Argentina was the Paris’s biggest export customer. The Fuerza Aérea Argentina ordered 48 in late 1957; a dozen came from France and 36 were assembled under licence by the Fábrica Militar de Aviones at Córdoba, giving the country an early lesson in jet production. Some Argentine aircraft were fitted with nose machine guns and racks for rockets and light bombs, which turned a liaison trainer into a modest strike aircraft.

That capability was used in anger. During the Argentine naval revolt of April 1963, loyalist air force Paris jets bombed rebel positions, including a rebel-held radio station and the naval air base at Punta Indio, where aircraft were destroyed on the ground. It is one of the very few occasions on which a four-seat liaison jet has flown combat sorties.

The Paris then settled into decades of training and communications work. Argentina kept it flying long after France had moved on, and the last examples were retired in 2007 after 48 years of continuous service. Several retired Argentine airframes were later sold to private buyers in the United States, which is why so many of the surviving Paris jets have Argentine histories.

In France the Paris was never glamorous, and that was its strength. The Armée de l’Air used it for liaison, staff transport and training, flying senior officers between bases far faster than the piston twins it replaced. The flight-test centre used it as a chase and communications aircraft.

The Aéronavale’s 14 aircraft served first with Flottille 11.S from 1959, then, from 1970, from Lann-Bihoué as Escadrille 2.S, renamed 57.S in 1981. Their role was instrument flying and proficiency training for naval pilots, a jet classroom in which aircrew from desk jobs and maritime patrol could keep their hands in. The navy retired its Paris fleet in October 1997 at Landivisiau after almost four decades.

French sources credit the Armée de l’Air with around 45 years of Paris operations, which would put its final flights in the early 2000s; published dates vary. Either way, few jets of the 1950s served any air arm for so long in an unchanged role.

The Paris was designed for transport and training, but it could be armed. The standard provision was for two machine guns in the nose and underwing racks for four 90 mm rockets or two 50 kg bombs. Argentine aircraft used this fit for weapons training and, in 1963, for real attacks. French aircraft were generally unarmed. The modest load and lack of armour meant the Paris was never a serious attack aircraft, but the capability gave smaller air forces a cheap way to teach weapons delivery in a jet.

• MS.755 Fleuret: two-seat side-by-side jet trainer, flown in January 1953; lost to the Fouga Magister.
• MS.760A Paris I: initial production version with Marboré II engines.
• MS.760B Paris II: Marboré VI engines, larger fuel tanks and air conditioning.
• MS.760C Paris III: six-seat development, flown at Tarbes in February 1964 by Lucien Colomes; a single prototype only.
• C-41: Brazilian Air Force designation for the Paris.

• France: Armée de l’Air (liaison and training), Aéronavale (14 aircraft, 1959–1997) and the flight-test centre.
• Argentina: 48 aircraft, 36 assembled locally; retired 2007.
• Brazil: around 30 aircraft as the C-41.
• Netherlands: a small batch of Paris IIs in the 1960s and early 1970s.
• Civil: corporate and private owners, including ENI in Italy and the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield.

The Marboré was an excellent engine for its day but, like all early centrifugal turbojets, it was thirsty, and the Paris carried two of them. That fuel bill, rather than the purchase price, was what limited its civil appeal once more efficient business jets arrived. For air forces the sums were different: a Paris was far cheaper to run than a fighter, and using it for instrument and proficiency flying saved hours on expensive frontline types. No authoritative per-hour figure has been published, so treat any number as an estimate.