The Morane-Saulnier BB was a military observation aircraft produced in France during World War I for use by Britain's Royal Flying Corps.Taylor 1989, 684"The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft", 2538 It was a conventional single-bay biplane design with seating for the pilot and observer in tandem, open cockpits. The original order called for 150 aircraft powered by 110-hp Le Rhône 9J rotary engines, but shortages meant that most of the 94 aircraft eventually built were delivered with 80 hp Le Rhône 9C rotaries instead. A water-cooled Hispano-Suiza 8A engine was trialled as an alternative in the Type BH, but this remained experimental only. A production licence was sold to the Spanish company Compañía Española de Construcciones Aeronáuticas (CECA), which built twelve fitted with Hispano-Suiza engines in 1916.
Operational history The type equipped a number of RFC and RNAS squadrons both in its original observation role and, equipped with a forward-firing Lewis gun mounted on the top wing, as a fighter.
Variants MS.7 official French government STAe designation for the BB MS.8 official French government STAe designation for the BH BB Le Rhône 9J rotary powered variant BH Hispano-Suiza 8A V-8 powered variant CECA-MS or CECA-Saulnier designations used for BB/BH built in Spain
Operators
Royal Flying CorpsBruce 1982, p.306. No. 1 Squadron RFC No. 3 Squadron RFC No. 12 Squadron RFC No. 60 Squadron RFC Royal Naval Air Service No. 1 Squadron RNAS No. 3 Squadron RNAS No. 4 Squadron RNAS
Spanish Air Force
Imperial Russian Air Service
Specifications (BB)
Notes
References
Further reading