Topic: Warbirds of WWII Part Four: Moraine MS 406

[Chris SI]

The French Morane-Saulnier MS 406 fighter aircraft equipped the Armee de I'Air at the outbreak of the Second World War. The derivative of the MS 405 prototype built in 1935, the MS 406 was a low-wing monoplane of similar somewhat foreshortened appearance. In February 1938 the MS 405 began production and in January 1939 the first production MS 406 appeared, differing little from it. By June 1940 the Armee de I'Air had received 1,081 of the latter type, and 17 MS 405's, although slowness in production of the engines had prevented more from reaching the squadrons. At the beginning of the war four Escadres de Chasse with three Groups of 25 MS 406's each were operational; indeed, the majority of French fighters were of this type since the faster Dewoitine D 520 fighters had not reached squadrons in any number.

Constructed primarily of metal, the MS 406 had a fabric covered rear fuselage and was powered by a Hispano Suiza 12Y-31 850 hp 12-cylinder inline engine which gave it a maximum speed of 305 mph (488 kph) at 16,500 ft (5029 m). The squat design had a powerful appearance which its performance belied, since it was inferior in speed to the opponents it was to meet in the skies over France in 1940. The tail-plane was braced and a tail-skid was fitted, while the main undercarriage retracted inwards. The 406's armament consisted of one Hispano Suiza HS-9 20-mm cannon firing through the propeller boss and a drum-fed 7.5-mm MAC 1934 machine-gun mounted in each wing. A move was made to modify all MS 406's by fitting quadruple 7.5-mm machine-guns, but France capitulated before this could be completed.

Construction of the 406 was subcontracted and many export orders had been obtained by 1939. The Swiss licence-built a night-fighter variant, and the Finns received their quota before the Battle of. France prevented other orders for Turkey and Poland from being delivered. Following the German occupation, captured MS 406 aircraft were given to the Croatian Air Force and to the Finns, who fitted captured Russian Klimov engines.

Specifications:
Span-. 35ft 1 in (10.6m)
Length: 26ft 10in (8.2m)
Gross weight : 5,445lbs
Maximum speed: 305 mph (488 kph)
Range: 497 miles (785km!
Ceiling 32,300ft 19,753 m).

[Brush Wolf]

An interesting bird although it was somewhat underpowered at 850 HP and another 250 would have made a big difference. Another good write up Chris although I do have to ding you for one minor error, the Hispano Suiza 12Y-31 was a V12 not an inline engine. It must have been a fairly capable aircraft except for the low top speed since the Finn's were not a people to waste their limited military budget on an inferior aircraft.

[Chris SI]

Its not inline? It looks like it was, have to check it out.

[Byzantine]

That is a mighty long 'hood' on that plane but...  About the only place I have ever heard of an I12 or more is in diesel land.

This might clear it up a bit, a powerplant description for a P40:
ONE ALLISON V-1710-39 12 CYLINDER V LIQUID COOLED IN LINE ENGINE

An In-line V?  WTF?

For us automotive types radial has never been an issue so we see a clear distinction between V and I.  For combat aircraft of WWII there was the Radial and the V (maybe some opposed?).  In-lines might have been used in some scout and spotter planes but I doubt any powerful enough existed to be used in combat aircraft.  Maybe in-line came to be understood as anything not radial? 

The Hispano-Suiza 12Y:
The 12Y was fairly traditional in construction, a 36-litre water-cooled V-12 with two cast aluminium cylinder banks set at 60 degrees to each other.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hispano-Suiza%2012Y

Also used in the Dewoitine D.520
http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/dewoitine_d_520
A fine 'what might have been' scenario for the French.

[Chris SI]

I'm not exactly sure what you are saying, piston engines in WWII come in two, AND ONLY two types, Inline and radial.

An inline engine is a piston engine that has its pistons arranged in cylinders in rows, in a line. This is as opposed to the radial engine, where the pistons are placed in individual cylinders, arranged like the spokes of a wheel around the central crankshaft.

These are the only two types, and the are not like automobile engines, they are far larger and more powerful, and weigh a LOT more.

A check on the Moraine's powerplant shows it is indeed an inline engine. If you fellows would like some more info on aircraft engines, you can read about them here:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/List%20of%20aircraft%20engines

[Byzantine]

Hi Chris,

It happens fairly frequently.  A certain discipline will use words that have a common meaning outside of that discipline and 'adjust' those words to have another meaning inside that discipline.  It happens often enough that I think there is a name for this phenomenon but I don't remember.

Combat aircraft engines are larger than automotive engines but small aircraft engines are not.  The opposed 4 from Subaru is based on a very successful Japanese small aircraft motor.  And true in-line 4s and 6s have been used.

Piston engines were used in automotive application first and many more people own cars than aircraft.  Automotive nomenclature is much more familiar to most of us than A&P nomenclature might be.  If you take a poll of people in N America I suspect you will find more who are familiar with these definitions:
V = motor with pistons arranged in two rows meeting at an angle.
In-line (or Straight) = motor with all pistons in a single row.
Opposed = motor with pistons in two rows meeting at 180 degrees.
Radial = motor with pistons arranged in a circle around the crank.

What I meant to imply in last post but did not say clearly enough:
Chris SI, you are completely correct in calling the Hispano an in-line from an A&P mechanics standpoint.  But that might not be commonly understood usage out here.

[Clark Kent]

Byzantine,
The terms Chris is talking about stem back to WWI when the first warplanes were being pressed into service.  In line refers to being arranged in such a way that it allows the angine to "cut" through the air.  The inline engines come in various subtypes like you describe, but eventually it comes down to the overall form of the engine and its cowl.
In-line examples come to more of a point, often, and are somewhat rectangular in design whereas radial can be seen because of the round or oval opening in the cowl that is anything BUT aerodynamic.

[Byzantine]

Byzantine,
The terms Chris is talking about stem back to WWI when the first warplanes were being pressed into service.  In line refers to being arranged in such a way that it allows the engine to "cut" through the air.  The inline engines come in various subtypes like you describe, but eventually it comes down to the overall form of the engine and its cowl.
In-line examples come to more of a point, often, and are somewhat rectangular in design whereas radial can be seen because of the round or oval opening in the cowl that is anything BUT aerodynamic.

Yes! Yes! I agree!  And I said Chris is correct.

But my point is that is not common usage terminology outside of aircraft knowledgeable people.  And aircraft knowledgeable people would be what 5% or less of the US public?  And other engine knowledgeable people would be maybe 30%?  So in this instance you can mostly expect that specific bit of motor related aircraft terminology to be misunderstood by most everyone else.

There are only so many words available so I have to accept that specialised disciplines will redefine common terms for their own use.  But do not bring those redefined words back out to the world they came from and expect them to be understood the same.

Drat!  I am sorry Chris.  This looks too much like a hijacking.  I very much enjoy these aircraft posts and look forward to the next.  Are you going to have anything on the Dewoitine D.520 or was it too small to count?

[Clark Kent]

Sorry Byz, I misread your post, didn't mean to hit you with a double slam.

[Byzantine]

Sorry Byz, I misread your post, didn't mean to hit you with a double slam.

It all good CK.  I find that I am frequently misunderstood - enough so that I attribute it to poor communication skills on my part.  So I hang out here and practice on all of you!   In other words - Thanks for the Feedback!

[Chris SI]

Are you going to have anything on the Dewoitine D.520 or was it too small to count?

Yes, the intention is to cover all the combat aircraft of WWII.

The MS was done first because it was more important at first than the far superior Dewotine fighter.

Don't worry about discussing engines guys, I'm NOT a car buff, so I have no frame of reference as to automobile engines, only aircraft engines.