|
|
The Morane-Saulnier M.S.430 was a two-seat training aircraft based on the M.S.405 single-seat fighter. The M.S.430 was similar in overall design to the M.S.405, with similar wings, tail and inward retracting main landing gear. The fuselage was extended to make space for a second crewman, with the two crewmen sitting in tandem. The M.S.405 had used an inline engine, but the M.S.430 was given a 390hp Salmson 9Ag radial engine.
The M.S.430 made its maiden flight on 3 March 1937. It then underwent two years of tests. A single-seat version was evaluated as the M.S.408, and a new version powered by the Gnome-Rhône 7Kfs radial engine was ordered as the M.S.433, before work moved onto the M.S.435. This was powered by another Gnome-Rhône engine, the 9Kdrs. This version made its maiden flight in 1939, and an order was placed for sixty aircraft, but none arrived before the Fall of France in June 1940.