Produced after the Second World War, the MD 311, 312 and et 315 Flamant were hardy twin-engine planes that could adapt to various missions.
After the second world war, Marcel Dassault wished to design a prototype with a view to winning the open competition for a liaison aircraft, which the government had announced.
Indeed, Marcel Dassault’s efforts to break back into aircraft construction ran into stiff government opposition. In 1945, the Air Ministry was run by a communist minister, Charles Tillon, who believed in only giving work to national companies.
Dassault’s talks with technical staff in the ministries showed him that commercial aviation was a dead-end street. On their advice, he talked to Air Force authorities who were keen to rapidly lay hands on a liaison aircraft. They called to tender in June 1945 and Dassault jumped at the opportunity.
The project of the twin-engine BA 30 liaison aircraft designed by Bordeaux-Aéronautique during the occupation was again studied and redesigned. After examining the 3-view drawing, Marcel Dassault raised the horizontal stabilizers and asked for the fuselage nose to be extended so as to house the fore wheel. He also decided on a more powerful engine and defined the propellers. The project, now called the MB 30, was to carry two Snecma 12 S Argus engines.
The Air Ministry showed an interest, asking Marcel Dassault for a full-scale model. The aircraft and design of the aircraft had been carried out at the Corporation’s own cost and offered him three models:
On July 30, 1946, Marcel Dassault secured a contract to produce and provide two MD 30 type aircraft in two versions :
In accordance with the government’s wishes, these aircraft were to be fitted with the Lorraine Béarn engine. The two-engine MB 303 first flew at Mérignac on February 10, 1947, piloted by Georges Brian and Kostia Rozanoff, accompanied by the mechanic Jean Dillaire. By May 1947, the test program was practically complete; it was already clear that the Lorraine Béarn engines lacked power. The MB 303 was consequently abandoned in favor of the MD 315 simultaneously developed by Marcel Dassault at his own cost and equipped with Snecma 12 S Argus engine.
He secured a contract in 1946 for his MB 30 project. In accordance with the government’s wishes, these aircraft were to be fitted with the Lorraine Béarn engine.
But the Béarn did not develop the engine power expected of it. Conscious as he was that the aircraft might be underpowered, he simultaneously worked on a almost identical aircraft, the private venture MD 315, powered with Snecma 12 S Argus engines.
As it was expected the Lorraine Béarn engines lacked power and the MB 303 was consequently abandoned in favor of the MD 315, equipped with Dassault 304 propellers.
On July 6, 1947, Georges Brian, Jean Dillaire et Kostia Rozanoff took the MD 315 up for a ten-minute maiden-flight, with the undercarriage down. Constantin Rozanoff later figuratively recalled: “The plane holds better at the feet and brakes than the 303. You pull [the stick] and you’re off, then you find you’re in the air like an a.. at the end of the runway in no time at all.” Lighter than its competitors SO 94 and NC 701 Siebel thus more maneuverable and with a better climb speed, the MD 315 won.
A initial contract was signed on December 3, 1947, for 65 aircraft, followed one year later (on November 1948), by another for 230 and at the end of 1950, a further 25 for the Navy ; a total – prototypes included – of 325 aircraft. The Flamant range encompassed three models:
The State, however, insisted on farming different portions of the production process to state-run and private firms. That set-up, indeed the first such arrangement in France, involved signing distinct contracts with each provider, instead of entrusting a single organization with supervising the work and selecting the subcontractors it deems fit. This awkward arrangement raised considerable coordination issues, which the French aeronautical industry nevertheless managed to overcome. Dassault’s engineering department developed highly complex tools to stitch the components emerging off the myriad production lines together. And that triggered the boom that the company and its plants in the Bordeaux area subsequently enjoyed.
The Flamants’ robust build and multi-purpose versatility earned them increasing popularity. In mainland France, they were progressively used by GLAM (for ministerial liaisons by air), ETPBM (a school for retraining pilots to fly twin-engine aircraft in Avord), CIET (a transport crew training center in Toulouse), Salon-de-Provence Air Force Academy, and GAEL (an air liaison and flying training center in Villacoublay). Between 1949 and 1954, they were assigned to Air Force and Navy flight test centers. The first Flamants serving in Algeria were assigned to Blida air base in 1952
Outside France, four countries – Cambodia, Cameroon, Madagascar and Tunisia – use Flamants as part of French military support programs.
This aircraft served actively in the French Air Force until 1982.
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