French Morane Saulnier MS 406 in May 1940.

The Morane MS406 comes from the C1 program of July 1934 to replace the Dewoitine D500 and Loire 46. One of the main demands is a maximum speed of 400 km / h. This program offered two categories: light fighter and average fighter with a maximum weight of 2.5 tons. The C1 program underwent two evolutions, one of which carried the maximum speed requested at 450 km / h. Among the candidates, only two were selected: the Bloch MB152 and the Morane MS405. The prototype of this last took off for its first flight on August 8, 1935 with Michel Detroyat at the controls. The aircraft underwent tests for about a year and proved to be healthy at 491 km / h.

The Air Ministry placed an official order in November 1936. The prototype, presented at the Brussels Air Show in June 1937, made a strong impression on foreign commissions, including China, Turkey and Switzerland. A first pre-series of 15 aircraft was ordered and carried out between February and June 1938. The No. 4 was equipped with a Hispano-Suiza 12Y31 860CV engine driving a Chauviere propeller: it became the prototype of the Morane MS406. In April 1937, a first order of 50 Morane MS406 was passed by the state. The production, distributed over several nationalized companies, took a long time to set up, but then accelerated rapidly. In 1939: thus ten thousand months after the first flight of the prototype, 600 machines came out of assembly lines. At the time of the Armistice of June 1940, the CRAS (Receiving Center of the Series Airplanes) received more than 1000 machines.

A first trial squadron was set up with GC II / 7 personnel. This first practical use led to various modifications: optimization of the landing gear, installation of an anti-crash pylon, ... During the declaration of war, seven of the thirteen fighter groups are equipped with Morane MS406.

During the funny war, these groups get 32 victories for the loss of 13 planes. These first commitments reveal the defects of this fighter: Unreliable weaponry: the weapons freeze at altitude. Pilot not sufficiently protected, engine too fragile, whose performance falls quickly, radio on board deficient, fragile crutch ... Faced with the BF109 D encountered during the first fighting, the Morane MS406 makes equal weapon, but the new Messerschmitt BF109E will outperform very clearly, and it will be hard to catch up with the fast German bombers.

On May 10, 1940, the Morane MS406 equips 10 of the 22 groups of fighters. Losses in units equipped with MS406 are significant, and some missions entrusted to them without great results, such as ground strafing, are particularly deadly. Thus, of the 1,098 planes built, 387 are lost, 150 of them in air combat, or shot down by the Flak (German Anti-Air Defense), for 190 sure victories and 90 confirmed, not negligible in view of the age of the machine. Due to its too limited autonomy, the Moranes will not be evacuated to North Africa. The fighter groups remained in metropolis will be quickly dissolved or reequipped in Dewoitine D520. Some Morane MS406 demobilized will be recovered by the Germans and donated to their allies like Croatia. The Moranes were still fighting in the Far East in the fighting in Thailand or Syria where they fought the Curtiss P40 and Hurricane.

At the beginning of 1940, facing the supremacy of the Messerschmitt BF109E, an improved version of the Morane MS406 was born: the MS410. This version corrected the majority of the faults of the MS406 series (see chapter version). It was planned to modify the MS406 already in service to transform them into MS410. Unfortunately, this transformation required a 3-week immobilization, which would have weakened the potential of the fighter groups engaged on the front. In the end, few cells were modified, and for the most part partially. Some specimens recovered by the Germans after the armisitice were ceded to Finland.

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