In 1916 Morane-Saulnier designed the Type P two-seater reconnaissance parasol-wing aircraft, but it wasn't successful, so they moved on to design new types of fighters. Namely the Type AF biplane fighter and the parasol-wing AI which was itself a refinement of the Type N fighter with the intention of replacing both the Nieuport 17 and the SPAD S.VII.
The AI was mainly of conventional construction. The fuselage had a circular cross section built around a wooden framework, the flat wing was swept back with a section in the middle cut to improve pilot's field of view. It was hold by parallel lift struts which ran from the base of the forward section of the fuselage to two thirds the way along the wing and braced with a pair of compression struts. Strength tests on the wings showed that this arrangement should've been safe.
It was powered by a single Gnome Monosoupape 9N radial engine which yielded 150 hp of power and drove a two-bladed propeller.
The first prototype, which flew for the first time in 1917, was armed with a single Vickers 0.303 in machine gun placed on the nose and was given the official designation of Morane-Saulnier MoS.27 by the French Aéronautique Militaire (Military Aeronautics - the forerunner of the Armée de l'Air). It was tested at Villacoublay, in Seinte-et-Oise department, on 7th and 9th August 1917 manned by Eugene Gilbert. Further trials made in September, judged the aircraft as very maneuverable, with excellent control response and an excellent field of view for the pilot.
Work on a second version, the MoS. 29 was underway in September. This version differed from the MoS.27 in having two machine guns and had a slightly larger tail surface, but, otherwise, it was similar to the MoS.27.
The Type AI was ordered into mass production and a total of 1.210 machines, mostly of the MoS.29 variant, were produced. It entered service in early 1918 and it served with the following three Escadrilles (Squadrons) of the Aéronautique Militaire; N.156 (which became M.S.P. 156 in February 1918), N.161 (which became M.S.P. 161) and N.158 (which became M.S.P. 158).
The MoS.29 proved to be popular among its pilots who praised its speed and maneuverability, however, in service conditions, the wing proved to be very weak. In fact, some aircraft were lost when their wing either came off or folded in mid-air killing their pilots. The reason was never investigated, it was probably related to wing flutter or a similar phenomenon unknown in those years. By mid-May the Type AI was relegated from frontline service.
Morane-Saulnier then answered by converting the MoS.27/29 into an advanced trainer by removing guns ,reducing fuel capacity and introducing extra wing bracings. This trainer variant received the denomination of MoS.30 and was made in two sub-variants, the standard MoS.30, powered by a single Le Rhône 9Jb engine, which delivered a power of 135 hp and the MoS.30bis powered by a de-rated Le Rhône 9Jby engine rated at 90-95 hp of power.
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was shown the MoS.29, to check their interest on the type on 12th August 1917, but Hugh Trenchard, chief of the RFC rejected it. The MoS.30 was, however exported as trainers to various countries:
- Belgium: During the last stages of the World War I three machines were sold to the Belgian Aviation Militaire, which assigned them to the 9e Escadrille (9th Squadron).
- Czechoslovakia: The newly created Czechoslovak Army Air Force, had one MoS.30 in service in 1919. As we couldn't find graphical information, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
- Japan: The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service evaluated a single MoS.30 in 1922. Just like the previous user in this post, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
- Poland: A total of 21 MoS.30 were exported to Poland between 1920 and 1922. They served as advanced trainers in various flying schools all around Poland until 1925 when they were replaced by more modern types like the MoS.35.
- Switzerland: The Swiss Fliegertruppe (Swiss Army Aerial Corp) operated one MoS.30 in 1919.
- USSR: A total of four MoS.30 were evaluated and used for test and trials by the Workers and Peasants' Red Air Fleet (the forerunner of the Soviet Air Force)
- USA: Fifty-one MoS.30 were purchased by the American Expeditionary Force in France and were employed at their training base at Issoudun, at the department of Indre. After the war they re-sold to other countries. We couldn't however find graphical evidence. However, we think they wouldn't differ too much from the French MoS.29, so we decided to leave them out.
Sources:
1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_Type_AI.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_AI
3. http://bequickorbedead.com/article_detail/french-trainings-morane-saulnier-ms-30e1/ (translated)
4. https://www.valka.cz/Morane-Saulnier-AI-t51372 (translated)
No comments:
Post a Comment