In 1986, British Aerospace and Dassault both flew demonstrators for the next generation of fighter aircraft. The Rafale A was a close representation of what became the Rafale C although it was a bit larger. The Experimental Aircraft Programme or EAP was more of a demonstrator of technologies that made their way into the EF2000/Typhoon but that airframe was significantly different. The EAP displayed at the International Air Tattoo that summer but I was unable to be there which still irks me.

There were originally supposed to be three airframes but Germany pulled out of the programme so it was left to the UK and Italy and the plan was reduced to the one aircraft. Italy provided one of the wings and other elements. Germany was supposed to have done the rear fuselage and fin and, in their absence, some Tornado components were used instead which is pretty apparent if you know what to look for.

When i got to Warton, I got to see the plane regularly. No cameras allowed on site, of course, so no pictures from there and I never photographed outside the field when I lived there for some reason. I did get to take part in one of the flight tests monitoring telemetry and was there for the day of its final flight when Pete Orme did a display over the field at lunchtime. Still no camera of course.

Finally, the beast now resides in the RAF Museum Midlands at Cosford and I had a wander into the flight test hangar of the museum before the air show started. There it was, still slightly grubby after years of test work. It is not the most elegant airframe. It also had some interesting flaws including in one of the wings along with some really poor low speed taxiing handling. However, is a significant aircraft for the UK and Italian industries and I am glad I finally have photographed it, even if it is only on the ground.