Report by Leandro Maldonado

On 31 of January 2005 the 1° Grupo de Defesa Aérea (1° GDA - First Air Defence Group) celebrated the historical milestone of 65.000 flying hours of the Mirage III in Brazil. The ceremony was held at Anápolis Air Base, 130 kilometers south of Brasília, home of the FAB Mirage fleet. The first Mirage III (Brazilian designation F-103) took to the Brazilian skies in October 1972. Ever since the Mirage III has been the guardian of Brazil’s capital and the centre-south region of the country. The Mirages performed a lot of fly-pasts over the Anápolis runway. The static display consisted of Mirage III serial FAB 4910, one of the aircraft from the original batch. It is permanently kept for display, wearing the vintage “staled egg” paint scheme. This was probably the last historical event for the Brazilian Mirages, which will be withdrawn from service after 33 years on 31 of December 2005.