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The Morane-Saulnier Type H was a successful pre-First World War single seat sports aircraft that served with limited success early in the war. By the time of the 1913 Paris Salon Morane-Saulnier had three types of monoplane aircraft on sale. The Type L was a parasol wing aircraft. The Type G was a shoulder winged two-seater. The Type H was a slightly smaller single-seat version of the Type G. All had a simple flat sided fabric covered fuselage, used wing warping controls and had straight wings with a tapered end.
The Type H was used by a number of famous pre-war pilots and achieved some significant successes. Between 10 June and 2 July Marcel Brindejonc flew one on a round-trip of the capitals of Europe, flying 3,000 miles. On 12 September 1913 Roland Garros made the first crossing of the Mediterranean in a Type H, flying from St-Raphael to Bizerte, a distance of 455 miles, in 7 hrs 53. The Type H was also built under licence in Britain by Graham-White, and one of his aircraft won the London-Paris-London contest of 11 July 1914.
The French War Ministry ordered twenty six Type Hs, and they were used during the first year of the First World War. Some were used during the defence of Paris in 1914 (serving with the Escadrille de Protection du Camp Retranché de Paris), despite only being armed with a pistol or carbine carried by the pilot. A small number of British built examples were used by the RFC early in the war, but in both cases the Type H had limited military capability.
Engine: Gnome or Le Rhône Rotary engine
Power: 60hp
Crew: 1
Wing span: 29ft 11in
Max Speed: just above 84mph
Armament: Pistol or carbine carried by the pilot.