a handful of planes have been modified. The first Pantera was returned to service on mid-1993.
The update to Pantera is significant, including the
installation of the israeli radar Elta EL/M-2001B on an elongated
nose cone reminiscent of the Kfir. On the cockpit a computerized
wide coverage HUD has been fitted, plus a new INS.
Serial Numbers
| FACH Serial | Sub Type | Notes |
| 501 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 01 |
| 502 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 03 |
| 503 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 05 |
| 504 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 08 |
| 505 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 16 |
| 506 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 23 |
| 507 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 28 |
| 508 | 50 FC | ex ADLA 30 |
| 509 | 50 C | |
| 510 | 50 C | First "production" Pantera |
| 511 | 50 C | |
| 512 | 50 C | |
| 513 | 50 C | |
| 514 | 50 C | Pantera prototype |
| 515 | 50 CD | |
| 516 | 50 CD | Destroyed in an accident |
| 516 | III BE | ex ADLA, replaced the original 516 |
Other Photographs:
Mirage 50C, serial 509,
visiting the I Air Brigade.
Dassault Mirage: The Combat Log By: Salvador Mafe Huertas
This is the newest book of this well known spanish writter. It tells the combat use of the Mirage, including the Falklands War and the Israeli conflicts. Published on May 1998, english text, 192pages and hardbound, it has a cost around US$45. If you want to purchase this book, please click here.
Dassault-Breguet Mirage III/5 By: Salvador Mafe Huertas
This is an excellent book by the same author, it gathers information about the Mirage service with every Air Force that has used it. English text, 182 pictures and 200 pages, softbound, it used to cost around US$25. Unfortunately, it is now out of print, however Amazon can try to locate a copy on her used book network. If you want to do that, click here.
This is the only kit of this aircraft in 1/32 scale. It is now out of production, but I will leave the link to Hobbyweb just in case it is reissued.
My good
friend, Aldo Flores from Mexico, has built this extraordinary
model of the chilean Mirage 50 updated to Pantera standard. He
built it out of a 1/48 scale Esci kit and a resin modification.
He has written a complete article telling how he built it (sorry,
in spanish only), you can look at it here.
On
the other side, those who want to purchase the resin kit for a
Pantera conversion, can follow this link. Her cost is around US$
16.
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