Siberia
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Whilst Anglo-French mirage could equally refer to foreign relations between the two countries at times this thread is about the Mirage III, and what might have happened if it had been developed as an Anglo-French joint project. 
The Fairey Delta 2 was built as an experimental aircraft which first flew in 1954 that when during testing the company realised they might have something special on their hands tried their hand at breaking the air speed record, without much in the way of government encouragement, and managed to beat it by 310 mph - an increase of 37 per cent. Despite this massive leap forward the government, for various reasons, wasn't all that interested in any of the proposed derivatives that Fairey proposed. During roughly the same period Dassault was working on a French government specification that would eventually develop into the Mirage III that we all know. Fairey actually supplied Dassault with data from the Delta 2 just as NACA was freely sharing experimental data with both of them and other companies - this being the more important of the two for the Mirage, there was a lot of cooperation during the period what with the Korean War having ended only a few years previously and the Cold War being in full swing.
So what if Fairey seeing that there's not much in the way of official interest for turning the Delta 2 into a production aircraft and that Dassault are working on a similar aircraft lobby the government that in the spirit of European cooperation and off the back of having just smashed the world record they approach the French government about merging the two programmes into a joint project? It's not as wholly unrealistic as it sounds in my opinion. When Germany was looking likely to buy the Lockheed F-104 in the late-1950s/early-1960s Dassault, Fairey, and Rolls-Royce came together to offer a Mach 2 capable alternative, slightly later when Australia was evaluating the Mirage the French government apparently influenced SNECMA to not try and sell their Atar engine too heavily as it was felt that a Rolls-Royce engined variant would be more likely to make the sale. So in this scenario the French government is agreeable and heavily leans on Dassault to get them to go along, design work proceeds and what emerges is likely pretty much our timeline's Mirage III/IIIS. Presaging Panavia a decade or so later a joint company staffed by representatives of both companies is founded in France, production of different parts of the aircraft divvied up between them for manufacture before being shipped to France for final assembly, with the customers being offered a choice of fitting either SNECMA or Rolls-Royce engines and French or British radar/electronics.
The first question that springs to mind is, assuming that they're successful, which countries if any might be interested in buying this Mirage who in our timeline bought alternative aircraft, or, that bought the Mirage but might for some reason turn elsewhere? Looking at the specifications of the Mirage whilst it might not have been quite as fast as the English Electric Lightning, with RATO, either the original integral rocket or strap-on ones, it appears to have developed into something pretty close or at least close enough. Stick a large radar in the nose and I have to wonder which aircraft it might have been able to replace in RAF service, there are a couple of possibilities I think, and what sort of knock-ons that might have. Future developments involving the Rolls-Royce Spey or if developed the Thames as a drop in replacement would be interesting. Another question is what would Fairey do with all this extra income? I have vague memories of their having a couple of interesting guided weapons projects ongoing during or shortly after this time period, does having an outside revenue stream allow them to develop them further?
Apologies if this has been previously discussed, I did a quick search but couldn't see anything. Likewise if I've dropped any absolute clangers.
The Fairey Delta 2 was built as an experimental aircraft which first flew in 1954 that when during testing the company realised they might have something special on their hands tried their hand at breaking the air speed record, without much in the way of government encouragement, and managed to beat it by 310 mph - an increase of 37 per cent. Despite this massive leap forward the government, for various reasons, wasn't all that interested in any of the proposed derivatives that Fairey proposed. During roughly the same period Dassault was working on a French government specification that would eventually develop into the Mirage III that we all know. Fairey actually supplied Dassault with data from the Delta 2 just as NACA was freely sharing experimental data with both of them and other companies - this being the more important of the two for the Mirage, there was a lot of cooperation during the period what with the Korean War having ended only a few years previously and the Cold War being in full swing.So what if Fairey seeing that there's not much in the way of official interest for turning the Delta 2 into a production aircraft and that Dassault are working on a similar aircraft lobby the government that in the spirit of European cooperation and off the back of having just smashed the world record they approach the French government about merging the two programmes into a joint project? It's not as wholly unrealistic as it sounds in my opinion. When Germany was looking likely to buy the Lockheed F-104 in the late-1950s/early-1960s Dassault, Fairey, and Rolls-Royce came together to offer a Mach 2 capable alternative, slightly later when Australia was evaluating the Mirage the French government apparently influenced SNECMA to not try and sell their Atar engine too heavily as it was felt that a Rolls-Royce engined variant would be more likely to make the sale. So in this scenario the French government is agreeable and heavily leans on Dassault to get them to go along, design work proceeds and what emerges is likely pretty much our timeline's Mirage III/IIIS. Presaging Panavia a decade or so later a joint company staffed by representatives of both companies is founded in France, production of different parts of the aircraft divvied up between them for manufacture before being shipped to France for final assembly, with the customers being offered a choice of fitting either SNECMA or Rolls-Royce engines and French or British radar/electronics.
The first question that springs to mind is, assuming that they're successful, which countries if any might be interested in buying this Mirage who in our timeline bought alternative aircraft, or, that bought the Mirage but might for some reason turn elsewhere? Looking at the specifications of the Mirage whilst it might not have been quite as fast as the English Electric Lightning, with RATO, either the original integral rocket or strap-on ones, it appears to have developed into something pretty close or at least close enough. Stick a large radar in the nose and I have to wonder which aircraft it might have been able to replace in RAF service, there are a couple of possibilities I think, and what sort of knock-ons that might have. Future developments involving the Rolls-Royce Spey or if developed the Thames as a drop in replacement would be interesting. Another question is what would Fairey do with all this extra income? I have vague memories of their having a couple of interesting guided weapons projects ongoing during or shortly after this time period, does having an outside revenue stream allow them to develop them further?
Apologies if this has been previously discussed, I did a quick search but couldn't see anything. Likewise if I've dropped any absolute clangers.
