Installation of the Rafale B01 on the Place de La Concorde

Rafale B01, the twin-seat development model for the Rafale fighter, arrived at the Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris on Sunday night, September 28, as part of centenary celebrations for the French aviation industry.

08:21 GMT, October 6, 2008 The French aviation industry and aerospace industry association Gifas (Groupement des industries françaises aéronautiques et spatiales) are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. To mark this milestone, a major exhibition of aerospace hardware has been organized from October 4 to 12 in Paris, on the world-famous Champs-Elysées. The exhibition stretches from the Champs-Elysées-Marcel Dassault roundabout to the Place de la Concorde.

At 10:00 pm on Sunday, September 28, right on schedule, the Rafale fuselage arrived at the Place de la Concorde, escorted by four motorcycle-mounted policemen from the French national police. A crane unloaded the fuselage and placed it on its landing gear. Assembly of the plane was completed on Thursday, October 2. The same team will then disassemble the plane once the exhibition ends on October 12, and the entire operation will end on October 17 after the trucks are loaded for the return trip to Istres.

A six-person team from the Rafale unit in Istres is responsible for this operation. The Rafale was first completely disassembled, while awaiting the arrival last week in Istres of a flatbed truck-trailer outfitted to carry the fuselage. A heavy-duty crane loaded the fuselage on the trailer, and the “wide load” convoy (“convoi exceptionnel” in French) headed north to Paris on the national highways. The rest of the aircraft was loaded in three other trucks, along with all the tools and equipment needed to reassemble it. They left three days later, this time taking the high-speed expressway up to Paris.

According to one of the Rafale team’s mechanics, Carmine Montagna: "Working right on the Place de la Concorde is an amazing experience – not everybody gets a chance to put together an airplane here!” Colleague Jacques Izquierdo adds: "In Istres, we were very lucky to see the airplane fly and be developed. Today, it’s almost like the plane gets its own party!”

Dassault Aviation will also be showing a full-scale model of the technological demonstrator for an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) nEUROn, and is hosting an area dedicated to Falcon business jets (models and a video). In addition, we will be on hand at the Aerospace Jobs Forum.

The Mirage III E fighter is on loan from the Conservatoire Aéronautique d'Aquitaine (CAEA), an aviation museum in the Bordeaux region, which handled disassembly, transportation and set-up. Members of this association, along with their counterparts from the Aéro-Club de France and the association Dassault Passion, will take turns at the Place de la Concorde to welcome the public and provide information on this legendary aircraft.