Air International 1986-02
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This North American photograph is numbered 101-0-6, suggesting that it is a very early photograph of the first NA-101, XP-51B prototype.
The Dassault-Breguet Rafale technology demonstrator for the forthcoming ACX was rolled out at St Cloud on 14 December 1985 and is now expected to fly in June, well ahead of earlier forecasts. Powered by a pair of General Electric F404 engines, the Rafale is to make its international debut at Farnborough Inter­national 86 in September.
A de Havilland Canada Dash 8 ready for delivery to Henson Aviation, a Piedmont commuter. De Havilland has now been purchased from the Canadian government by Boeing.
A few weeks later than planned, the Fokker 50 (PH-OSO) made its first flight on 28 December 1985 at Schiphol, and the second development airframe was expected to fly this month (February).
Described, but not illustrated, in Terry Treadwell’s interesting "Submarines with Wings", the Besson MB-411 was built by ANF-Les Mureaux for use aboard the submarine "Surcouf". This photograph shows the first of two MB-411s in its early, single-seat form. As a two-seater, it was attached in 1940 to Escadrille HS-7 and may have been the same aircraft that was aboard the "Surcouf" when it arrived in Plymouth on 20 June 1940 and which made several flights, in RAF colours, from Devonport before being damaged in a Luftwaffe raid on 21 April 1941.