90 years celebration party in Oshkosh
Oshkosh, WI, 25 July 2001
EADS Socata has celebrated on July 25th its 90 years as an aircraft manufacturer with a party at the Experimental Aircraft Assocation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which has a rare MS181 1930 single-seat monoplane as part of their collection of historic aircraft.
EADS Socata has celebrated on July 25th its 90 years as an aircraft manufacturer with a party at the Experimental Aircraft Assocation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which has a rare MS181 1930 single-seat monoplane as part of their collection of historic aircraft.
Reknown for their excellent flying qualities, many Morane-Saulnier aircraft have survived for nearly a century. Many of the large aviation museums in the USA have a Morane-Saulnier aircraft on display. EAA’s AirVenture Museum is no exception, with a rare MS181 1930 single-seat monoplane as part of their collection of historic aircraft.
Designed at the end of the 1920’s by young engineer René Gauthier (future developer of the MS 760 ParisJet), as an affordable sport aircraft for the emergent flying clubs, the MS 181 was considered a smaller sibling to the family of heavier Morane-Saulnier high-wing fighters and military trainers. The MS 181 featured the famous "parasol" swept wing associated with a wood and fabric fuselage powered by a 40 hp radial 9 Ad Salmson engine. In 1929, the MS 181 was repowered with a more powerful 60 hp Salmson 5Ac engine and some airframe improvements to allow for aerobatic training. The last version manufactured was the 46 hp Salmson MS 185. In total, about one hundred (100) MS180, MS181 and MS185 have been built.
The MS 181 on display at the EAA AirVenture Museum was imported from France into the USA by a Miami-based collector who later donated the aircraft to the museum.
The fuselage is constructed similarly to a Curtiss Jenny with tumbuckles and wire bracing, with a liberal use of copper and brass fittings. The restoration team had no reference prints or drawings upon which to restore the aircraft to its original condition. Fortunately a vintage flying club based outside of Paris, the “Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis” in La Ferté-Alais, familiar with Morane-Saulnier aircraft, was able to provide technical assistance to the group. The restoration took two years to complete.
The Morane-Saulnier MS.181 with its original 60 hp Salmson radial engine now rests in a hangar at the EAA Foundation's Pioneer Airport. It is one of the last three known surviving aircraft of this type in the world.
Wingspan : 27 ft, Gross weight : 1,075 lbs, Cruising speed : 80 mph.
