Saturday, 13 February 2021

ANF Les Mureaux 200

 
The ANF Les Mureaux 200 was a French frontline reconnaissance aircraft that never went beyond the prototype stage.
Back in late 1935 with the increasing development of more modern types, it was obvious that the most advanced type of the French firm (the Mureuax 115) needed some modernisation. Its most urgent problem to solve was the open cockpit which limited the maximum altitude the Mureaux 115 had.
The Mureaux 200 was a strut-braced all-metal parasol monoplane with a fixed landing gear. The fuselage and wings were basically identical to those of the Mureaux 115 with the exception of the rear gunner machine gun which was placed closer to the vertical stabiliser due to the configuration of the semi-enclosed glazed cockpit.
It was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs engine which could deliver up to 848 hp of power and drove a three-bladed propeller. The only built prototype was unarmed, which, according to some authors, was the reason why it managed to get better performance when compared to the Mureaux 115. 
Planned armament was the same as the 115 had: a single engine-mounted 7,5 mm MAC 1934 machine gun which fired through the propeller hub or a 20 mm HS-9 cannon replacing it. It could also have a single defensive MAC 1934 machine gun at the open end of the semi-enclosed glazed-cockpit in a defensive configuration shooting to the rear and another one firing downwards through a hatch, with up a total of 200 kg (440 lb) of bombs placed under the fuselage and under the wing.
A third crew-member, a radio operator, was needed as this type was going to be fitted with radio, which eventually, never got. 
Only a single prototype was completed at Ateliers des Mureaux, close to Paris, which flew for the first time on 15th May 1936 though unarmed. It showed good flying characteristics when compared to its immediate predecessor, the Mureaux 115, (possibly because it lacked the extra burden of weaponry) but it didn't attract the interest of the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) or any other contractor whatsoever, so the type didn't enter mass production.
Following the tradition of this blog, we drawn an hypothetical production series version serving with the Armée de l'Air.










Sources:
1. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other1/mureaux200.html (translated)
2. https://www.valka.cz/ANF-Les-Mureaux-200-A-3-t43273

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