The history of the Magister goes back to the 1940s, when right after the end of World War II, the CM.170 was designed by Robert Castello and Pierre Mauboussin (hence the designation CM). The CM.170 was derived from the CM.8-R13 which was in fact a jet-powered glider.

The French air force showed interest in this design as replacement for their Morane-Saulnier MS.475 Vanneau training aircraft.

The Fouga company already had much experience in designing and building various glider models, which explains the Magister’s long wings. Also the Magister’s V-tail, the so-called butterfly tail, is a result of this. The first prototype made its maiden flight from the southern French base of Mont-de-Marsan on 23 July 1952.

Unfortunately, this plane crashed on 3 November of the same year near Toulouse, when the pilot performed a barrel-roll (aerobatics maneuver) too close to the ground.

The test program did not encounter much delay though, since the second and third prototypes already flew at 6 July and 3 February 1953, respectively. The second prototype was rather different in having a "normal" tail section (horizontal and vertical surfaces), however this aircraft was converted to the V-tail standard later. Morane-Saulnier, until then the prime contractor for training aircraft for the French air force,

simultaneously made their own design, the MS.755 Fleuret. The air force however preferred the CM.170, mainly due to the fact that the trainee and instructor were seated in tandem, rather than side-by-side as in the MS.755. Therefore, Fouga got the contract to built 10 pre-production and 95 production aircraft initially.

The maiden flight of the Magister was in another way a first as well: it was the first purpose-built jet trainer in the world; prototypes of other jet trainers which later would see worldwide operation - the English Hunting Jet Provost and the US Cessna T-37 Tweetybird - only flew a year later.

Cessna T-37

In 1954, deliveries of the pre-production aircraft started, which were involved in an extensive test program. The first production CM.170 made its first flight on 29 February 1956. Some four hundred small modifications, resulting from the test program, were incorporated. The first military flying academy was equipped with Magisters in 1957. Fouga (later Potez-Fouga, which in 1967 on its turn was amalgamated in Sud Aviation) produced 576 production aircraft in total, at the airport of Blagnac near Toulouse which currently is home base of Airbus. This was not the only production line. In West Germany, 194 CM.170s were built for the Luftwaffe by Flugzeug-Union Süd, a joint-venture of Heinkel and Messerschmitt. This number includes 22 by Fouga constructed aircraft which were assembled by the Germans. Furthermore, the Finnish Valmet produced 62 CM.170s for their air force. Although the Magister initially was designated CM.170R (R stand for Reacteur - jet engine), this later changed into just CM.170. The first batch was powered by Turbomeca Marboré II engine . From production model no.436, the more powerful Marboré VI was used. The last French Magister rolled off the production line on 2 March 1969.

• CM.170M Specially designed for the French navy, it was equipped with a tail hook to enable operation from aircraft carriers. 2 prototypes were built, whereafter 30 production aircraft were delivered to the French navy, designated as CM.175 Zephyr.
• CM.171 Meant as test platform for a new type of jet engine. The single prototype crashed in 1957.

Source : Fouga ZEPHYR
Photo © ECA/collection SHM Toulon

• CM.173 This Super Magister was equipped with ejection seats and more powerful Super Marboré VI engines, and was later designated Potez 94. Only one prototype was built, and due to lack of orders, was never taken into full-scale production.
• CM.175 See CM.170M.

Source : Potez 94

• CM.191 Later designated as Potez-Heinkel 191. 2 prototypes of this four-seat plane were built-in West Germany. Meant as business jet, this project was cancelled due to lack of orders.

Source : Potez-Heinkel 191

The CM.170 Magister was used by twenty air forces worldwide for training their new pilots. With two nose-mounted 7.5 or 7.62mm machine guns and carrying unguided bombs and rockets, it could be used as light strike aircraft or weapon trainer as well. Beside this, the aircraft was very popular with aerobatics teams like the Red Devils (Belgium), Patrouille de France (France), Esquadrilha de Fumaca (Brazil) and the Silver Swallows (Ireland). In almost all countries, the CM.170 has been replaced by newer equipment. Much of the aircraft have since found a new owner to civil operators like the Dutch Historic Jet Association.

Text source : Dutch Historic Jet Association