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. 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.

Development and design

The MS.230 was designed to meet French Air Ministry requirements.[1] The MS.230 was a parasol wing monoplane of metal tubular framing with fabric covering throughout, except the forward area of the fuselage, which was metal covered. The instructor and pupil occupied two tandem cockpits. It had a wide fixed landing gear that made it very stable in takeoff and landing. As a monoplane the MS.230 was unlike 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.

Variants

MS.230 of the Spanish Republican Air Force.

Source:[4]

MS.230 at Praha-Kbely museum

Operators

 Belgium
 Brazil
 Czechoslovakia
 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Portugal
 Romania
 Spain
  Switzerland
 United States
 Venezuela

Specifications

Data from Holmes, 2005. p. 97.

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related lists

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 Holmes, 2005. p. 97.
  2. ↑ Flight 20 June 1930, p.651
  3. ↑ Ogden, 2006, p. 28
  4. ↑ Donald, 1997. p. 664.
  5. ↑ Ketley, Barry, and Rolfe, Mark. Luftwaffe Fledglings 1935-1945: Luftwaffe Training Units and their Aircraft (Aldershot, GB: Hikoki Publications, 1996), p.11.
Bibliography
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