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The Bloch MB.150 (later MB.151 to MB.157) was a French low-wing, all-metal monoplane fighter aircraft with retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit, developed by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch as a contender in the 1934 French Air Ministry competition for a new fighter design.Although the competition was won by the
Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 prototype, development proceeded culminating in the first attempted flight of the
MB.150.01 prototype in 1936. Unfortunately, the aircraft proved unable to leave the ground. With modifications consisting of a strengthened wing of greater area, revised landing gear and installation of a 701 kW (940 hp)
Gnome-Rhone 14N-0
radial engine with a three-blade
constant speed propeller, the MB.150 finally flew in October 1937.
Handed over to the
Centre d'Essais du Materiel Aerien (CEMA) for service trials, its performance proved sufficiently interesting to warrant further development. This brought, at the very beginning of 1938, a small increase in wing span and installation of a 14N-7 engine. When trials were completed in late spring 1938,
SNCASO was awarded an order for a pre-production batch of 25 aircraft.
No production of the
MB-150.01 occurred, the aircraft being unsuitable for mass production. Redesign led to the
MB.151.01 and
MB.152.01 prototypes, developed and produced in parallel. By the outbreak of
World War II, some 120 had reached the
Armée de l'Air, but few of them were flyable, most missing their
gunsights and
propellers.
The
MB.153 and
MB.154 were intended as testbeds for American engines, but only the MB.153 flew, and when it crashed a few days later as damaged beyond repair, pursuit of these alternatives also ceased. Instead, attention shifted to extending the range of the MB.152. This was achieved by moving the cockpit aft in order to make room for a new
fuel tank. Other modifications included a slightly broader wing and revised aerodynamics around the
cowling. The result, named
MB.155 performed favourably in flight tests and was ordered into production in 1940, but only 10 aircraft had been completed by the
Fall of France. Under the terms of the armistice, the remaining 25 on the production line were completed and delivered into
Vichy service. From there, some eventually made their way into the
Luftwaffe after 1942.
The final member of the family, the
MB.157 had a far more powerful engine and eventually became a very different aircraft as the design evolved from the MB.152 to accommodate the larger and heavier motor. Unfinished at the time of the armistice, it was ordered to be completed and flown under German supervision. Demonstrating superb performance, it was taken to
Orly where the powerplant was removed for testing within a
wind tunnel. The excellence in the design was confirmed. It was later destroyed in an
Allied air raid.