Dassault Mercure

[PhilDernerJr]

I just learned about an aircraft type that I never heard of. Dassault made an aircraft in the late 60s intended to compete with the 737. Similar to how the Russians would make planes that look shockingly similar to those from the West, the Dassault Mercure looks pretty darn familiar as well.

1400120

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mercure

Only 12 were made, and it was only operated by AirInter. I don't know where the other airframes are, but at least one in sitting in a French museum.

[T-Bird76]

I had a model of that plane years ago. Interesting aircraft, flew well into the early 90s.

[flyboy 28]

Interesting to note that only Air Inter flew them.

[Art at ISP]

As I recalled, it operated for a short while in the 1970's. It turned out to be very inefficient, and could not compare favorably from an operational standpoint with Boeing (this was just when Airbus was starting up--the first A300B2 went into service in 1973 I believe).

I think it was underpowered, and the engines burned alot of fuel for the payload. As they could not sell it outside France, they halted production at 12.

This is from memory and I am old, but I think I got most of it.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

[T-Bird76]

As I recalled, it operated for a short while in the 1970's. It turned out to be very inefficient, and could not compare favorably from an operational standpoint with Boeing (this was just when Airbus was starting up--the first A300B2 went into service in 1973 I believe).

I think it was underpowered, and the engines burned alot of fuel for the payload. As they could not sell it outside France, they halted production at 12.

This is from memory and I am old, but I think I got most of it.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Art the last passenger flight was in 1995.

[Art at ISP]

Thanks for proving my point Tommy--like I said I am old.......

[T-Bird76]

Thanks for proving my point Tommy--like I said I am old.......

Anytime I can be of assistance Art! ;) Happy T Day!

[moose135]

Thanks for proving my point Tommy--like I said I am old.......
Guys like us aren't "old", Art, we're just more experienced that all these kids around here :wink:

[Idlewild]

Thanks for proving my point Tommy--like I said I am old.......
Guys like us aren't "old", Art, we're just more experienced that all these kids around here :wink:


Exactly.

[Alessio]

[quote="Art at ISP":blwndd30]As I recalled, it operated for a short while in the 1970's. It turned out to be very inefficient, and could not compare favorably from an operational standpoint with Boeing (this was just when Airbus was starting up--the first A300B2 went into service in 1973 I believe).

I think it was underpowered, and the engines burned alot of fuel for the payload. As they could not sell it outside France, they halted production at 12.

This is from memory and I am old, but I think I got most of it.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Art the last passenger flight was in 1995.[/quote:blwndd30]
They where very efficent when it comes to aerodynamics and the first plane with autoland, but just as the Tristar another plane made by a military planemaker they didn´t ask the airlines really
what they wanted. McDonnell-Douglas had a share in the project.
I flew on it once during the 1990ies, Paris-Nice, very steep landing.
Today you can find one in Speyer, at the Technical museum there.

[Ari707]

another interesting plane was the VFW-Fokker 614 engines were mounted on top of the wings...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFW-614

[MHG]

Well, I´m lucky as i was able to fly twice in a Mercure in the eighties ( intentionally of course !)

The main reason why it was not a success was the very short range (max 700 mi at full payload only !) as it was specifically designed for short distances (like domestic flights in France).
The fuel tanks were simply made that small and of course the rest of the wing/fuselage built according to that. So, no easy way to simply build-in larger fuel tanks...
Powered by JT8´s it was not less fuel efficient than other aircraft with same engines !
The aerodynamic design was optimized for good climb performance in order to reach cruise altitude as fast as possible because of the short time spend there (due to the short distances flown)
On the other hand the whole construction was made significantly tougher (and thus heavier) than comparable aircraft. This was probably the second main reason for potential customers not to buy it.

I experienced by myself that the noise footprint was greater than that of a 737-200 ! (still don´t understand why, though - maybe different JT8 models ???)
When i saw (and listened !) a Mercure depart i always wondered why it was so noisy - almost like a scaled down Concorde :wink:

Inside the cabin it was very much like a 737 !