The Morane-Saulnier T (or Morane-Saulnier MoS.25 A.3) was a French

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

aircraft in 1916 and produced in small numbers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Design and development

Morane-Saulnier T French First World War bomber

The Morane-Saulnier T was a large, five-bay

of conventional configuration, with unstaggered wings of equal span. The tapered rear

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

and large triangular

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, sta ...

were reminiscent of those used on

Morane-Saulnier Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier was a French aircraft manufacturing company formed in October 1911 by Raymond Saulnier (1881–1964) and the Morane brothers, Léon (1885–1918) and Robert (1886–1968). The company was taken over and diversified ...

's smaller designs but would be a constant cause of problems throughout the types operational service despite attempts to fix the problems. The

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

engines were mounted in streamlined

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attache ...

s supported by struts suspended between the wings and the propellers on the Type T were sometimes fitted with large spinners. The

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Mart ...

consisted of two main units, each of which had two wheels joined by a long axle, plus a tailskid and an auxiliary nosewheel. Three open cockpits in tandem were provided, with one gunner in the nose, and another behind the wing, while the pilot was under the top wing. Although the similar but larger Type S was designed as a bomber, the

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

ordered the type T in 1916 as a

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

. Only one example of the preceding Type S bomber had been built, while an order was placed for 90 Morane-Saulnier T aircraft, although older sources suggest that production may have been cancelled before all of these were completed.Orbis, 1981, p.2540

Operators

; * ''Aéronautique Militaire'' (no unit was equipped entirely with the MoS.T) ** Escadrille C4 ** Escadrille C11 ** Escadrille C17 ** Escadrille C30 ** Escadrille C39 ** Escadrille C47

Variants

;Morane-Saulnier T: company designation for

Le Rhône 9C The Le Rhône 9C is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by '' Société des Moteurs Le Rhône'' / Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 80 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was ...

and

Le Rhône 9J The Le Rhône 9J is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 110 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was fitted to a number of military aircraf ...

b powered versions ;MoS-25 A.3:official French government STAe designation for the T

Design and development

Operators

Variants

Specifications (Morane-Saulnier T)

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading