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24-794: Built by Morane-Saulnier , large numbers of the Type L were ordered by the French Aviation Militaire at the outbreak of the war. In total about 600 Type Ls were built and, in addition to the French air force, they served with the Royal Flying Corps , Royal Naval Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service . The type was also produced under licence in Germany by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke as

48-524: A "safety backup" in the form of braced "deflectors" (metal wedges) fitted to the rear surfaces of the propeller blades at the points where they could be struck by a bullet. Garros took his Type L fighter into combat with the deflectors in March 1915 and achieved immediate success, shooting down three German aircraft in April, a noteworthy feat at the time. The bullets that the French used were not likely to damage

72-436: A number of designs for training and general aviation , but with the threat of war in the late thirties 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. Morane-Saulnier had much more success with its dramatically modernized M.S.406 , which

96-506: 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 7 January 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

120-742: A shoulder-mounted wing produced, so the Morane-Saulnier AI was developed, in which the wing was raised above the fuselage. The AI lost out in the competition to the SPAD XIII but was built in limited numbers in case there was a problem with the SPAD; as it turned out it was the AI that suffered structural problems. In parallel to the L the Morane-Saulnier BB was developed for the RFC, which

144-757: The Deutsches Heer -flown Zeppelin LZ.37 , destroying it, the first Zeppelin to be destroyed in the air. Warneford received the Victoria Cross for this achievement. Cecil Lewis served with the RFC's Squadron Number 3 in 1916 through the Somme offensive. He flew the Type LA "Parasol" (as it was known) operationally, for over three hundred hours and was awarded the Military Cross. Most of that flying

168-770: The Morane-Saulnier H with a wire-braced welded steel tube fuselage and fitted with the Fokker Stangensteuerung synchronized gun , downed the first on July 1, 1915, followed by two similar victories on July 4 and 15. About 50 Type Ls were delivered to Britain's Royal Flying Corps , which used them as reconnaissance aircraft during 1915, with a further 25 being operated by the Royal Naval Air Service . On 7 June 1915 one of these aircraft, flown by Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald Alexander John Warneford of 1 Squadron RNAS intercepted

192-633: The École Centrale Paris , and first collaborated with Louis Blériot on the Blériot XI used for the Channel crossing. In 1911, he founded the Morane-Saulnier company with the Morane brothers , where he designed many aircraft and for which he filed numerous patents. He also designed the aircraft in which Roland Garros made the first crossing of the Mediterranean on 23 September 1913. He

216-493: The 1920s. The Type N was developed into the larger and more powerful Morane-Saulnier I and the very similar Morane-Saulnier V , but these were not successful, being too powerful and having inadequate controls. The V was then redesigned to create the Morane-Saulnier AC which substituted ailerons for wing warping and had a strut-braced wing. The AC was not particularly successful, in part because of poor field of view

240-552: The first idea of a device allowing the synchronization of the firing a machine gun through a propeller , before the developments and refinements of Fokker , to which this device is often attributed. He designed the Morane 406 , a fast fighter aircraft of the late 1930s, the MS-760 "Paris III" and the "Rallye Commodore" . Between 1945 and 1964, under his direction, Morane-Saulnier produced over 1,000 aircraft and some 30 prototypes. ('Over 80 different aircraft models emerged from

264-569: The flight lasted 2 hours 30 minutes and reached an altitude of 4,000 meters. Data from Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing. ) General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Morane-Saulnier Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier was a French aircraft manufacturing company formed in October 1911 by Raymond Saulnier and the Morane brothers , Léon and Robert. The company

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288-462: The harder steel of the wedges themselves. On 18 April 1915, Garros' deflector-equipped Type L force-landed behind German lines and was captured before he could destroy it. Three two-seat Morane Type L aircraft were also the first victims of the first German fighter aircraft. Leutnant Kurt Wintgens , flying the Parabellum machine gun -armed Fokker Eindecker M.5K/MG prototype E.5/15 , a copy of

312-419: The opposite direction. Despite this, many were used as trainers, including a great many that had their wings stripped so they couldn't fly, creating what was known as a Penguin. The Type L has the distinction of being the first fighter aircraft used during World War I when one was fitted with a machine gun firing through the propeller, which was fitted with metal plates to deflect any bullets that struck it. This

336-513: The unarmed A.I and A.II scouts (with 80 HP and 100 HP Oberursel engines respectively). About 60 were built for Bavarian air service. A few were later modified as the E.III fighters. A few Type Ls captured by Germany were fitted with a single German Spandau LMG 08 machine gun . These captured and converted aircraft are often mistaken for Pfalz E.IIIs. About 450 aircraft were licence-built in Russia by Duks and Lebed works. The Morane-Saulnier L

360-431: Was a Type P built as a biplane. Because the type 'BB' when pronounced in French sounds like Bebe (or baby), this became the type's nickname. Most of these types had no fixed fin, or horizontal stabilizer , with the result that they were not only very sensitive on the controls, but also could not even be flown hands off. One early pilot noted that if one left the aircraft to its own devices it would end up going upside down in

384-539: Was also built under licence in Sweden with some minor improvements as the Thulin D . In December 1914 the famous French aviator Roland Garros , then serving with Escadrille 23 , worked with Raymond Saulnier to create a gun synchronizer , using the gas operated Hotchkiss light machine gun . However the firing rate fluctuated too much for the synchronizer to function properly. As an interim measure, they then designed

408-438: Was chief editor of an aviation periodical, and wrote «Etude, centrage(sic) et classification des Aéroplanes», which was considered an authoritative work on aircraft. He personally managed Morane-Saulnier until 1961. In 1962, the company filed for bankruptcy before being integrated firstly into Sud-Aviation , of which it became a subsidiary, then into SOCATA (Société de Construction d'Avions de Tourisme et Affaires) . He had

432-728: Was conducted on a single airframe, RFC serial 5133. In his book "Sagittarius Rising" he recalled of the LA: Three Pfalz A.II's were used by the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to combat the growing threat of the Arab Revolt A Morane-Saulnier "Parasol" was used for the first flight by an airplane across the Andes on April 13, 1918, when the Argentine aviator Luis Candelaria flew from Zapala , Argentina, to Cunco , Chile;

456-404: Was eventually purchased by Aérospatiale . The company and Saulnier himself had a significant role in the development of the concept of synchronising machine gun fire through an aircraft's propeller. Raymond Saulnier (aircraft manufacturer) Raymond Victor Gabriel Jules Saulnier ( Paris 27 September 1881 – Chécy 4 March 1964) was a French aeronautical engineer. He was a graduate of

480-484: Was flown with success by Roland Garros , who would later be considered to be the first French Ace . A similar system was fitted to the Type N pending the arrival of other machine guns, which made the system workable. While flying his modified Type L, Garros crashed on the German side of the lines and the wreckage was examined by Fokker just prior to Fokker producing a similar system. After the war, Morane-Saulnier produced

504-491: Was modified so that its wings were mounted parasol fashion, above the fuselage to afford the observer a better view, creating the Morane-Saulnier L . The L was then fitted with a faired fuselage as on the N and ailerons to make the Morane-Saulnier LA , which was then completely redesigned (though looking very similar) to make the Morane-Saulnier P which would be the basis for a whole family of aircraft developed in

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528-552: Was taken over and diversified in the 1960s. Morane-Saulnier's first product was the Morane-Borel monoplane , a development of a monoplane design produced by the Morane company (sometimes called Type A) in partnership with Gabriel Borel). Using a wing-warping mechanism for control, this was the type in which Jules Védrines won the Paris-Madrid race on 26 May 1911. Morane-Saulnier's first commercially successful design

552-659: Was the French Air Force 's most numerous fighter at the start of the war. The 406 was advanced only at the time of its introduction in 1935, and suffered terribly against the more modern Messerschmitt Bf 109s it faced in 1940. During World War II, Morane-Saulnier was operated under German control and built a number of German types including the Fieseler Storch , known after the war as the Morane-Saulnier MS.500 Criquet. Morane-Saulnier also produced

576-417: Was the Morane-Saulnier G , a wire-braced shoulder-wing monoplane with wing warping. This led to the development of a series of aircraft and was very successful in racing and setting records. The Type G was a 2-seater, and was reduced slightly in size to produce the Morane-Saulnier H , a single-seater, and was given a faired fuselage to produce the Morane-Saulnier N single-seat fighter. The Morane-Saulnier H

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