I was told this story some years ago and the teller of the story sounded very confident and convincing and was not the sort of person to exaggerate, but then perhaps that is always the case with urban myths. It goes like this: there was this guy in Melbourne who wanted a very specialised typewriter and the only one available was a product of the French group, Dassault. But he could not find a Dassault agent in Australia, so get as good a deal as possible he took out the Dassault agency for Australia. Eventually the typewriter turned up and he thought that that would be the end of the matter.
Until one day when there was a knock on the door and two government bureaucrats walked in and handed over the signed acceptance for Australia to acquire 100 Dassault Mirage fighters for the RAAF. All testing and assessing had been completed and now it was the time for the paperwork to be processed. As he was the Dassault agent they left it with him to forward it on to France. Reading through the documentation he saw that as part of the tender it was stated as to how much would be allowable for the agent’s commission and that was to be so much % of the overall cost of the contract. Needless to say he never had to work again.
Now I know that this sounds far fetched but as I say it seemed convincing at the time.
Does anyone know about this? Is it true?
By: Levsha - 3rd January 2011 at 16:26
Maybe if they changed the country from Australia to Israel the story might actually have some credibility. When the Israelis started building their own version of the Mirage 5, the Nesher/Dagger, it was believed at first that it was a reverse-engineered copy, without the aid of original blueprints/drawings. But now it’s often said that the Dassault did actually transfer the plans to the Israelis – without the French government’s say so…?:confused:
By: Grey Area - 3rd January 2011 at 15:37
I am not so sure of that – we will see what Dassault and the Department of Defence have to say about it.
Look, mate, it’s cobblers.
When you’re in a hole, stop digging. 🙂
By: Grey Area - 3rd January 2011 at 15:36
…in which case, the story cannot ever be found to be correct.
There is an invisible, intangible and scentless pink unicorn standing behind you at this very moment.
I challenge you to disprove it. :diablo:
By: Sky High - 3rd January 2011 at 15:15
….meaning both Dassault and the government are bound to deny it?
By: PeeDee - 3rd January 2011 at 15:00
…in which case, the story cannot ever be found to be correct.
By: Sky High - 3rd January 2011 at 13:01
Indeed – do post their comments on here………..;)If your story turns out to be correct, then it doesn’t say much for the Australian government and even less for Dassault.
By: sandy1000 - 3rd January 2011 at 12:01
Absolute crud..pure BS
I am not so sure of that – we will see what Dassault and the Department of Defence have to say about it.
By: inkworm - 3rd January 2011 at 10:10
Sounds like a tale I heard of some junior rank who worked in an office and was ordering some more stationery, put the code down as UH instead of UB or something along those lines and ended up having a light utility chopper being delivered.
I honestly can’t remember if it was in the UK or States but the other tale reminded me of it.
By: steve rowell - 3rd January 2011 at 07:52
Absolute crud..pure BS
By: Grey Area - 2nd January 2011 at 08:05
Sounds like a load of old cobblers intended to pander to anti-Frog… ahem… anti-French prejudice, if you ask me.
It’s an old one, too, if it’s blathering about the Mirage IIIO. 😎
By: Sky High - 2nd January 2011 at 07:52
Who knows? – nothing surprises us these days but we might be suspicious as it seems inconceivable that an agency arrangement would be set up acting for every division of a diverse company selling sophisticated aviation hardware and software as well as typewriters in the manner described. And even if it was, in the course of the inevitably detailed negotiations for the agency agreement, it would have been clear that a deal for the sale of hardware was in train.
It all sounds very implausible to me…………..;)
By: mike currill - 2nd January 2011 at 07:39
If a story sounds too good to be true – it is.
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January 2, 2011 at 6:42 am