Built by the French firm Dassault, the first Mirage I flew in 1955 and the first Mirage III prototype flew in 1956. An initial RAAF Mirage III with a Avon engine flew in 1961 but did not enter production due to the prohibitive cost of the engine modifications. Accordingly, in 1963 the first RAAF Mirage (A3-1), built in France flew in 1963 and was then transported to Australian by Hercules aircraft. A second Mirage (A3-2) was then assembled in France and remained there until 1965 to test RAAF modifications.