The Morane-Saulnier M.S.325 was a

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

built by Morane-Saulnier in 1933 to meet the requirements of 1930 fighter aircraft specification. The design was unsuccessful and was abandoned in 1934.

Design and development

In 1930, when the Jockey ''legier Chasse'', or ''Plan Caquot'' light weight fighter program was judged a failure, the Service Technique de l' Aeronautique issued the C1 (monoplace de chasse) requirement. C1 (upgraded on 26 January 1931) called for a single-seat fighter powered by a supercharged engine with a cylinder capacity of between . Ultimately no fewer than 10 designs and 12 prototypes were offered, all designed around the Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs developing at , with proven reliability and a relatively small frontal area. The Morane-Saulnier submissions included the M.S.275 which retained the classic parasol monoplane configuration of preceding Morane-Saulnier fighters. In the more innovative M.S.325, a low wing,

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

-skinned all-metal configuration was employed. The M.S.325 was relatively modest in its concept still featuring an open cockpit (originally the tail surfaces were fabric covered) and fixed-gear with the semi-elliptical two-spar wings braced by exterior struts. The wings had two jettisonable wing root fuel tanks with a pair of Châtellerault machine guns mounted one above each of the widely spaced landing gear legs. More unusual was that the incidence of the starboard wing greater than that of the port wing to counter torque; the engine was also canted slightly to port to counter the resultant yaw.

Operational history

M.S.325 C3 No. 01 (Works no. 4120) was flown for the first time by company Chief Test Pilot Michael Détroyat early in 1933 from the factory site at Villacoublay. The first test results were not satisfactory as tail buffeting was encountered leading to modifications that included lowering the tailplane and adding wing root fairings. Although testing proceeded, the M.S.325 continued to be hampered by handling problems. In measuring up to other C1 competitors, the M.S.325 was relegated to an "also-ran" status and the

Dewoitine D.500 The Dewoitine D.500 was an all-metal, open- cockpit, fixed- undercarriage monoplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by French aircraft manufacturer Dewoitine. Developed from a specification issued by the French Air Ministry during 1930 ...

became the chosen design. Development based around a Hispano-Suiza 12Xers engine with a cannon was proposed but eventually, the M.S.325 design was abandoned in favour of the more promising M.S.405 C.1 with only partial performance tests completed.

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications (M.S.325)

References

Further reading