Dassault test pilot Jean Marie Saget remember how the names were found, at Dassault...
"In 1955-56 Dassault cautiously decided to start a serie of prototypes derived from the SMB-2 and Etendard IV, just in case the pure delta Mirage III did not worked.
"And so we got, first, a supersonic Etendard IV borrowing the Mirage intakes and afterburning Atar 9. The Navy was interested, and that hybrid become
ETRANGE
- ETendard
- miRAGE
- and the "N" of "naval"
"And then were derivatives of the SMB-2, one pure delta and looking like Convair XF-92; the other a tailed delta hence akin to a MiG-21.
"At the time the Israelis were buying 24 SMB-2 as interim types, but the name "èssèmeubédeux", as phonetically pronounced in french, was atrocious to their mouths and ears. And so they invented a whole word without meaning for it
"SAMBAD".
"This made us chuckle, as "SAMBA" is the brazilian dance. Then we recycled that very word for the pure delta SMB-2.
"As for the tailed-delta, "SIMBA" came when the Israelis discussed their own variant of the Mirage they called "Kfir". We learned that meant "Lion" in hebrew, and from there, SIMBA was a go, as it also means "Lion" except in swahili (it was years before disney).
"And then was a tentative supersonic Etendard with the wings and tail swapped: high wing, low tail. We found it was outrageously similar to a contemporary Breguet project called "Sirocco" and, as a pun and nod to them, we borrowed the name "Mistral" from the old SNCASE DH.100 Vampires now retired from service.
Sirocco and Mistral are names of winds blowing, one in North Africa, the other in Marseille (and Istres test base nearby) so it made some sense....
"We ended with: Mirage, Sambad, Samba, Simba, Etendard, Mirage, Mistral... a complete family."
