The aviation history of France has one certain strange ace design, building, and flying of the Nord 1500 Griffon prototype of a supersonic ramjet-powered fighter. Emerging in the decade following World War II, the Griffon was an answer to the call of the French Air Ministry for a high-performance manned interceptor. Although never reached, full-scale production did not prevent the Griffons from realizing some very impressive achievements that stamped their mark on aviation history.
The project of the Nord 1500 Griffon was seriously undertaken in 1953, at first with studies on a supersonic aircraft fitted with 60° delta wings and a low thickness/chord ratio. This avant-garde airframe configuration was a follow-up on the studies initiated by Nord on the 1402 Gerfaut of Ingenieur Jean Galtier. The Griffon was to be powered by a dual propulsion system: a turbojet for takeoff, and a ramjet for supersonic cruise. Given that the technology was less near its pinnacle, the ramjet could only function at speeds above 600 mph; therefore, the turbojet was a necessity for the initial acceleration.
The maiden flight of the prototype Griffon I took place on September 20, 1955, powered by the only powerplant, Atar 101F G2 afterburning turbojet. This maiden flight reached a maximum Mach number of 1.17, while it should have reached Mach 2. Griffon I had good control and handling, but this aircraft never received the installation of the intended ramjet engine, and later on, the aircraft was retired after several test flights.
It was on the Griffon II that the true scope of the project was realized. The variant featured an Atar 101 F series afterburning turbojet coupled with a ramjet engine controlled by an early-form computer system to meter the fuel flow. Griffon II first flew on January 23, 1957, while in December of that year, it reached Mach 1.85. It wasn’t until October 1958 that the aircraft reached Mach 2, with a 2.1 maximum. On October 5, 1959, test pilot André Turcat set a world record when he attained the speed of Mach 2.19 on a closed-circuit course.
Despite these successes, the Griffon test bed was subject to many problems. The structure was very sensitive to temperature as materials available at this time did not retain their temperature resistance, while there were lots of problems with the ramjet operating at medium speeds. This, coupled with the fact that the far more straightforward and less costly jet that was the Dassault Mirage III was proving more suitable to meet the requirements of the French Air Force, meant that on June 5, 1961, official work on the Griffon was axed after 337 flights in total.
Today, the second prototype of the Nord 1500 Griffon is preserved at Le Bourget Airport, near Paris, in the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace in testimony to France’s pioneering effort in high-speed aviation.