MoraneSaulnier Type N

Morane-Saulnier Type N

The Type N was a monoplane produced in France beginning in July 1914. It was supplied to Russia and the British, who dubbed it the "Bullet." It originally featured a large propeller spinner, but this was later deleted as it caused the engine to overheat. The machine gun fired through the propeller arc, but was NOT synchronized--instead, the propeller blade featured angled metal bullet deflectors to help prevent blade damage. This situation was certainly not ideal--the impact of the bullets could still destroy the prop or ricochet back at the pilot, with disastrous results.

The plane did not fare well in combat with the Fokker Eindecker, and was hard to handle for novice pilots. Only 49 were built before the Type N was replaced by better planes.

The plane burns 4.1 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel and ammo costs $8.

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Recon Fighter wings +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 82-kW HP gasoline engine with 82-kW old prop and 9-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS Body

Cargo: 8.5 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/8mm Hotchkiss [Body:F] (500 rounds).

Statistics:

Size: 22'x27'x8' Payload: 0.17 tons Lwt.: 0.49 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 162 hours Cost: $1,522

HT: 8. HPs: 15 Body, 25 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 103 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 18 aMR: 4 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 39 mph. Take-Off Run 152 yards. Landing Run 152 yards.

gSpeed: 207 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: High. 1/6 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 118 sf. The fuel capacity and MG loadout are a guess, as no historical values are available. Design aSpeed was 110 mph. Design Lwt was 2% over historical. Performance calculations used historical wing area and Lwt. Weapon Critical Failures ought to be a hoot in this plane.

Variants:

The Type Nm had a 60-kW engine. Only a small batch went into service.

The Type V had a longer fuselage to accommodate a belly tank to increase range.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS