MORANE SAULNIER AI

The Morane-Saulnier AI was a French WW1 fighter. The machine was built in a high-wing configuration, it was characterized by a wooden structure and had a classic - fixed undercarriage. A prototype flight took place in 1917, and serial production started shortly after. The drive - in version C.1 - was provided by a single rotary motor Gnome Monosoupape with 150 hp. The machine was armed with one or two 7.7 mm machine guns. The Morane-Saulnier AI was built as a development of the prototype Morane-Saulnier Type N aircraft. It was assumed that it would replace the Nieuport 17 and SPAD VII fighter planes in the line and be produced simultaneously with the SPAD XIII fighter. However, in the course of production and line service, it turned out that the aircraft of this type were characterized by good performance, but also very low durability, and the engine that powered them turned out to be highly emergency in combat conditions. Thus, the production of machines of this type was discontinued in favor of SPAD XIII, and the produced ones were withdrawn from the line by mid-1918. Several development versions were created in the course of production, including: MoS 27 (hunting version armed with 1 machine gun), MoS 29 (hunting version with 2 rifles) or MoS 30 (training version with a different engine).