Type of aircraft From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Morane-Saulnier MS.230 aircraft was the main elementary trainer for the FrenchArmée de l'Air throughout the 1930s. Almost all French pilots flying for the Armée de l'Air at the outbreak of World War II had had their earliest flight training in this machine. It was the equivalent of the Stearman trainer in the United States air services and the de Havilland Tiger Moth in the BritishRoyal Air Force.
The MS.230 was designed to meet French Air Ministry requirements.[1] It was a parasol wing monoplane with a metal structure covered with fabric except for the forward fuselage, which was metal covered. The instructor and pupil occupied tandem cockpits. It had a wide-track fixed landing gear that made it very stable in takeoff and landing. The MS.230 differed from other trainers of the time, which were mostly biplanes.
It first flew in February 1929 and proved to be an excellent and stable machine which was very easy to fly.
It saw service with military flight schools throughout France and was exported to the air forces of numerous other countries. It also became a popular aircraft for sporting aviation. An example won the Michelin Cup in 1929.[2]
Numbers of MS.230s survived for many years after the war and became civilian trainers and civilian flying club aircraft. One was used in 1967 to act as camera-ship for air-to-air filming of Darling Lili at Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland. Examples are preserved on display in museums in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Spain and the United States of America.[3]
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.
Ketley, Barry, and Rolfe, Mark. Luftwaffe Fledglings 1935–1945: Luftwaffe Training Units and their Aircraft (Aldershot, GB: Hikoki Publications, 1996), p.11.
Grey, C.G.; Bridgman, Leonard, eds. (1937). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1937. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. p.146c–147c.
Mombeek, Eric (May 2001). "Les trésors de Cazaux" [The Treasures of Cazaux]. Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (98): 44–47. ISSN1243-8650.
Donald, David (1997). The encyclopedia of world aircraft: Morane-Saulnier MS.230 series (Updateded.). Ottawa: Prospero Books. p.664. ISBN9781856053754.
Lacaze, Henri & Lherbert, Claude (2013). Morane Saulnier: ses avions, ses projets[Morane Saulnier: Their Aircraft and Projects] (in French). Outreau, France: Lela Presse. ISBN978-2-914017-70-1.
Ogden, Bob (2006). Aviation Museums and Collections of Mainland Europe. Tonbridge, Kent: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN0-85130-375-7.