Blériot-SPAD S.710

 

The Blériot-SPAD S.710 was a French experimental fighter of the 1930s 

Its inception can be traced back to 1934 when the French Air Ministry issued a requirement for a single-seat fighter (C1). This requirement suffered many changes until 16th November 1935 when it was decided to split it in two categories: light fighters powered by an engine rated between 400 and 500 hp and heavy fighters with engines rated between 800 and 1.000 hp. In this later category, eleven project were presented, with only six of them being ordered as prototypes. André Herbemont, designer of the Blériot-SPAD S.510, presented a biplane, against the Morane-Saulnier Ms.406, Bloch Mb.150, Dewoitine D.513, Loire-Nieuport LN.161 and Loire 250, monoplanes all of them.

The S.710 was an evolution of the S.510, which was itself an evolution of the S.9. The S.710 had a duralumin fuselage with a covered cockpit equipped with a sliding canopy. Wings were covered in fabric and they were different each other. It was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs engine rated at 860 hp and, although the only prototype was never armed, the proposed armament was one engine-mounted 20 mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, four 7,5 mm machine guns mounted on the wings and one 7,5 mm aft-firing machine gun in the rear fuselage. It was also equipped with retractable undercarriage and an V-type or "butterfly" tail configuration. This tail arrangement had already been previously tested on an S.92 with promising results. 

Work on the prototype began in October 1935 and was completed shortly after. It wasn't however, until April 1937 that it was tested. On 8th June it exceeded a speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) in level flight. On 15th June, Louis Massotte, the test pilot, noticed a flutter in the tail surfaces when flying at only 200 m (656 ft) high and tried to perform an emergency landing. Unfortunately the aircraft went out of control and crashed into the ground killing Massotte. The flutter phenomenon was relatively unknown back then and this accident put an end to the project.

Sources:

1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blériot-SPAD_S.710 (translated)

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blériot-SPAD_S.510

3. http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_s-710.php

Blériot-SPAD S.510

 

The Blériot-SPAD S.510 was a French single-seat biplane fighter which entered service with the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) in 1936.

Designed by André Herbemont to meet a 1930 requirement of the French government for a new fighter capable of achieving a speed of 325 km/h (202 mph) at an altitude of 3.500 m (11.500 ft) (those requirements were later increased to 350 km/h at the same altitude) with an armament of either four machine guns, one 20 mm cannon and two machine guns or two cannons. Herbemont submitted a proposal based on his own previous Blériot-SPAD S.91 design and it was the only biplane contender. 

The S.510 was an all-metal, with fabric-covered wings and tail and a monocoque rear fuselage. It was equipped with a fixed landing gear and was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs liquid-cooled V12 engine rated at 690 hp of power which drove a two-bladed propeller.

Typical armament configuration consisted on four 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine guns mounted under the lower wing, with the exception of the prototype which had two guns mounted on the fuselage. Later production examples were powered by an Hispano-Suiza 12Xcrs which allowed a 20 mm cannon to be mounted between the engine's cylinder banks and fire through the propeller hub. 

The first and only prototype flew for the first time on 6th January 1933 and, when tested, some flight problems arose, resulting in the enlengthening of the central fuselage by 40 cm (16 in) and its vertical surfaces being enlarged. When evaluated in 1935 at the Centre d'expériences aériennes militaires (CEAM) at Reims, against the Dewoitine D.500 monoplane (which was already in production) the S.510 showed greater maneuverability and climb rate. Therefore, an order for an initial batch of 60 aircraft was placed on 30th August 1935. 

Performance was comparable to that of the British Gloster Gladiator and, with its armament configuration, it had heavier attack capabilities than other biplane fighters of its era, namely the Italian FIAT Cr.32 or Cr.42, or the German Heinkel He.51, among others. However, the S.510 was despised to obsolescence before being adopted officially, although when it was designed, many pilots believed a biplane fighter would perform better than a monoplane in dogfights, thanks to its tighter turning circles. It enjoyed one year of usefulness, as it was adequate for 1936, but it was quickly outclassed by other monoplane fighters such as the Morane-Saulnier Ms.406 or the Dewoitine D.520, to name a few.

The first S.510 were delivered to the Armée de l'Air in early 1936 as a replacement for the Morane-Saulnier Ms.225 of Groupe de Chasse 1/7 (GC 1/7) from May 1937 and the Nieuport-Delage NiD.62 and NiD.629 of GC II/7 from July 1937. That same year they also equipped the Weiser Circus aerobatic team in a display that was held all across France that year. In 1938, after the Munich Crisis, every S.510 was fitted with radios and some of them were equipped with revised exhaust tubes to be used as night fighters. From January 1939, GC 1/7 began to transition to the Morane-Saulnier Ms.406, discarding their last S.510 in February, while GC II/7 began to replace them later that year and by early September (shortly after the start of the war) they had fully replaced the S.510 by Ms.406s.

In August 1939 obsolete fighters placed in storage were assigned to various Escadrilles Régionales de Chasse (ERC - Regional Fighter Flights) to train reservist pilots. Two flights were formed in mainland France equipped with a mixture of S.510 and NiD.622. These were ERC 3/561 at Saint-Inglevert airfield, at Pas-de-Calais and ERC 4/561 at Villacoublay, in Seine-et-Oise. In October both ERC were merged to form Groupe Aérien Régional de Chasse II/561 (GARC II/561) based at Le-Havre-Oteville airfield, in the Seine-Maritime department. 

On 18th January 1940 GARC II/561 was renamed to GC III/10 and received Bloch Mb. 151 during the following weeks, to allow the unit to transition to the frontlines. The S.510 were returned to their initial trainer roles and were used as such until the armistice in June 1940. 

Around ten S.510 were sent to Algeria and Morocco to serve in ERCs in Oran and Rabat. In May 1940 the ERCs in French North Africa were combined to form a new group, GC III/5 with, among other machines, those ten S.510 previously mentioned. However, in late May they were replaced by Ms.406 machines.

Some reports claim that the S.510 also served with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. However those were proven fake.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blériot-SPAD_S.510

2. http://equinoxe.dk/SCWaircraft/didnt.html

Morane-Saulnier Ms.430

 

The Morane-Saulnier Ms.430 was a French two-seat training aircraft loosely based on the Ms.405 fighter.

The Ms.430 resembled the original designs of the Ms.405, as it had similar wings and an inward retracting landing gear, with a different tail. The fuselage was extended to make room for a second pilot, with both, trainee and instructor sitting in tandem. Unlike the Ms.405 which had an inline engine, the Ms.430 was powered by a single Salmson 9Ag which yielded 390 hp of power and was unarmed. 

The Ms.430 flew for the first time on 3rd March 1937 and it underwent two years of testing, where it proved to be underpowered and not improving the performance of the Morane-Saulnier Ms.230, the main trainer of the Armée de l'Air back then, which was designed a decade earlier. 

In order to fix that problem, a new variant was projected, powered by a more powerful Gnome-Rhône 7Kfs engine, named as Ms.433. However, work continued on the Ms.435 a variant with a completely redesigned fuselage. There was also a fighter version projected, which would've been known as the Ms.408.

Sources:

1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS430.html

2. https://www.aviafrance.com/morane-saulnier-ms-430-aviation-france-863.htm (translated)

Morane-Saulnier Ms.230, home users and variants

 The Morane-Saulnier Ms.230 was the main elementary trainer aircraft of the French Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) through the whole 1930s. Almost every pilot flying for the Armée de l'Air at the outbreak of World War 2, had flown the Ms.230 at any point in their careers. Its most direct equivalents are the Boeing-Stearman Model 75, the British de Havilland Tiger Moth and the German Bücker Bü.131 Jüngman, to name a few.

The Ms.230 was designed to meet a requirement of the French Air Ministry issued back in 1928 for a machine in the lines of the Morane-Saulnier Ms.53 and the Morane-Saulnier Ms.130 (them both being two-seat parasol trainers of the 1920s). To such end, Morane-Saulnier re-engined a single Ms.133 with an uncovered Salmson 9Ab radial engine and fitted the landing gear from a Morane-Saulnier Ms.181 and, one year later, in 1929, the Ms.230 was presented and adopted by the Armée de l'Air.

The Ms.230 was a parasol wing monoplane of metallic tubular framing with fabric covering the whole fuselage except for the forward area, which was covered in metal. The instructor and the trainee occupied two cockpits in a tandem configuration and had a fixed landing gear, making it very stable for take off and landing. For a time when most of the trainers consisted on biplanes, the Ms.230 was, with its parasol wing, an exception.

During its first trials in February 1929, it revealed to be an excellent and stable machine which was easy to fly and also as robust as its contemporaneous fighters. Its parts were also very accessible, making it easier its maintenance and, thanks to its maneuverability and polivalence, it quickly became very popular. 

The French Air Ministry ordered an initial batch of 500 machines, with production starting in March 1929, with the first production machine rolling out the factory the 15th of that month. It was presented to the public in the 1929 Michelin Cup and the 1930 Salon International de l'Aeronautique on 28th November 1930. It was assigned to every military flying school in France and was also used by the Aeronavale (French Navy's Air Arm) in French colonies like Tunisia.

Apart from the variants already covered in previous posts, namely the Ms.229, Ms.233 and Ms.236, there were also some experimental variants:

• Ms.231: Version built in 1930 which was powered by a single Lorraine 7Mb engine yielding 240 hp of power. A total of six machines were made.
• Ms.232: Single prototype made in 1930. It was fitted with a Clerget 9Ca diesel radial engine rated at 200 hp.
• Ms.234: The Ms.234 was a single machine destined to be used by the American ambassador in Paris. It was powered by a Wright J-6-9 engine (itself a license copy of the Hispano-Suiza 9Qa) which yielded 330 hp of power (though, according to other sources, it was just 250 hp) 
• Ms.234/2: Racer version for the 1931 Michelin Air Race. It was powered by an Hispano-Suiza 9Qb rated at 230 hp covered with a cowl.  It was flown by Michel Détroyat in subsequent editions of the Michelin Coup until 1938.
• Ms.235: Single prototype powered by a Gnome-Rhône 7Kb engine rated at 300 hp. Flew for the first time in March 1935.
• Ms.237: Five machines powered by the Salmson 9Aba engine rated at 280 hp. They were built for private owners in 1934. In 1942 the German Luftwaffe seized one machine belonging to Air France Trasatlantique. 
• Ms.330: Parasol wing trainer, made entirely out of metal, destined to replace the Ms.230. It was made in 1929 but it failed to live to its expectations and wasn't ordered into mass production. It was powered by a covered Salmson 9Ab radial engine and, though externally looking similar to the 230, it had a new wing profile. 
  Tests revealed that it had a tendency to fall into an uncontrollable flat spin after some maneuvers and development was abandoned. However, two sub-variants, Ms.331 and Ms.332, were tested with different engines to try and solve that problem. Neither of those was successful and the project was abandoned. 
• Ms.530: The last in a long series of parasol trainer aircraft built by Morane-Saulnier. It was similar to the Ms.330, as it was the result of almost a decade of development. Powered by a Salmson 9ABd radial engine with a NACA cowling, rated at 280 hp. It flew for the first time on 9th September 1938, but as its performance wasn't better than the regular Ms.230, the project was abandoned.

The Wikipedia in English mentions a floater variant, the Ms.235H, but that's the only reference we have found. It's not even mentioned in the French Wikipedia page nor in the various books we have consulted.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_MS.230

2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_MS.230 (translated)

3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS330.html

4. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/morane-saulnier-designations.911/

5. https://www.valka.cz/Morane-Saulnier-MS-230-t167614 (translated)

6. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS530.html

Caudron C.440 'Goéland'. Home Users Part One.

 

The Caudron Goéland was a six-seat twin-engined French utility aircraft of the 1930s. 

It was designed in 1934 by Marcel Riffard, designer who would design other successful aircraft like the Caudron Simoun. The Goéland (french word for 'seagull') was a cantilever low-wing construction made out of wood and steel. Wood in the wing and fuselage, steel tube for the top and the back of the fuselage. The wing was equipped with flaps all along the trailing edge, under the fuselage too and retractable landing gear. 

The prototype, C.440, of which 3 exemplars were made, flew for the first time on 5th March 1935 and by September it was sent to Istres to be officially tested by Caudron-Renault. The nose section was occupied by a baggage compartment, accesible by a lateral door. The crew was composed of two, pilot and co-pilot and had capacity for six passengers. It was produced for a very long period of time, as it was manufactured from 1935 until 1948, in several versions (C.440 to C.449) with modifications being related to Renault engines and slight variation in the structural design. 

The C.441 was the name given to the second prototype of the C.440 as it was fitted with a pair of Renault 453 engines which delivered a power of 200 hp each. That aircraft, registered as F-ANKX was painted in Air France's colours for a demonstration flight on 31st August 1935.

The next big version was the C.444, retained the same wing style as the C.441, though bulkheads were added to the lower surface and the fin was rounded. It was powered by two Renault 6Q-00/01 contra-rotating engines, which would become the standard for every Goéland produced from that model onwards. A total of 17 machines of this variant were made.

The main version, the C.445 was externally almost identical to the C.444, though the aforementioned wing bulkheads were removed. Around 650 machines of this type were manufactured between 1936 and 1940 when France surrendered. It got the interest of the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) who asked Caudron to develop a military version with flexible interior fittings for either passengers or cargo. This version could also be employed for pilot and crew training and was called C.445M, was ordered on 18th March 1938 and a total of 90 machines were built.

A sanitary version was also made, the C.447 with capacity for four stretchers and a nurse and only 25 machines were made. The C.448 was a direct derivative of the C.444 with new supercharged Renault engines. 

In civilian service it was employed in limited numbers, as three machines were used in 1936 by Air France, which, one year later, sold them to the Spanish Republic via a front company. Air Bleu used a single C.444 in 1937 and three C.445 in 1939 in the Paris-Pau night mail line. Air Afrique Regale used a total of seven C.444 in their secondary aerial routes between Gao and Bamako in the French Sudan. Aéromaritime, another French airline, operated two Goélands, on the Gao-Niamey route. Together with these airlines, many were sold to private owners and governmental charges, such as the governor-general of Madagascar to which post four Goélands were assigned. 

In mainland France, the Armée de l'Air and the Aéronavale (French Navy's Air Arm) employed the type in the transport and trainer roles. They served in the Armée de l'Air's schools of Istres and Avord and also for liason purposes. In 1939 the French Navy placed an order for 60 machines which were transferred to several training and servitude sections. 

 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudron_C.440_Goéland

2. https://www.passionair1940.fr/Armee%20de%20l%27Air/Appareils/Transport/Caudron-Goeland/EN-Caudron-goeland.htm

3. https://aviatechno.net/vilgenis/46-49/caudron440.php (translated)

4. https://www.valka.cz/Caudron-C-440-Goeland-t168115 (translated)

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

ANF Les Mureaux 117

 

The ANF Les Mureaux 117 was a French two-seater parasol scout aircraft of the 1930s. It was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs rated at 848 hp of power which drove a two-bladed wooden propeller, the same type which powered the Mureaux 113. 

With a crew of two (pilot and observer/bomber), it was armed with two Vickers 0.303 in machine guns mounted in the engine plus another one mounted at the rear cockpit for the observer in a defensive configuration. This machine gun was replaced in later versions by the 7.5 mm MAC machine gun. Like the Mureaux 115 it was also initially fitted with a single Lewis machine gun which could fire through the bottom hatch of the observer's cockpit but it was quickly removed and never saw real use. It also had provision for a total of 200 kg (440 lb) of bombs placed under the main fuselage and the wing.

As the aircraft could perform both as a pure recon airplane or as a recon-bomber, the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) gave the suffix of R.2 B.2 (the letter 'R' standing for 'Reconnaissance' and the letter 'B' standing for 'Bombardier' - Bomber) with the number two making reference to the number of crew members the type needed. Though, eventually, only 16 of them were equipped with bombs, so it wasn't very common. 

The Mureaux 117 differed from other types of the 110 family in having a reinforced wing with internal braces. Given that the aircraft comes from the Mureaux 113, work on the prototype started back in 1933 but it wasn't until January 1935 when the prototype took off for the first time. As part of the contract issued by the French Air Ministry, which sought to replace the older and outdated, though venerable, Potez 25 biplane recon airplane, a total of 115 Mureaux 117 were manufactured at Atelier des Mureaux in Les Mureaux, close to Paris from 1935 until 1936 when work on the more promising Potez 630 (which would eventually derive into the Potez 63.11) was already under design. 

However, as deliveries of those more advanced types were very slow, the Mureaux 117 (together with the Mureaux 115) was still in active service in September 1939 when World War 2 started, so it constituted the backbone of the Armée de l'Air's short-range aerial recon force equipping nine Groupes Aériens d'Observation (Aerial Observation Groups) which performed regular scouting missions over the German Siegfried Line during the period known as the "Phoney War". By April 1940, just one month before the main German attack, the airplane was still serving in numbers, many of them in the French African colonies. Anyway, when France fell in late June the type was written off and eventually scrapped by the Armée de l'Air de l'Armistice (Vichy French Air Force).

Oddly enough, back in 1938 a French right-wing newspaper published some news about the French government having sold some Mureaux 117 (and 115) to the Spanish Republican Government to help them in the Spanish Civil War. Those news turned out to be fake, but it's not reason to hold us from drawing an hypothetical Mureaux 117 serving with the Spanish Republican Air Force.

Sources:

1. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other1/mureaux117.html (translated)

2. https://www.valka.cz/ANF-Les-Mureaux-117-R-2-B-2-t42734

3. http://bioold.science.ku.dk/drnash/model/spain/index.html (accesible only through the wayback machine)

ANF Les Mureaux 115

 

The ANF Les Mureaux 115 was a French two-seater reconnaissance fighter and light bomber. It was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs which delivered 848 hp of power and drove a three-bladed propeller. 

The prototype flew for the first time on 6th March 1935 and a total of 119 aircraft of the type were manufactured between 1935 and December 1938 by Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord (National Company of Aeronautical Constructions of the North) at Les Mureaux, close to Paris. The production version was given the suffix of R.2 by the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) as they were suited to reconnaissance role. 

The Mureaux 115 was armed with a single 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine gun mounted on the engine, a single 20 mm Hispano-Suiza-9 cannon mounted in the engine and firing through the propeller hub, a single defensive 7.5 mm MAC 1934 placed in the observer's cockpit aimed to the rear and, initially, a single ventral 0.303 in Lewis machine gun which was fired by the observer through a hatch, though this machine gun wasn't mounted in most of the machines. It also had provision for four 50 kg (110 lb) bombs, two under the main fuselage and two under the wing. When equipped with bomb, the suffix B.2 (which stands for Bombardier - Bomber) was given. 

Just like every type in this family of planes, by 1939 it was already obsolete, however, as the Armée de l'Air didn't have any better alternative, they were kept at the frontlines when World War 2 began in September 1939 after undergoing some small modernisations as they were the backbone of the short-range recon aircraft fleet.

During the period known as the "Phoney War", the Mureaux 115 took part in many photo-reconnaissance missions over the Siegfried line and, given their vulnerability to German fighters and anti-aircraft fire, a Mureaux 115 has the dubious honour of being the first French aircraft shot down in the World War 2, during one of those recon missions. 

In spite of having fighter cover, they were still highly vulnerable because of their slowness (their maximum speed was just of 327.5 km/k - 203.5 mph) so, since before the beginning of the conflict, they were being replaced by the much better Potez 637 and Potez 63.11. However, deliveries of this aircraft were slow and by May 1940 some Mureaux 115 were still in active service and were employed all throughout the Franco-German front. 

When France fell in late June 1940 the Armée de l'Air de l'Armistice (Vichy France's Air Force) was created which took care of the remaining Mureaux 115 which, once unarmed, were employed as trainers, before being written off from service in July 1941.

Oddly, in 1938, various French right-wing newspapers published that some Mureaux 115 (together with some 117) were sold to the Spanish Republicans and took part in recon missions in the Spanish Civil War. Those reports weren't based in real facts, so they were simple propaganda, however as with many other profiles, we decided to draw an hypothetical-looking Mureaux 115 serving with the Spanish Republican Air Force.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux_113

2. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other1/mureaux115.html (translated)

3. https://www.valka.cz/ANF-Les-Mureaux-115-R-2-B-2-t42733

4. http://bioold.science.ku.dk/drnash/model/spain/index.html (accesible only through the wayback machine)

ANF Les Mureaux 113

 

The ANF Les Mureaux 113 was a French single-engined all-metal parasol two-seater reconnaissance aircraft with fixed landing-gear.

It was designed by André Brunet (who was the chief designer of Ateliers de Construction du Nord - ANF) who had previous experience with other designs of the type like the Mureaux 130A.2 recon plane. All his designs had in common a parasol wing, a metal frame and a fixed broad-gauge landing gear. After some minor modifications and improvements, the Mureaux 110 A.2 and 112.GR aircraft were completed, flying for the first time in 1931.

The French Air Ministry was impressed by the performance of the 110, placed a contract for its serial production under the denomination of Les Mureaux 113R.2. The pilot and the observer were seated in open cockpits, back to back, with the rear cockpit having a large windshield and a single defensive 7.5mm MAC 34 machine gun. It was powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs which delivered 650 hp of power and drove a two-bladed propeller and had a radiator protruding in the lower part of the nose.

A total of 51 machines were completed between September 1933 (when the type entered mass production) and January 1935 (when the type was discontinued in favour of more modern types such as the Les Mureaux 115) at Atelier des Mureaux, in the town of Les Mureaux which was later nationalised as part of the SNCAN complex. 

Additionally, a night-fighter version was built (which we already covered it some years ago) named Les Mureaux 114 CN.2, but it never went beyond the prototype stage and some of them were fitted with small underwing searchlights. 

It entered service with the Armée de l'Air's reconnaissance Groupes (a unit existing only in the French Air Force) and, eventually replacing the venerable Potez 25 in the Groupe Aériens Régionaux reserve units. When the World War 2 began in September 1939, the ANF 113 was limited to frontline recon operations but as outdated as they were, they were promptly scrapped or suited to the night-recon role.

Sources:

1. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other1/mureaux113.html (translated)

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux_113

3. https://www.valka.cz/ANF-Les-Mureaux-113-R-2-t42736

Morane-Saulnier M.S.405

The Morane-Saulnier M.S.405 was developed to a requirement of a French fighter specification made by the French Air Ministry in July 1934. Even if it was a monoplane, it was in many other ways an outdated design. While Messerschmitt and Supermarine were using all-metal stressed skin constructions, with the metal surface of the fuselage provided structural strength, Morane-Saulnier built their aircraft using technology employed in previous biplanes. Structural strength was provided by a series of bulkheads connected by aluminium tubes, connected by wire-braced struts. The aircraft was skinned with Plymax , which was a composite material made of both plywood and aluminium. Thanks to that skin method the aircraft resembled the Hawker Hurricane, which was built using similar methods.
It was armed with just three guns, one 20mm Hispano-Suiza H.S.404 firing through the propeller's hub and two 7,5mm MAC 1934 machine guns in the wings, quite underarmed for 1939-1940.
The first prototype flew for the first time on 8th August 1935 and was powered by an Hispano-Suiza 12Ygrs engine which yielded 824 hp of power for take-off and 848 hp at 4000 m (13123 ft) high. It had a top speed of 480 km/h (298 mph) at 4000 m (13120 ft) high. It was a nice top speed for the year 1935, however, it would take up to three years of development. The second prototype didn't appear until January 1937 and was powered by an improved Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs engine. This second prototype showed promising results and on 1st March 1937, the French placed a pre-production order of 16 models.
The first of the pre-production aircraft, flew for the first time on 3rd February 1938 at Centre d'Essais de Materiel Aérien (CEMA). The No.2 was sent to Reims for operational testing, after which, it was decided to change the engine again. This time a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 would be fitted and thus the first prototype for the M.S.406 was built, which was the one that entered mass-production. The first production order for the M.S.406 was placed in April 1938 and in May the M.S.405 flew with a new engine.
Three of the pre-production M.S.405 were used for experiments which resulted in new designations, like the No.3 which had fuel tanks placed in the wings to make space to fit a dummy parachutist. This experimental aircraft was called Morane-Saulnier M.S.407L.P.
The No.12 was fitted with a Hispano-Suiza 12Y-45 engine and became the prototype for the Morane-Saulnier M.S.411 (which was also a development of a previous M.S.410 variant). It flew for the first time on 24th January 1939 and it had a fixed-radiator (while the ones equipped with the 12Y-31 had a retractable one.
The No.13 had the same fixed radiator as the No.12 but included compartments in the wings for flares. It was given the designation of Morane-Saulnier M.S.408. This aircraft became the prototype for the Swiss-produced variant D-3800.
Apparently some M.S.405 were used during the Phony War and the German Invasion of France mixed with the more advanced M.S.406. However by that time there were so few of them that most of them were used testbeds for other types of engines as we've shown.

Sources:
1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_MS405.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_M.S.406#M.S.405
3. https://www.valka.cz/Morane-Saulnier-MS-405-C-1-t71689
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 180 - French Fighters of World War II in Action
5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
6. AJ Press - Monografie Lotnicze - Morane-Saulnier M.S.406

Morane-Saulnier Ms.225/226/226bis/227

The Morane-Saulnier Ms.225 family was a French fighter aircraft of the early-to-mid 1930s. It was a parasol monoplane with a fixed landing gear and powered by a single Gnome-Rhône 9Krsd nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine which yielded 493hp of power and drove a two-bladed propeller. It was armed with two fixed forward-firing 0.303in (7,7mm) Vickers Mk.I mounted on the fuselage.
Just by having a circular fuselage, it was already more robust than its inmediate predecessor, Morane-Saulnier Ms.224.
Initially it was conceived as an interim, before more advanced aircraft types were available. The Ms.225 flew for the first in model form at the Paris Air Show in 1932 and, after the prototype flew successfully, series production started at once.
It was classified in the C.1 (single-seat fighter) category by the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) and only a total of 75 exemplars were manufactured by Aeroplane Morane-Saulnier, in Puteaux, France. The first ones rolled out of the factory in November 1933 with 53 of them being delivered to the Armée de l'Air and the Aéronavale (French Navy's Naval Arm) received 16 of them in February 1934. Three of them were sold to China in an attempt to export the type. They were delivered to a Chinese warlord and, when defeated, the three fighters were also destroyed to prevent them to be captured.
The Morane-Saulnier Ms.225 were assigned to the 7e Escadre de Chasse (7th Fighter Wing) based in Dijon and to two escadrilles (squadrons) of the 42e Escadre (42nd Wing) based in Reims. In the Aéronavale they served in the Escadrille 3C1 which was based in Marignane. This formation would be transfered to the Air Force in early 1936, forming the Groupe de Chasse II/8.
The Armée de l'Air's acrobatic squadron used modified Ms.225s with larger vertical stabilizers and the last unit to be equipped with the Ms.225 was the Flying school of Salon-de-Provence.
When the World War 2 started, only 20 Ms.225 were still in flying condition and most of them were scrapped in mid-1940.
The Morane-Saulnier Ms.226 and Ms.226bis were two regular Ms.225 fitted with an arrestor gear so it could perform carrier operations (namely, the Béarn) and powered by a Gnome-Rhône 9Kdr engine, which was an improved version of the regular 9Krsd. The Ms.226bis was a variant of the Ms.226 equipped with foldable wings, so they could be fitted into the Béarn. Two prototypes were made with fixed wings and arrestor hook and a third one with arrestor hook and foldable wings was made. However, as the Ms.226 was heavier and slower than the Ms.225 the Aéronavale considered it as obsolete and they weren't ordered into production.
The Morane-Saulnier Ms.227 was a variant powered by a different engine. It was equipped with a single Hispano-Suiza 12Xcrs inline engine which yielded 690hp of power and drove a four-bladed propeller. This new engine allowed the installation of a 20mm cannon to be fired between the cylinder banks. Just one of them was produced and it was used as test bench for the engine and for testing the cannon-engine configuration which would later be used in the Morane-Saulnier Ms.406.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_M.S.225
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/12977
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS225.html
4. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS226.html
5. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS227.html
6. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Hanriot H.220

At the Paris Aeronautical Saloon held in November 1936 the Hanriot H.220 was presented. It was a striking all-metal three-seater and twin-engined aircraft.
It had an abbreviated oval-section monocoque fuselage, a shoulder-mounted semi-cantilever wing carrying split training-edge flaps over its entire span and was powered by two 450hp Renault 12roi 12-cylinder inline engines, projecting ahead of the fuselage nose.
The H.220 was designed around a C3 requirement issued by the Service Technique de l'Aeronautique (Technical Service of the Air Force) in October 1934. The contenders for that requirement were the Breguet 690 (which won the contract), the Potez 630, the Loire-Nieuport 20 and the Romano 110.
Soon became obvious that the aircraft would've been underpowered, so Hanriot chose to replace the Renault engines with two 680hp Gnome-Rhône 14M 14-cylinder radial engines and, with those engines installed, it made its maiden flight on 21st September 1937 at Avord, in France.
It was intended to be armed with two forward-firing 20mm cannons and two aft-firing 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns on a flexible mount but, no armament was mounted at all. On 17th February 1938 the prototype made a forced landing after losing the starboard propeller, following a failure in the reduction gearbox. The poor stability clearly showed during testing, combined with inadequate internal capacity and the lack of sturdiness forced a major redesign of the aircraft, resulting in the H.220-2 which, after Hanriot was nationalized, it became the SNCAC NC-600.

Sources:
1. http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/hanriot_h-220.php
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCAC_NC-600
3. https://www.aviafrance.com/hanriot-h-220-aviation-france-50.htm (translated)

Morane-Saulnier MS.325

This is our last post until we come back from our well earned rest, son don't expect us for the next two weeks.
In the year 1930, when the French light weight fighter programme named legier Chase or Plan Caquot was judged a failure, the Service Technique de l'Aeronautique (Technical Aeronautical Service) issued a requirement for a C1 (monoplane de chasse - single-seat fighter) fighter, requirement which was upgraded shortly later on 26th January 1931.
The requirement called for a single-seat fighter powered by a supercharged engine with a cylinder capacity of between 26 and 30 l (1586.62 and 1830.71 cu in). Eventually no more than 10 designs and 12 prototypes were submitted, all of them designed around the 26 l (1586.62 cu in) Hispano-Suiza 12xbrs engine which yielded 650hp of power at 4500m (14800ft) high which had proven to be reliable and offered a relatively small frontal area. The Morane-Saulnier submissions included the Morane-Saulnier M.S. 275 which had the traditional parasol wing that was so typical of the firm. With the M.S. 325, however, a more innovative layout with a low-wing duraluminium-skinned all-metal configuration was chosen.
The M.S. 325 was somewhat modest in its configuration as it still featured an open cockpit with tail surfaces being, at the original sketches, fabric covered. The landing gear was fixed and the main wings were braced by two-spar exterior struts. The wings had two jettisonable internal fuel tanks placed at the root, with a pair of 7.7mm (0.303in) Châtellerault machine guns mounted above each of the widely spaced landing gear legs. One unusual feature was that the starboard wing had greater incidence than that of the port one to counter torque force and the engine was also very slightly canted to port to counter the resultant yaw.
The first prototype was flown for the first time at the hands of the company Chief Test Pilot Michael Détroyat in 1933 from the proving grounds of the factory in Vèlizy-Villacoublay. The first results weren't satisfactory as tail buffering was encountered which required the addition of wing root fairings and lowering the tailplane.
Tests continued and it still suffered from handling problems so, when compared to other competitors, the M.S. 325 was relegated to an "also-ran" status and the Dewoitine D.500 was chosen.
A developed variant with a Hispano-Suiza 12Xers engine and a 20mm (0.787in) firing through the propeller's hub was proposed, but the design was eventually abandoned as the Morane-Saulnier M.S. 405 was already showing good results with only partial performance tests completed.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_M.S.325
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

SNCAC NC.600

In October 1934 the French Service Technique de l'Aeronautique (Technical Aeronautical Service) which was dependant of the Air Ministry, issued a requirement for a three-seated fighter. The contenders were Hanriot with its H.220 design, Potez with their 630 design, Breguet with their 690 design and Romano with their R-110 design. The H.220 was a twin-engined monoplane made entirely out of metal. The fuselage was a short, oval-section monocoque which accommodated the crew of three in tandem enclosed cockpits. Shoulder mounted wings were braced by a single short strut on each side and was equipped with full span trailing edge flaps and splits ailerons. It was going to be armed with two fixed forward firing 20mm cannons and two defensive machine-guns in the rear cockpit.
The prototype, which never flew, was fitted at first with two 450hp Renault 12Roi air-cooled V12 engines and was exhibited at the 1936 Paris Air Show.
The prototype was re-engined with two 680hp Gnome-Rhône 14M Radial engines just before flying for the first time in Avord, at the Val-de-Loire region, on 21st September 1937. However, tests showed that it was dangerously unstable and many changes were made therefore to the tail surfaces to try and rectify the problems, but the prototype had to made a forced landing and was badly damaged due to an engine failure on 17th February 1938. That landing wrecked the fuselage of the H.220 and SNCAC, which was a merge of both Hanriot and Farman, following a nationalisation of the aeronautical industry in 1937 took the advantage to carry out a major redesign of the aircraft, rebuilding almost totally the prototype.
The rebuilt and redesigned prototype received the designation of H.220-2, had a new fuselage, built out of two half shells joined by a central keel, with a twin-tail replacing the conventional single-fin tail surfaces of the earlier design. The wings were left unchanged and flew on this new form for the first time on 17th March 1939.
While the redesign process was going on, an order for six aircraft was placed in 1938 for evaluation purposes under the designation of NC.600 as the design was now intended to run for a 1936 specification for a long-range fighter competing against the Potez 670 and the SNCASE SE.100. The modified prototype was exhibited at the 1939 Brussels Air Show, but the real NC.600 was an even further modified aircraft. It featured redesigned wings and tail surfaces and was now a two-seat aircraft. Now it was even more armed with four 20mm forward-firing cannons and the defensive machine guns replaced by a single flexibly mounted cannon.
The prototype of the "definitive" version flew for the first time on 15th May 1940 but it didn't attract the attention of the Armée de l'Air as other types were preferred, like the Potez 671 or the SNCASE SE.100, however, any further work was halted by the French Armistice in June 1940.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCAC_NC-600
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Amiot 150

The Amiot 150BE was an hydroplane designed to perform bombardment and reconnaissance mission (hence the BE that stands for "Bombardement Exploration"). The prototype, that was an hybrid between an Amiot 142 and 143, it had the nose turret of the 142 as well as the open dorsal turret but it was powered by the same Gnome & Rhône 14K radial engines of the Amiot 143 delivering each of them 740hp of power and it was also armed with the same MAC 1934 machine guns in the  nose, dorsal and two in the ventral posts.
The prototype flew for the first time in Cherbourg on 18th September 1937 with the single tail of the Amiot 143 and the floaters that made it, obviously, a seaplane. Due to the floaters, the maneouvrability was vastly reduced, and, looking for a way to improve it, it was decided to modify the tail and make it double. The modified twin-tailed prototype, flew for the first time on 3rd June 1939 but due to a hard landing it was heavily damaged and any further development was abandoned.

Sources:
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143 (translated)
2. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bww1/a150.html (translated)

Amiot 144

The Amiot 144 was a further development of the Amiot 143 that made its maiden flight on 18th January 1936.
The development consisted on giving the new aircraft retractable landing gear instead of the fixed one of the original Amiot 143. It had smaller wing area but with a bigger aspect ratio, by decreasing the width of the wings and they also featured wing flaps. It was armed with the usual four defensive gun points of the model, a turret (that was removed later in the prototype) in the nose, another spinal one, a ventral gun point and another one firing through the bottom part of the aircraft.
Twenty-five of them were ordered in September 1936, but the performance of the prototype was disappointing and by the end of 1936 the order was converted for 25 more Amiot 143M.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143
2. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_144.html
3. https://www.aviafrance.com/amiot-144-aviation-france-2672.htm (translated)

Amiot 141 & Amiot 142

Today we bring you two aircrafts in one post, however there aren't drawings of one of them.
The Amiot 141 was the name given to a modified Amiot 140M that was never made. The expected modifications was the cover of the nose gun position with a cupola, a modification of the bomb bay in order to conect the gondola, as in the original one the ventral gunner was isolated from the rest of the airplane because of the bomb bay and bigger gondola windows. No aircrafts were made and production continued towards Amiot 142 and Amiot 143.
The Amiot 142 was a prototype of an improved Amiot 140 that was powered by liquid-cooled engines. It featured the same stressed-skin construction as well as the distinctive shape with massive wings and a glazed gondola below the main fuselage. It was tested in 1933 and 40 aircrafts were ordered by the Armée de l'Air, on 23rd November 1933, more exactly.
Two prototypes were expected, one of them powered by liquid-cooled engines and another one powered by air-cooled engines.
The Amiot 142 was powered by two 860 Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engines. It made its maiden flight in January 1935 and was armed with five Lewis Mk.II machine guns as the French MAC 1934 was still a prototype by that year.
In the meantime, the Amiot 143 prototype, powered by air-cooled engines made also its maiden flight in August 1934, but the Armèe de l'Air decided to cancel the order and use all liquid-cooled engines for fighter production.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143
2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143 (translated)
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_142.html

Amiot 370

The Amiot 370 was a racing aircraft piloted by the minister Pierre Cot that took part in the Istres-Damascus-Paris air race, that it wasn't allowed to register as it wasn't ready at the time.
However, that aircraft beated many world records on 8th February 1938 when it was able to fly at a speed of 437 km/h for 2000km, at 401km/h for 5000km on 8th June and at 301km/h for 10000km on 15th August. It was powered by two Hispano-Suiza 12Yirs/12Yjrs engines delivering each of them 860hp of power.
It was piloted by Rossi-Vigroux and Rossi Emont with J.Calvy, Girodin, Perpère and Y.Maurice as engineers.
It was also this aircraft that took part in the quick flight Marseille-Djibouti on 26th and 27th July 1941 piloted by Gaston Durmon.
It was present at Tolouse when it was liberated but, when Amiot was nationalized, it was scrapped by order of the minister Charles Tillon.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_354
2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_354 (translated)

Amiot 140M

Today we bring you two airplanes, though of the first one we don't have any pic as we couldn't find a pic of a Lorraine 18G Orion W-18 engine.
The Amiot 140 was the precursor of the Amiot 143 and was a twin engined that was going to be powered by two of the aforementioned Lorraine 18G Orion W-18 engines delivering an expected power of 691hp each. It was the most direct response to Armée de l'Air's requeriment but due to the obsolescence of the Lorraine engines for the year 1931 (the order was from 1928) the prototype was finished equipped with two Hispano-Suiza 12Nbr inline engines that delivered less theoretical power (650hp) but they were more reliable.
The finished Amiot 140 was renamed as the Amiot 140M (that letter M standing for Modifié - modificated). It was an stressed-skin bomber that won the contest competing against other French aircraft manufacturer firms like Dewoitine.
It has been regarded as one of the ugliest airplanes ever built with a rectangular fuselage, a large and thick wing, awkward looking nose, a large glazed gondola below the superstructure and was armed with three Lewis Mk.II machine guns (as the first indigenous French aircraft machine gun, the 7.5mm MAC wouldn't appear until three years later, in 1934) one in an open cockpit, another spinal one in another open cockpit and both were able of rotating 180º and a last one inside the superstructure facing the tail, below the wings. This last post was completely isolated from the rest of the airplane as it was placed just behind the bomb bay.
It performed well for the Armèe de l'Air and flew for the first time on 12th April 1931. It was tested at the CEMA (Centre d'Essais de Matériels Aériens - Air Material Research Centre) in the French city of Villacoublay and took part on some night maneouvres in July 1933 where some defects were detected and noted in order to be solved in the next model that would've been the Amiot 141.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143
2. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_140.html
3. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 189 - French Bombers of World War II in Action

Amiot 340

The Amiot 340 was a three-seated double-engined bomber that was based on the Amiot 341 mail plane. The prototype took part in a flight to Berlin in August 1938 to make Germany think that France had already modern bombers. It made its maiden flight on 6th December 1937 and was powered by two 920hp Gnome-Rhône 14P air-cooled radial engines. One-hundred thirty machines were ordered, but due to modifications in the orders, September 1939 arrived and not a single aircraft had been delivered. As the French Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) urgently needed a modern bomber, the prototype was sent back to Amiot's main factory in order to be modified into the Amiot 351, which was the basis for the Amiot 354.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_354
2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_354 (translated)
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_340.html
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action  - French Bombers of World War II in Action