Military Bloch aircraft

Eclair propellers were selected for the British Sopwith reconnaissance aircraft, the Dorand AR and, above all, the Spad, particularly the Spad VII.

The Bloch MB 130-136 family illustrates the doctrinal, technical and industrial hesitations that rippled through the French military aviation establishment before the Second World War.

Designed by Avions Marcel Bloch at Courbevoie, the aircraft made its maiden flight on 4th May 1937 at Villacoublay with André Curvale at the controls.

Two different four-engine aircraft were given this designation. The first, the MB 162 “Raid”, was a derivative of the MB 160 intended for long-distance air races. The other MB 162 was a heavy bomber designed by Henri Déplante and Lucien Servanty in response to the A20 programme for a category B5.

It was in an MB 174, a light twin-engine aircraft much appreciated by pilots for its speed and handling, that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flew in 1940.

The MB 200, an all-metal monoplane with a cantilever shoulder-set wing with a fixed landing gear and a tail wheel, made its first flight on June 26, 1933.

The Bloch MB 210, which has a family resemblance with its predecessor, the Bloch MB 200, was originally the response to a Navy requirement for a heavy torpedo bomber in 1932.

The MB 480 was all-metal float plane strongly resembled the MB 131. It was powered by two 1,060hp Gnome & Rhône 14 N02/03 engines.

Designed in response to the T3 (three-seat work) program of 1938, the MB 500 was a rustic twin-engine wooden aircraft, with an extremely streamlined forward fuselage.

Produced in the late 1930s, the MB 700 has a fully wooden structure and a Gnome & Rhône 14 M6 engine delivering 700 hp at takeoff.

The prototype MB 80 performed its first flight at the beginning of the summer 1932 at Villacoublay, piloted by Zacharie Heu.

Assisted by Henry Potez and Louis Coroller, Marcel Bloch in 1917 designed and built the two-seat SEA IV warplane.