THE STORY
BEHIND THE
PHOTOS
It’s June 20 in the busy ‘La Fayette’
operations room. Photographer
Anthony Pecchi briefs the crew of
‘Ramex Noir’, the specially painted
2000N that is marking the type’s
farewell and own by ‘Jonah’ and
‘Pétule’, with a wingman crewed by
‘Bibs’ and ‘Marco’. Pecchi is ying in an
OV-10 Bronco cameraship.
The rst phase of the photo ight
sees both 2000Ns forming up with a
Mirage 2000C and a Mirage 2000B
from EC 2/5 at Orange as well as a
Mirage 2000D from the CEAM at
Mont-de-Marsan. The formation then
changed to include some vintage
aircraft — a Douglas Skyraider, a North
American T-6 Texan and a Fouga
Magister, all former ‘La Fayette’ types.
At 5,000ft and 180kt the Mirages
had no problem in holding formation.
The results are clear to see, with
beautiful warm light over the
Camargue in southern France.A ‘La Fayette’
2000N is
joined by a
Mirage 2000C
from Orange
during the
fi nal photo
mission.TYPE REPORT // MIRAGE 2000N FAREWELL
76 September 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
72-77 Mirage Farewell C.indd 76 20/07/2018 11:36