Morane-Saulnier

Morane-Saulnier Rallye Minerva MS.894A, built in 1970

Morane-Saulnier MS.317

Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier is a French aircraft manufacturer formed by Raymond Saulnier(1881-1964) and the Morane Brothers Leon(1885-1918) & Robert(1886-1968) in October 1911. The company was taken over and diversified in the 1960s.

History

Morane-Saulnier's initial production was the Model A, a continuation of a monoplane design produced by the previous Morane company (sometimes called Morane-Borel) using a wing-warping mechanism for control, in which Jules Védrines won the Paris-Madrid race on May 26, 1911.

Morane-Saulnier's first commercially successful design was the Morane-Saulnier L which was used as a fighter during the early days of World War I. Morane-Saulnier worked with Roland Garros to develop a system to allow the machine guns to be mounted on the front of the aircraft, shooting through the propeller. The early models of the firing-synchronisation technology did not work well, especially considering the tendency of the ammunition of the time to hang-fire, which often resulted in the aircrafts' propellers' being shot away.

In 1915, Garros fitted additional metal wedges to his propeller to deflect the bullets that didn't synchronize properly and soon started racking up an impressive victory list.^{[citation needed]} Morane-Saulnier delivered a number of more advanced versions of its basic monoplane design, but by 1915 a new generation of biplanes was completely outperforming them. One design, however, would leave its mark after the war: the LMS Parasol was an adaptation of Morane-Saulnier's latest L model monoplane with the wing moved over the fuselage for better visibility downward.

After the war Morane-Saulnier produced a number of designs for training and general aviation, but with the start of World War II looming it once again turned to military aircraft. During the late 1920s and early 1930s it produced a number of parasol wing fighters including the M.S.230 and M.S.315, but all were of limited performance and were relegated to training duties. Moraine-Saulnier had much more success with its dramatically-modernized M.S.406, which was the Armée de l'Air's most numerous fighter at the start of the war. Unfortunately, the 406 was advanced only for its introduction in 1935 and suffered terribly against the more modern Messerschmitt Bf 109s it faced in 1940.

After the war Morane-Saulnier produced a number of trainer and civilian aircraft models, the best known of which was the successful "Rallye" series of four-seat STOL semi-aerobatic tourers (see picture above).

Morane-Saulnier was purchased by Potez on January 7, 1962 and became SEEMS, the Societe d'Exploitation des Etablissements Morane-Saulnier. In 1966 its civilian models were spun off to form SOCATA, the Societe de Construction d'Avions de Tourisme et d'Affaires, which was eventually purchased by Aerospatiale.

Morane-Saulnier designs

• Morane-Saulnier A
• Morane-Saulnier B
• Morane-Saulnier G
• Morane-Saulnier H
• Morane-Saulnier L
• Morane-Saulnier LA
• Morane-Saulnier N
• Morane-Saulnier I
• Morane-Saulnier V
• Morane-Saulnier P
• Morane-Saulnier T
• Morane-Saulnier AC
• Morane-Saulnier AF
• Morane-Saulnier AI
• Morane-Saulnier AN
• Morane-Saulnier AR
• Morane-Saulnier BB
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-30
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-43
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-50
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-53
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-121
• Morane-Saulnier MS-129
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-130
• Morane-Saulnier MS-130 Michelin Cup
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-132
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-138
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-139
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-147
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-148
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-149
• Morane-Saulnier MoS-152
• Morane-Saulnier MS-180
• Morane-Saulnier MS-181
• Morane-Saulnier MS-185
• Morane-Saulnier MS-200
• Morane-Saulnier MS-221
• Morane-Saulnier MS-222
• Morane-Saulnier MS-223
• Morane-Saulnier MS-224
• Morane-Saulnier MS-225
• Morane-Saulnier MS-226
• Morane-Saulnier MS-227
• Morane-Saulnier MS-230
• Morane-Saulnier MS-231
• Morane-Saulnier MS-232
• Morane-Saulnier MS-233
• Morane-Saulnier MS-234
• Morane-Saulnier MS-235
• Morane-Saulnier MS-236
• Morane-Saulnier MS-275
• Morane-Saulnier MS-315
• Morane-Saulnier MS-325
• Morane-Saulnier MS-340
• Morane-Saulnier MS-341
• Morane-Saulnier MS-342
• Morane-Saulnier MS-343
• Morane-Saulnier MS-345
• Morane-Saulnier MS-350
• Morane-Saulnier MS-406
• Morane-Saulnier MS-430
• Morane-Saulnier MS-435
• Morane-Saulnier MS-450
• Morane-Saulnier MS.470 Vanneau
• Morane-Saulnier MS-500 Criquet
• Morane-Saulnier MS-502
• Morane-Saulnier MS-505
• Morane-Saulnier MS-570
• Morane-Saulnier MS-571
• Morane-Saulnier MS-703 Pétrel
• Morane-Saulnier MS.730 Alcyon
• Morane-Saulnier MS-755 Fleuret
• Morane-Saulnier MS-760 Paris
• Morane-Saulnier MS-880 Rallye
• Morane-Saulnier MS-880b Rallye
• Morane-Saulnier MS-885 Super Rallye
• Morane-Saulnier MS-893E
• Morane-Saulnier MS-1500

References

• http://www.aviafrance.com/constructeur.php?ID_CONSTRUCTEUR=931