Fouga Magister
The Fouga Magister is a French designed and built training and light attack aircraft. Designed in the early 50s production started in 1957 with over 900 aircraft produced. The Fouga was used by almost all the Western European nations with the last examples in Europe being operational in large numbers up into the 90s. Israel still operates the aircraft as the core of their flight training program. Know for its excellent handling and aerobatic performance many nations used the Fouga for their military display teams.
The original Fougas were powered by two French Built Turbomecca Marbore II engines which developed 880 lbs of thrust. Later versions had the Marbore IV which produces a little over 1000 lbs of thrust. Gross Weight of the average Fouga is around 6800 lbs. Top speed is 490 kts or .82 Mach with a ceiling of over 35,000 ft. With approach speeds as slow as 90 kts the Fouga can land in as little as 2000 ft. The Fouga carries 257 gallons of fuel with an average burn of about 130 gallons per hour. When armed the Fouga carried two 7.62 mm machine guns with hard points for bombs and rockets. Israel is the only country to have used the aircraft in combat.
Genesee Birds operates one of about 20 flying Fougas in the United States. The aircraft was the first aircraft to be donated to the museum.