Marcel Dassault designed the Ouragan to be the first French built jet fighter, it first flew in February 1949 and entered service with the French Air Force in 1952 replacing the De Havilland Vampire fighters already in service. Although the aircraft had a few initial problems these were quite quickly dealt with, however the limitations due to the Ouragans straight wings soon led to it's replacement in the French Air Force by newer swept wing aircraft designs like the Dassault Mystere. The most enthusiastic user of the Dassault Ouragan was the Israeli Air Force who purchased over 70 aircraft as a stop-gap remedy to augment it's Gloster Meteors. During the 1956 Suez Crisis and the 1967 Six-Day War considerable success over Vampires and MiG-15 fighters was achieved, this was almost certainly due to the superior training given to the Israeli pilots rather than an equipment advantage. The last Air Force to operate the Dassault Ouragan was the El Salvador Air Force who operated 18 ex-Israeli Ouragans from 1975 until the late 1980's. Dassault Ouragan Specifications: - Crew: Pilot only
- Length: 10.73 m (35 ft 2 in)
- Wingspan: 13.16 m (43 ft 2 in)
- Height: 4.14 m (13 ft 7 in)
- Empty weight: 4 142 kg (9,132 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 7 900 kg (17,416 lb)
- Engine: Single 22.2 kN (4,990 lbf) Rolls-Royce Nene 104B turbojet
- Maximum speed: 940 km/h (508 knots, 584 mph) (Mach 0.76) at sea level
- Combat radius: 450 km (245 nm, 280 mi)
- Service ceiling: 13 000 m (42,650 ft)
Armament: - Guns: Four 125 round 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon
- Rockets: Sixteen 105 mm (4.1 in) Brandt T-10 air-to-ground unguided rockets or, two Matra rocket pods each containing eighteen SNEB 68 mm unguided rockets
- Bombs: 2,270 kg (5,000 lb) carried on four under-wing hard-points
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