PIERRE BREGERIE COLLECTION
No. 9402. Bloch 200 (17) French Air Force
Source unknown

Bloch 200

11/30/2009. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The Bloch 200 was a four-seat all-metal medium bomber and the prototype, powered by two 760 hp Gnome & Rhône 14Krsd fourteen-cylinder liquid-cooled V-engines, was first flown on June 17, 1933.

The l'Armée de l'Air ordered 208 production aircraft, powered by two 900 hp Gnome & Rhône 14 Kirs or 14 Kjrs engines, and fitted with wheel spats and a modified nose. The aircraft were built by six companies: Bloch (4), Breguet (19), Hanriot (45), Loire (19), Potez (111), and Sud-Ouest (10).

The type still equipped seven bomber Groupes (four in France and three in overseas territories) on the outbreak WW II in September 1939, during the winter of 1939 to 1940, the type was relegated to training role, while the French Vichy AF retained it in Syria until mid-1941.

The type was also license-built in Czechoslovakia by Aero and Avia (124), bringing the total produced to 333. During the war the Czech and French built aircraft were used by the Luftwaffe and the air forces of Bulgaria, Croatia, and Rumania.

The armament consisted of one 0.3 in (7.5 mm) MAC 34 machine gun each in nose and dorsal turret and in ventral gondola, and a maximum bomb load of 2,646 lb (1,200 kg) could be carried."

Created November 30, 2009