On 27th February 1937 the French Service Technique Aéronautique, (Aeronautical Technical Service) issued a requirement for a new fighter that could complement the Ms.405 and the more promising Ms.406.
The Ms.450 employed more updated construction techniques than its predecessors as it had dural monocoque fuselage and plymax-skinned metal wings instead of the tubular metal framework, covered with fabric at the rear and plymax (plywood bonded to aluminum) at the front. It was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Y51 which yielded a total power of 1.085 hp and was armed with a total of four 7.5 mm MAC 1934-39 machine guns at the wings, two on each plus a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza Hs.404 cannon placed inside the engine which fired through the propeller hub.
A total of three prototypes were made, the first of which flew for the first time on 14th April 1939 and the second one in November that same year at Morane-Saulnier's factory in Puteaux.
When tested it didn't show bad ratings, however, a month earlier, in March, its most direct competitor, the Dewoitine D.520 had been ordered for mass production as it was considered a better aircraft. After the fall of France in June 1940 work on the Ms.450 was continued in Switzerland, where it was further refined into an almost completely new aircraft, the Doflug D.3802, but that's a subject for another post.
Sources:
1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS450.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_M.S.406#M.S.450
3. http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/morane_ms-450.php
4. https://www.valka.cz/Morane-Saulnier-MS-450-C-1-t35874
5. https://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=1735&ID_CONSTRUCTEUR=931&ANNEE=0&ID_MISSION=0&MOTCLEF= (translated)
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