Morane-Saulnier BB

The Morane-Saulnier BB was a military observation aircraft built in France during the First World War for Britain's Royal Flying Corps, a Type P built as a biplane. It was a conventional single-bay design with the pilot and observer seated in tandem in open cockpits. The original order was for 150 aircraft with 110 horsepower Le Rhone 9J rotary engines, but shortages meant that most of the 94 eventually built had the 80 horsepower Le Rhone 9C instead. A water-cooled Hispano-Suiza 8A engine was tried in the BH variant but stayed experimental. It served with several Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service squadrons as an observation aircraft and, with a forward-firing Lewis gun on the top wing, as a fighter, and the Spanish firm CECA built twelve under licence in 1916.