The Bloch MB.220 was a twin engine airliner that first flew on 11 June 1936 from Villacoublay, just outside of Paris. Powered by a pair of Gnome-Rhône 14N air cooled piston engines, it could fly 16 passengers up to 1,400km.
Air France ordered 16 aircraft, with the first scheduled flight from Paris to Marseilles taking place on 20 July 1937. Each one was named after a region in the country, so they were called Alsace, Anjou, Aunis, Auvergne, Berry, Champagne, Flandre, Gascogne, Guyenne, Languedoc, Lorraine, Poitou, Provence, Roussillon, Saintonge and Savoie.
Bloch MB.220 Video
Following on from the last video about the ill-fated R101 airship, this time we head to France for a look at the Bloch MB.220. This video runs for slightly over 11 minutes and features everything you might want to know about the plane.
While the narrator does use some flowery language and has plenty of enthusiasm, there is also tons of footage of the plane. You see the outside, inside, air to air shots, take offs and all the rest of it. It’s a pretty decent looking machine!
Inside The Aircraft
For the time, it all looks rather comfortable. Having a seat that has both a window and an aisle is very much like the window seats you get in modern business class cabins.
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- Everyone has a window and an aisle.
Considering it is from France, it’s not too surprising that it’s easy on the eye. Aircraft from France like the Caravelle certainly had a panache that other countries engineering designs lacked.
Overall Thoughts
Marcel Bloch, who started the company (which was called Société des Avions Marcel Bloc) changed his name after the war to Marcel Dassault. The company was also renamed, to Dassault Aviation, which you have probably heard of, being responsible for the Mirage fighters and Falcon business jets.
Discovering the Bloch MB.220 was eye opening, as I had never heard of the plane before. Perhaps had World War II not taken over, we might have seen more of them in the sky and for longer.
Did you know about this aircraft? What did you think of the video? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or queries, please leave them below.
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Featured image via Dassault Aviation.
Cabin interior via French Air Force 1939-1940.
Great find! Doesn’t ring any bells for me so this may be an undiscovered gem. Could certainly imagine hopping around France in that back then. I’ll assume the croissants were included in the fare.
Thank the YouTube algorithm that suggested the video to me – it knows more than I do! I’d never heard about this aircraft at all, but it was nice to know. Hope you’ve been well!