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Morane-Saulnier MS.410

1939 WORLD WAR 2

History

In May/June 1940, there was a lot going on behind the scenes as France struggled for survival under the pressure of the German war machine. In the years leading up to the war, numerous programs were carried out to strengthen the French military in the region and abroad, one product of this period was the "MS.406" - a state-of-the-art stand-alone developed by aircraft A single-engine monoplane fighter designed by Morane-Saulnier. The model made its first flight (as the prototype "MS.

405") on August 8, 1935, and mass production began in 1938 - just in time for the war.

The aircraft has a stylish design for the times: the nose contains a swivel that blends perfectly with the smooth edges of the hood and fuselage. The cockpit sits with the pilot under the framed canopy amidships. The main plane is also located near the midship and has a rectilinear design with a rounded tip.

The tail uses a tapered vertical tail to accommodate low-mounted horizontal aircraft. The landing gear in trailing form is retractable.

Further development developed MS. 406 was upgraded to "MS.410", this one is MS. In 1939, the 406 series had just arrived in French fighter squadrons. Proposed changes to the original aircraft include stronger wings and larger internal volume to add another pair of drum-mounted 7.5mm MAC-1934 machine guns - armament as a 1 x 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS. The 404 automatic cannon is fired through the propeller hub, with 4 x 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns mounted on the wings.

The retractable radiator of the original MS. 406 has been removed in favor of simpler, fixed rules. Exhaust "injectors" were also added to convert some of the engine's by-products into extra thrust for better straight-line performance.

Better armed, more powerful and faster than its predecessor MS. 410 seems to be the next logical step in the development of a promising MS. 406 in total.

However, when the Battle of France turned against the defenders, the fortunes of the new warriors changed. By the time France surrendered in June 1940, about 150 new wings had been completed, with only 5 MS. The 410s are even done.

With the Germans under control, many aviation projects were abandoned, but some were allowed to continue under the new masters - mainly to meet the continuing need for newly conquered territories or to support German allies.

Hence, MS. 410 Modernization program launched and some existing MS. 406 fighters were equipped with new quad-gun wings. For the sake of simplicity, the exhaust was completely excluded, and only a few were fitted with a simpler radiator arrangement.

Which lady. The 410 completed were either kept on site or shipped to ally Finland in 1941 (11 in total) for use against the Soviet Union. Croatia became the only other known recipient of this particular variant of the fighter design.