(Image credit: Vintage Aviation News)
In the 1930s and 1940s, French aircraft manufacturer Marcel Bloch developed a series of seven aircraft, most of which never entered production. The Bloch MB 130-136 bomber family showed the confusion in French military aviation before WWII. Only one model, the MB 131, went into mass production. In 1937, the Bloch design bureau proposed a new four-engine version of the medium bomber, the Bloch MB 135. The Bloch MB 135 had a wide fuselage and a raised section on top for the machine-gunner and his weapon. The wings were similar but had a trapezoidal shape in the middle instead of a rectangular one. It used 710hp Gnome-Rhône 14 M 4/5 engines (later versions were 6/7s) that rotated in opposite directions and were driven by Gnome-Rhône propellers. The bomb bay could hold up to nearly 3,000 pounds of bombs.
Design of Block MB 135
The Bloch MB 135 was built using construction methods similar to those used for other Bloch aircraft of that time. It had a shell fuselage with support boxes for added stiffness, along with angled and straight ribs supporting the wing structure. The manufacturer aimed to use standard sheets and sections made from duralumin. The Bloch MB 135 was developed from the A21 program, which started in December 1936. At first, this program focused on two-engine planes, but later it included four-engine designs as well. The Bloch MB 135 competed with other four-engine planes like the Breguet Br 482 and the CAO 700. The design of the Bloch MB 135 was similar to the Bloch MB 131. After the government takeover of aerospace companies, the Bloch Company wanted to update the MB 131. It changed the engines from Hispano-Suiza 14 AA to MB 133 and the MB 133 to a double rudder.
The Cancellation
The MB133 first flew in 1937. Soon after, a similar model was developed, the Bloch MB 134. The project took a long time, and the first of the three prototypes did not fly until July 1939. This fast aircraft was damaged during tests in 1940 and was destroyed before the German advance. At the same time, the Bloch Company developed a four-engine version, the Bloch MB 135, which was uncommon at the time. The Bloch MB 135 took its first flight to Villacoublay on January 12, 1939. It showed good performance and handled well, but it never went into production. Even without the setback of 1940, the Bloch MB 134 and 135 likely would not have been made in large numbers. There were already two fast bombers being produced, the LeO 45 and the Amiot 350, and the new aircraft did not show enough improvement to warrant a change in production efforts. In the coming months, the company planned to focus all its resources on making the Bloch MB 175 and MB 176. Read more Grounded Dreams articles HERE.
