Morane-Saulnier Ms.435

 

The Morane-Saulnier Ms.435 was a twin-seater French advanced trainer, based on the Ms.406, which was ordered into production in 1939 but it couldn't be delivered on time before the fall of France.

The Ms.435 began its life as the Ms.430, in 1937 when, after undergoing some testing and development, it was decided to fit a Gnome-Rhône 7Kfs radial engine in the fuselage, as the Ms.433. This variant was, however, cancelled in favor of the Ms.435, as the fuselage of the Ms.406 was better than the Ms.405's one.

The Ms.435's fuselage differed from the Ms.406's one in having a bigger cross section but it was also a low-wing single-engined monoplane with a crew of two, instructor and trainee sitting in a continuous glazed canopy. It was powered by a single Gnome-Rhône 9Kdrs radial engine which yielded 550 hp of power and it was also equipped with an inward retracting landing gear.

The prototype flew for the first time on 6th December 1939, when it was presented to the public in Armée de l'Air's colours. The French Air Ministry placed an initial order of sixty serial produced aircraft as the Ms.435P.2 (the letter P standing for "Professeur" - teacher and the number 2 meant that it had capacity for two crew members). However, as the Armée de l'Air was in need of fighters, the Ms.435 had a very low production priority and only the prototype remained completed before the fall of France in June 1940.

Sources:

1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS435.html

2. https://www.valka.cz/Morane-Saulnier-MS-435-P-2-t167647

3. https://www.aviafrance.com/morane-saulnier-ms-435-aviation-france-864.htm (translated)

4. https://www.aviastar.org/air/france/morane_ms-435.php