Morane-Saulnier Vanneau

The Morane-Saulnier Vanneau, meaning plover, was a two-seat basic trainer built in France by Morane-Saulnier for the French Air Force. Designed in Vichy France, the MS.470 prototype first flew on 22 December 1944, and its success led to an order for the revised MS.472. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with pilot and student in tandem under a long glazed canopy and a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. The production MS.472 had a Gnome-Rhone 14M radial engine and flew on 12 December 1945, with deliveries from December 1946, and the French Navy received 70 carrier-capable MS.474 aircraft from December 1947. A re-engined MS.475 followed from 1950. The Vanneau stayed in service with the French Air Force and Navy into the late 1960s.