Morane-Saulnier G. Part Three. More users

 

The Morane-Saulnier G was a French two-seat racing and sport aircraft that was produced before the outbreak of World War I. It was employed by various countries, among them, the following ones:

• Ottoman Empire: The Ottoman Empire ordered 40 Type G just before the beginning of the war. They were never delivered. However, that wasn't an impediment for us to draw an hypothetical-looking airplane.
• Switzerland: One Type G was obtained by the Sweizerische Fliegertruppe (Swiss Army Air Corps) in 1914. It was given the serial number 24 and was employed to train pilots in aerial combat. It served in that role until 1919 and was eventually scrapped in the 1930s.
• Spain: Three Type G were bought by the Spanish Count of Artal in 1913. He donated the machines to the Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautics) where they were found to be lighter and more maneuverable than the Nieuport IV which was in service before. Two Type Gs were assigned to Escuadrilla de Tetuán (Tetuán Squadron) which were used to support the Spanish military presence in Northern Morocco. They were later assigned to Escuela Nacional de Aviación (National Aviation School) in Getafe, close to Madrid, where they served until September 1919.
• Sweden: Thulins Aeroplansfabrik produced a total of three copies of the Type G under license in Stockholm. Two were made for the Danish Army Air Service and a third one was delivered to the Flygkompaniet (Swedish Army Aviation Service) where it was given the serial 5, though it was later changed to 405.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_G

2. Flying Machines Press -  French Aircraft of the First World War

3. https://aeropinakes.com/wordpress/1913/02/10/el-regalo-del-conde-de-artal/ (translated)

Barrón W

Given that most of the visits we receive on this blog come from Spain (maybe it's somehow related to where the blog is hosted), we decided to get some info, some good English-Spanish dictionaries in order to get some info and then, we started drawing a native Spanish airplane.

Designed by the Cuban born Spanish captain Eduardo Barrón, who based this design on the Lohner 'Pfeilflieger' or Lohner B.I (the first aircraft unit he commanded back in 1913, in Tétouan -Spanish Morocco-). His first design was the 'Flecha' (Arrow) dating back from 1915 which was a modified Lohner B.I. which served as the platform for this one which entered service in 1917 and was, basically a modified B.I powered by a Hispano-Suiza 8A engine. It featured also some other features like independent seats for pilot (who sat at the back) and the observer.

This airplane could reach altitudes of 4750m ,which, back then set a new record in Spain as not any Spaniard had reached such high. However, as it entered in service very late (in 1917) there were far better airplanes which were also affordable and that's how it was replaced by the better Breguet XIV which arrived in Spanish soil in 1919. Because of that, no more than 12 units were manufactured and was quickly retired from active service. The only armed conflict were they saw some action was during the tumultuous period previous to the Rif War and they served from the Tétouan and Zelouan aerodromes where, given the hazards of the climate, they didn't perform well as they weren't adapted to 'tropical' climates.

We also decided to let the imagination flow for a little and thought about possible countries that could have existed back during the 1910s and could have bought this airplane and that's why we decided to draw also a fictional Moroccan profile.

Technical Data:

Wingspan: 14m

Height: 3,5m

Length: 8m

Wing Area: 40 square meters

Empty Weight: 650Kg.

Total Weight: 1150Kg

Wing Load: 28,8 Kg per square meter

Engine: Hispano-Suiza 8A (140HP)

Max. Speed: 130Km/h

Climbing Speed: 1000m in 5 minutes.

SPAD S.VII - Fourth entry, foreign users vol. 4 *UPDATED*

We keep going with our SPAD S.VII compilation, this time a little bit shorter than usual:

• Red Army/USSR: The Russian Red Army, employed them widely during the Russian civil war and Polish Soviet war and was among the very first fighters used by the Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet (the precursor of the Soviet Air Force). They were ex-Imperial units or captured ones. 
• Siam/Thailand: The Thai king Rama VI, ordered the creation of an aviation division for the Siamese army, and the very first fighter squadrons were equipped with French built SPAD and Nieuport fighters. Please note that those two profiles are somewhat 'semi-speculative' as we only could find black & white references that were often unreadable.
• Ukraine: The Ukrainian People's Republic got two ex-Russian SPADs and used them in the Polish Soviet war. They were integral part of the Ukrainian first air regiment.
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan military school of aeronautics bought some S.VII together with some S.XIII and used them as trainers but they were also part of their first fighter squadron. However we couldn't find graphical evidence on this, so the colours must be considered as speculative.
• USA: Previously used by American pilots in the famous 124th squadron (Lafayette Squadron), the S.VII was among the very first airplanes used by the USAAS (United States Army Air Service), the precursor of the USAF.
• Yugoslavia: Ex-Serbian airplanes were used as trainers in the first flying schools of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

*UPDATE: We felt that the American users were... incomplete, that's why we decided to expand the USAS users and, in order to be consequent with our own criterions, we decided to treat the Lafayette Squadron as part of the French Aéronautique Militaire (as it was in reality) and therefore take them out of this drawing, only to replace them with more USAS airplanes, but don't worry because you can find the Lafayette squadron one's here..

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**UPDATE: About the Spanish Pujol Comabella: In 1917 SPAD society granted to Pujol Comabella Society of Barcelona (which was shortly after absorved by the Hereter society) some blueprints and incomplete specifications of their best product, the S.VII fighter. The Pujol Comabella society started to make a replica of it as best as they could, getting a nice replica of the original and named as 'España'. However, given the quality of the employed materials or because the blueprints and specifications were incomplete, the performance was inferior to the original. 
That factor and the lack of need of a fighter, because up to that date the only role the Spanish Military had performed was to bomb and strafe Rifean positions in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, made the project to fail given the lack of interest. 

Neither political scenario was favourable, it was in the middle of a great political crisis and at the edge of a revolution which was easily put-down by the army without any help from the aviation, which was highly concentrated in the protectorate of Morocco. 

It is interesting to point out how, the differences. It lacks windshield, the upper nose panel is lifted and the tail has two supporting wooden bars instead of just one, probably changes suggested by the engineer Eduardo Barron who was supervising the construction of the replica. Also it's interesting to see how on the presentation model, the characteristic bird of Georges Guynemer was copied. 

Only 12 of them were built and were declared obsolete and scrapped in 1922.