Bloch MB.150-155
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In July 1936 the M.B.150.01 prototype failed even to take-off. Redesign, abandoned for a period, was subsequently re-started and a first flight was successfully completed on 29 September 1937. The prototype had been revised with a larger wing and a 701-kW (940-hp) Gnome-Phone l4No radial.
![]() MB.152
![]() MB.152
The first fighter Groupe to equip with the MB-152 was GC I/1 at Etampes-Mondesir in July 1939. The type was subsequently withdrawn for modification and when war broke out no Bloch fighters were in escadrille service. Re-equipment got under way at the end of 1939 and by the time of the German Blitzkrieg on 10 May 1940, 140 MB-151 and 363 MB-152 had been taken on charge by the French. Some of the former were to see service with navy fighter escadrilles. By the time of the Armistice the number of MB-152 accepted had risen to 482, plus one MB-153 (with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial) and nine MB-155. The MB.155 first flew on 3 December 1939 and the MB.157 in March 1942
Nineteen more MB-155 were completed by the Vichy French. They differed from the MB-152 in detail and had increased fuel capacity. Externally the main change was in the adoption of a smooth engine cowling. The Vichy regime was allowed to retain six (out of nine) MB-152-equipped Groupes after June 1940, but only 215 MB-152 and MB-155 were on charge when the air arm was dissolved by the Germans in November 1942.
![]() MB.155
Eventually 593 were delivered. 85 before the start of WW2 and not one was operational. All lacked gunsights and most lacked propellers.
The Germans impressed 173 MB.151 and 152, passing twenty MB-152 to Romania.
Others (plus some MB-155) ended their careers as Luftwaffe trainers or used by Vichy France. Nine MB-151 of a Greek export order were delivered to that country in 1940, but there is no record of their operational use.
MB.152
MB.152
Engine: l x Gnome-Rhone 14N-25, 805 kW / 1,080 hp
Span: 10.55m (34ft 7.25 in).
Length: 9.1 m (29ft 10.25 in).
Height: 3.98 m / 13 ft 0 in
Empty weight: 2020 kg / 4453 lb
Max T/O weight: 2680 kg (5,908 lb).
Max speed: 520 kph / 320 mph at 13,125ft.
Time to 6000 m / 16,400 ft: 6 min
Service ceiling: 10,000 m / 32,800 ft
Operational range: 600 km / 373 miles.
Armament: 2x20-mm HispanoSuiza 404 cannon (60 rds) and 2x or 4x7.5-mm (0.295-in) MAC 1934 machine-guns (500 ds each)
![]() MB.152
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