Manufacturer: AMD-BA / Dornier

Model: unknown

Name: Beta Jet

Type: Advanced jet trainer

Date: 1973

Status: Restricted service

Country: France

Service: Armée de l'air

Designation: none

Synopsis:

The development of the Dassault-Bréguet/Dornier Alpha Jet advanced trainer was done in parallel with that of two differently configured types, the Beta Jet and Gamma Jet. Prototypes of these were built and tested operationally, alongside the Alpha Jet, but none of them proved any better than the Alpha Jet, and they soon disappeared out of sight.


Elaboration:

I used an Alpha Jet as a basis and completely reworked the rear end by making it a twin-tail aircraft. No elements were taken from other aircraft, everything was adapted from the same picture and redrawn over for the finishing touches. I picked two different pictures for the setting, one for the valley and city below and another one for the sky.


Viewers' comments:
  • Way cool! (ChernayaAkula)
  • Awesome Job. Ever thought of Letting the Guys @ Fantastic Plastic see this? This would Make a Great Model. Stay Cool" (Cobra)
  • BetaJet rocks! (ysi_maniac)
  • Great picture mix, completely as if it was true (and a thousand times more pleasant than a millionth picture of the standard Alpha-Jet). Great (virtual) family, thanks! (Tophe)
  • Interesting (spottyskunk)
  • I particularly like the Beta-jet! (Lensfire)
  • I can see a Miles Student there!!! (Alejandro)
  • This is a "rara avis". This is such a cool configuration, what's Gamma like? (RomaniaTricolor)
  • I like the Beta Jet, but where's the Gamma Jet? (Jschmus)
  • I'm waiting for the Omega Jet... (PR19_Kit)

My comments:

The mention of the Gamma Jet was kind of a teaser... I wanted to assess the reactions to the Beta Jet before I did the third version! Actually I still hesitate on the configuration of the Gamma... A T-tail trainer is perfectly alright, although few have existed. Likely such a version would not have offered much more than the original aircraft in terms of performance or handling.

As for the Omega, well... there were no plans for that, but since someone's waiting to see it, I would hate to disappoint and will therefore give it a try! So stay tuned, they will be done eventually...