A pair of Fireflash AAMs is seen here carried by a Hawker Hunter F Mk 4, with modified nose to carry the beam-transmitting radar.

The Matra company was one of the first to enter the field of guided weapon design. Its early R 511 is shown on on a Mirage IIIC in operational deployment with the Armee de I'Air. As noted by the author, aircraft such as the Mirage III in the late 'fifties carried only a single AAM.

The Matra company was one of the first to enter the field of guided weapon design. Its early R 511 is shown on a Vautour for trials

From the designs of SFECMAS, the French Nord company and, later, Aerospatiale, developed a family of related guided missiles, known in production guise as the AA 20 (air-air) or AS 20 (air-sol), the latter for air-to-ground use. The Super Mystere B2, in this illustration, was one of the several types to carry the AA 20.

WHAT SHALL WE WEAR TODAY? The potential wardrobe of the French air force's first level-flight supersonic strike-fighter is well displayed in this recent photograph of No "05", a pre-production Dassault Super Mystere B2. The apex shows the fuselage "box" of fifty-five 68-mm. SNEB Type 22 rocket projectiles, behind which are the two 30-mm. DEFA cannon. Each wing can support a variety of stores from the finned MATRA air-to-air missile, rocket pods and rocket carriers to napalm and H.E. bombs of up to 1,000 lb. per wing.

Several Gloster Meteor NF Mk 11s - WM374 among them - were modified for use as trials aircraft for the Fairey Fireflash. One of these missiles is seen at each wing tip here, with the associated radar in a modified nose.

One of the production Supermarine Swift F Mk 7s. Fireflash-equipped, which were used for operational trials with the Fairey AAM by the No 1 Guided Weapon Development Squadron of the RAF in the late 'fifties. The two prototypes had later serials than the production aircraft.