Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 | Bob Morane | Morane-Saulnier N | Morane-Saulnier L | Morane-Saulnier | Morane "Bullet" | Morane |
There he became famous for fitting captured Russian engines to the obsolete French fighter Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, thereby creating a first rate fighter, the Mörkö-Morane ("mörkö" being Finnish roughly for "bogeyman" or "hobgoblin").
The aircraft is a 3/4 scale replica of the First World War French Morane-Saulnier L fighter, first flown by French aviator Roland Garros to shoot down an enemy aircraft with a forward-firing machine gun in March 1915.
However, naval and air defences were relatively light and/or obsolete: eight coastal batteries, two armed merchant cruisers, two sloops, five submarines, 17 Morane-Saulnier 406 fighters and 10 Potez 63 bombers.
The popularity of Bob Morane led to his subsequent appearance in a 1960 film (now lost), a television series in 1965, a computer game in 1988, a 1998 animated series, and a long-running series of graphic novels (roughly 80 books since 1959) which has featured the artwork of artists such as Dino Attanasio, Gérald Forton, William Vance and Felicísimo Coria.
A Lieutenant serving in the Third Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, on 10 May 1915 Corbett-Wilson and his observer were on a reconnaissance mission in a Morane Parasol when their aircraft was struck by an enemy shell.
/JG 53 at the outbreak of World War II, Mix claimed 3 French Morane fighters over Saargemund on 21 September 1939, and four more on 22 November 1939 over Saarbrücken.
By January 1916, Grenfell had upgraded to a Morane "Bullet", as it was the weapon he wielded in a quadruple victory on the 17th.
The equipment consisted of some 200-240 aircraft, including Curtiss Hawk 75As, Fokker D.XXIs, Morane-Saulnier MS.406s, Gloster Gladiator IIs, Curtiss P-40M, LaGG-3, Fokker C.Xs, Westland Lysanders, VL Viima IIs, VL Myrsky IIs, Blackburn Ripon IIFs, and Bristol Blenheim Mk.Is.
The E.III was test-flown against the Morane-Saulnier N and other Allied types at St. Omer before going to Upavon in Wiltshire for evaluation and finally going on museum display.
Small prototype runs started in 1939, and were fitted to the French Armée de l'Air's front-line fighter aircraft, the M.S.410 and D.520, creating the M.S.450 and D.524 respectively.
Bob Morane, a fictitious character of novelist Henri Vernes
The Type G was a 2 seater, and was reduced slightly to make the Morane-Saulnier H, a single seater, and in parallel was given a faired fuselage to make the Morane-Saulnier N single seat fighter.
This AI ended up in the Tallmantz Collection and was acquired by Fantasy of Flight's owner Kermit Weeks when he purchased the collection in 1985.
In December 1914, renowned French aviator Roland Garros, then serving with Escadrille 23, worked with Raymond Saulnier to create a gun synchronizer, around the gas operated Hotchkiss light machine gun, however the firing rate fluctuated too much, defeating efforts to get the synchronizer to function properly.
The aircraft also flew with the Aéronavale l'Escadrille 3C1, established in Marignane, this formation later transferring to the Air Force at the beginning of 1936, where it became Le Groupe de Chasse II/8.
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The M.S.225s of the Armée de l'Air served in the 7e Escadre de Chasse (7th Fighter Wing) at Dijon, and in 2 escadrilles of the 42e Escadre (42nd Wing), based at Rheims.
The only preserved aircraft of this type is at the Aviation Museum of Central Finland.
It was noted in the Villacoublay aircraft "graveyard" in 1937 and may have been sold to the Republicans at the start of the Spanish Civil War with others from that store.
A MS.230 was used at the end of the movie The Blue Max as the "new monoplane" in which Lt. Stachel is killed during a test flight.
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MS.230 - over 1,100 built; 20 bought by Romania and 25 by Greece in 1931, 9 each bought by Belgium and Brazil; main Armee de l'Air trainer for years; operated by several well-known private owners including Lynn Garrison and Louis Dolfus; some used for trials with Handley Page slats, or skis; one fitted with Lorraine 9Nb Algol Junior
A MS.341/3 and a MS.342 are in the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis collection at Czerny, though neither is on public display; one is being restored.
Initially registered F-WCZU in the experimental series, and re-registered F-PHQY in the amateur-operated series, the MS.602 was owned by Messieurs Gambi and Chanson and based at Saint-Cyr-l'École airfield to the west of Paris.
On 18 July 1956 the French government requisitioned 50 aircraft, including 14 for the Navy, from Tarbes-based manufacturer Morane-Saulnier.
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In May 1972 they were sent to the S.R.L. On 1 September 1981 this unit became Flight 57.S (this flight had been shut down at the closing of N.A.S. Port-Lyautey, Morocco on 15 January 1962).
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Argentine Air Force MS.760s were used in combat to suppress the 1963 Argentine Navy Revolt, bombing a rebel-held radio station as well as the Punta Indio naval airfield, destroying several aircraft on the ground.
British"?title=Vickers machine gun">Vickers or 7.9 mm Hotchkiss) which used the deflector wedges, first demonstrated on the Morane-Saulnier Type L, in order to fire through the propeller arc.
In 1936/7 the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques de l'Ouest opened an aircraft factory adjacent to the airfield, initially building MB.210 bombers, followed by M.S.406 fighters and LeO 45 bombers.
Now an oberleutnant, Bertram claimed his first aerial victory of World War II on 20 April 1940, when he downed a Morane 406 fighter over Saint-Avold, flown by future French ace Sgt. Chef Antoine Casenobe.
Even a general enumeration was overwhelming: seven types of Albatros; four types of Fokkers; three types of Gotha bombers; two types each of Rumpler and Caudron; plus LVG B series, Halberstadts, Pfalzes, Voisins, DeHavillands, Nieuports, a Bristol Bullet, a Farman, a Morane-Saulnier L Parasol, and a Grigorovich G.5.
Over in Dijon the "Weiser" team, consisting of 18 planes (Morane-Saulnier MS-225 and SPAD 510) gained fame for their team displays in which the planes were tied together.
Also operated from the airfield was a flying school for private pilots with several Tiger Moth trainer biplanes, an Auster high-wing monoplane and from 1960 two Morane-Saulnier-Rallye four-seater low-winged aeroplanes.