How the French built the fastest plane in the world... Nord Griffon 1500 

I was in the USAF on F15s ‘90-‘96… you gotta give the French credit for having their own aircraft industry. They make good aircraft. Who wants to go to an airshow with 25 F35s from 25 different countries.

The French are so underrated.

I have long held great admiration generally for French engineering's outside the box thinking particularly when it comes to cars and aircraft.

Most of those amazing so advanced projects (Griffon, Leduc, Atar VTOL, Balzac, Baroudeur and so on) were scrapped, victims of budget restrictions and the massive reshuffling of French air industry with the merger of all the public and semi or private companies (Nord, Ouest, Sud-Est, Sud-Ouest, etc.) in only two big ones: public Sud-Aviation (much later expanding to Aerospatiale and Airbus European endeavour) and private Dassault.

The plane shown in the thumbnail and in the title uses a ramjet not a rocket so it is a plane, he got it right

M’y grandad actually worked on the air intakes of the Griffon, met multiple time the test pilot, André Turcat, and explained me how this fabulous had such a need for speed

Merci à tous ceux qui ont eu la volonté de garder indépendante notre industrie aéronautique. Beaucoup de respect envers tous les ingénieurs et inventeurs de cette branche qui fait que notre avoir faire est reconnu dans le monde entier.

André Turcat became later the test pilot on Concorde's first flight.

It's crazy to think that the Ramjet was invented in France in 1913. Planes of the time weren't even capable of testing this new type of engine.

Always loved French jets. Especially the mirage series, flying since the 60s is one of the best designs for a fighter ever made. Check out all the low level flying vids the French air force made. Some of the coolest low level fighter jet vids

The French build good aircraft. Back in the 90's in my youth I was fortunate to fly on Concorde. Incredible experience.

My uncle worked on this project (I'm French btw ^^). He showed me some photos, the engine air intake was *huge* asf.

“The French sought ‘new and exciting’ ways…” 😂

If you're interested, you can see this plane in France, in the Museum of Le Bourget Airport !

This amazing aircraft reminds me of France's amazing air force.

How goofy do you want your plane to look? The french: yes

he really gone to the museum and seeing the nord and was like:You brother you are now my content

the French have always built the best planes....their engineers are very good, the only limitation is money, it is terribly expensive to develop planes. why do you think the Germans want to work with the French on the 6th generation aircraft project? it's to steal their technologies!

France creating an engine the size of a ship and putting a cockpit over it

I typically start with a chainsaw, then belt sander, then a plane. Seems the fastest.

Thanks for your video. I'm french and never heard about those cute babies 'til now 😍

the nord 5000 is so similar to the Mirage 2000 you need to do a video on this marvelous aircraft

There was also the Sud-Ouest Trident SO 9000 with two turbojets and a rocket engine but frightening of all to me (at the time and since) was the Leduc 0.21 with just one ramjet so it had to be carried up and then released.

It was too advanced for the time but canard and delta wing where also visionnary of top aicraft of today. Material and alloy of the time where not up to the task. The ramjet is now used on French nuke missile for 40 years+ and being adopted every where with hypersonic race. France was so in advance but get bankrupted by WWII.

And also the first operating aircraft with a compound turbojet-ramjet engine. The issue at the time was that ramjets were not well-known. It was an on/off type instead of a throttleable engine like the turbojet, thus the french air force prefered the mirage III

Love your vids …I look forward to them each n every time.

so basically this thing actually had a "ludicrous speed" switch

Thank you so much. I was thinking about this design. Did not know France did this engineering gem.

New Found and Explained video!! Nice!

"NAAAH, LET'S MAKE IT BIGGGGER" - The Best Doctor EVER!

It's so cool on how he says 'Guardian of the North'

Griffon can still be seen at Le Bourget's Air and Space museum near Paris.

I'd never heard of it. Great video!

The precursor in ramjet aircraft was René Leduc (Leduc 022). He built some really crazy prototypes. The Griffon borrowed many of Leduc's ideas.

Toujours aussi bien expliqué pour le texte et réalisé pour l'animation vidéo.

I saw this plane at the museum of air and space in paris along with concorde

As the saying in engeneering goes: The French copy no one and no one copies the French.

"Ejection seat, for safety" *The Pilot Ejecting at Mach 3* : **Desintegrated**

"You see that big ass nuclear reactor ?" "Yea why ?" "Put wings on it"

La créativité des French, c'était quelque chose... Rhaaaa !

Everyone: A engine built for a jet! France: A jet built for an engine.. Hon hon hon....

At this time in France, there was a popular proverb: "We don't have oil but we have ideas". A bygone era, unfortunately.

Mirage IV, if you have not gone there than please do.

Some corrections here: 0:45 and 8:40 Given the "turbofan" engine doesn't have any bypass with a fan around it, by definition it's a turbojet, not a turbofan. It’s the earlier type of jet engine available, the first turbofan military fighter came out much later, like the F-111. 6:27 And instead of “turbofan” you should say “…like a conventional Jet Engine…” It’s like calling crisps as “French fires”. Sure both are fried potato, but they are quite different. A jet engine does not use any compressor is called a “ramjet”, if the engine flow passes, it’s called “pulsejet”, if the internal flow is supersonic, it’s “scramjet”. A “turbojet” engine is a jet engine use a compressor (hence “turbo”) gas combusted by the engine to propel forward, the earliest and most basic type of jet engine. A “turbofan” is specifically for a turbojet engines with a ducted fan bypass; for fan without a surrounding duct, these are called “propfan”. If the turbojet engine is connected to a propeller, and the exhaust have almost no energy (don’t use exhaust jet as propulsion), then it’s called “turbo prop”. And if the turboprop is NOT connected to a propeller, instead connected to rotor blades or used like a conventional engine, then it’s called “turbo shaft engine”.

"The lack of power was exasperated." Was it? There's a name for this type of mistake - a malapropism. They're usually ludicrous, and this case is no exception.

For me, the Rafale and the F22 are the best

YES FINALLY, a video on the Griffon :D

Vive la France et ses fantastique avions.

Just started subscribing. Great, in depth info, obviously painstakingly researched! Just one question? When you say exasperated, do you mean exacerbated?

Saw it at the Bourget Space and Air museum ! Vive la France !

How mad that the Concorde went the same speed as the Nord Griffon 2 with passengers not strapped to an engine but sipping champagne at 60,000ft.

Earned the like just for the Doctor Who reference 😂😂 Well done, the story is also really interesting!

This is something right out of Capt. Scarlett.

As per usual a benchmark of freak plane animation and wtf aviation history 👍😊 How can one give you inspiration for another video because I may have one or two in mind who might apply to you that might fit 😉

Mate, I hope you will also discuss the Saab Gripen someday. That Swedish jet deserves more love.

French are the best in the world plane designer and builder. Dassaut aviation is a pioneer and still the best. But excellent quality has a cost and it is not easy to sell such plane. It isthe same with Rolls-Royce ,few are lucky to have it !

A complete ramjet with the jet engine in front as a coaxial flow inducer is an interesting variation on afterburner/reheat that makes up for the then-primitive fuel controls and other jet engine tech.

Cold war era humans were building god damn 40k ork technology.

6:51 YOU MASSACRED THE CAMEMBERT! (Moreover if you put camembert in the oven you need to be arrested) For the rest it's a great video, I love how funny french planes look some times (I'm french)

French engineers do not get enough credit for how ingenious they are. Probably the greatest engineers alongside the Brits.

"See this big engine over there ? - Yeah - How about we bolt wings on it ? *Bzzzz* *wrench* *Bzzzz* - Oh My God"

AMAZING VIDEO....Thanks Shoe🇺🇸

Wow really nice editing

Loved the Dr. Who reference!

Great video! I have one request, could you make a video on the McDonnell F101 Voodoo?

Love the quality animation 👌

Seems like the UK could have tried the same idea using Lightning. Swap and Avon for a ramject and give it a shot.

Great content

The SR-71 Blackbird has TurboRamjet Engines

It's not a jet with an engine, it's an engine with a jet 😂

THANK YOU for this video :-) :-) :-)

10:21 Andre Turcat (pron. Tur-Cah) was the first pilot to fly the Concorde. Shortly afterwards, British pilot Brian Trubshaw became the second. This was a quirk of the manufacturing process, where one was built in France and the other in Britain.

Big rear ends are popular these days too!😊

Hey fae could you do an Video about the mbb firefly, please. ITS very unknown and it would be amazing to see it

6:50 a 'Camo Bear' is either the cutest bear or the scariest

Like the SR71. That plane had both engines in it. A regular and a ramjet. The regular was for lower altitudes and getting the plane up to speed for the ramjet to take over.

Wiki suggests this maxed out at Mach 2.2. Where does the Mach 3 / faster than a Foxbat come from ?

It looks like a small B-58 Hustler.

Seems like F16 designers took some design inspiration from this jet.

The dual combined engine is making a comeback for hypersonic aircraft.

It was nowhere near as fast as the MiG-25. The top speed for the NG 1500 was about Mach 2.2. The idea that the Griffon III would reach Mach 3 was pure speculation.

Faster than Mig-25? Let's be honest, during setting speed and altitude records in 1960th the Mig-25 actually accelerated beyond M 3.45 (such a speed was also recorded over Israel for the MiG-25R). In contrast the Griffon 1500 top speed was recorded as M 2.19. The turbo/ramjet combination in Griffon wasn't a great engeneering desiign but rather a step forward from the Leduc 0.22 with a simple, unadjustable and uneffective air intake. The MiG-25 R-15 engine was designed specifically for high altitude/speed flight and behaved as a ramjet rather than the turbojet in full power. The air compression occured in a sophisticated electronically-driven air intake and not in the engine compressor itself (the compressor ratio of R-15 is 4.5). Bytheway, the MiGs-25 predecessor, the Ye-152 (Ye-166) already set the record of M 3 in 1962, one and a half years after the Griffon barely reached its top M 2.19. But I have to admit, the Griffon 1500 looks avesome and fancy. It has its own weerd style.

quicker than MiG 25 is very quick indeed

I’m pretty sure the same engine tech was/is being used in the sr72 featured in top gun maverick.

This one is right on my birthday, time I was born and all

Dang the newest wt premium looks crazy

You can see this marvel @ le Musée du Bourget (where Lindbergh landed).

I worry about that HUGE under-fuselage air scoop and all the FOD that it will suck up on those "grassy" airstrips.

You gotta love NATO. Russia builds something that does something cool on paper, and NATO responds by building something that does something even better in real life.

The landing gear being that far forward looks like a "tail" strike waiting to happen.

how have i never herd of this before

Without the canards the cockpit would blew away! Such a Monster

In fact in never got to more than M2.2 which made the EE Lightning faster and in production and in service Mixed power plant designs were never practical. Same with the Saunders Roe SR53 and SR177.

Father of Typhoon,Mirage and Rafale

The nose section looks a lot like the B-58 Hustler.

Nice and interesting video. If you want to know how to pronounce Dassault, it’s easy. Do not pronounce the L or the T. Imagine Da like the word yes in Russian and So, as in the English word.

Can we get a video on the Lockheed X-7 with a Wright Aeronautical ramjet engine from the 1950s

Интересно.. Однако МиГ-21, вернее его прототип превысил скорость этой машины. А серийные МиГ-21 практически уступали всего 50 км/ч.. Серийные. Не прототипы. Реальные истребители, что летают до сих пор, в 2023 году.

All jets gangsta until french preggers jet flys by.

I am french. I don't give a shit about this plane. I am just here for reading the comments, and gosh, i am delighted. Just like for each french plane, you are all shitting on it.