Morane-Saulnier MS.230

MS.230
Role Elementary Trainer
Manufacturer Morane-Saulnier
First flight February 1929[1]
Primary user Armée de l'Air Flight School, Reims, France
Number built 1000+[1]

The Morane-Saulnier MS.230 aircraft was the main elementary trainer for the French Armée de l'Air throughout the 1930s. In fact, 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 British Royal Air Force.

Contents

Development and design

The MS.230 was designed to meet French Air Ministry requirements.[1] It first flew in February 1929 and proved to be an excellent and stable machine which was very easy to fly. It was placed into service in military flight schools throughout France and was exported abroad to the air forces of numerous other countries. It also became a popular aircraft for sport aviation. The MS.230 was of metal tubular framing with fabric covering throughout, except the forward area of the fuselage, which was metal covered. It had a wide fixed landing gear that made it very stable in takeoff and landing. Unlike other trainers of the time (which were mostly biplanes), the MS.230 was a high parasol wing monoplane. It did have the usual tandem cockpit arrangement in the fuselage for the instructor and pupil. Numbers of MS.230s survived for many years after the war and became civilian trainers and civilian flying club aircraft.

Popular Culture

An 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.

Variants

Source:[2]

Operators

 Belgium
 Brazil
 Czechoslovakia (as C23)
 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Portugal
 Romania
 Spain

Specifications

Data from Holmes, 2005. p. 97.

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

None

References

  1. ^ a b c Holmes, 2005. p. 97.
  2. ^ Donald, 1997. p. 664.
  3. ^ Ketley, Barry, and Rolfe, Mark. Luftwaffe Fledglings 1935-1945: Luftwaffe Training Units and their Aircraft (Aldershot, GB: Hikoki Publications, 1996), p.11.

External links

Bibliography