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The 'Bloch M.B.220' was a French twin-engined passenger transport built by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch.

Contents

Design and development

Service

Variants

Operators

Specifications (M.B.220)

References

External links

Related content

Design and development

The French equivalent of the Douglas DC-2, the 'M.B.220' was an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane. It was powered by two Gnome-Rhône radial engines and had a retractable landing gear. Normal crew was four with room for 16 passengers, with eight seats each side of a central aisle. The prototype first flew in December 1935, and was followed by 16 production aircraft. At least five examples survived the war and were modified as the 'M.B.221' with Wright Cyclone R-1820-97 engines.

Service

By the middle of 1938 the type was being utlised by Air France on European routes. The first service of the type (between Paris and London) was flown on the 27 March 1938 with a scheduled time of 1 hour 15 minutes. During the Second World War most M.B.220s were taken over as military transports, including service with German, Free French and Vichy French air forces. Air France continued to fly the aircraft (as M.B.221s) after the war on short-range European routes. It sold four aircraft in 1949 but within a year all had been withdrawn from service.

Variants

;M.B.220
:One Prototype and 16 production aircraft with Gnome-Rhône engines.
;M.B.221
:At lease 5 survivors re-engined with the Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone.

Operators

;

★ Air France

★ Free French Air Force

★ Vichy France Air Force

★ Societé Auxiliaire de Navigation Aérienne

Specifications (M.B.220)

References

★ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), , , , Orbis Publishing, ,

External links

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