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Airliners

Bloch MB.161 Languedoc
General characteristics
Crew: 5
Capacity: 33
Length: 24.26 m (79 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 29.39 m (96 ft 5 in)
Height: 5.14 m (16 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 111.32 m² (1198 ft²)
Empty weight: 12651 kg (27891 lb)
Gross weight: 20577 kg (45320 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Gnome-Rhône 14N 44/45 radial engines, 1150 kW (858 hp) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 440 km/h (274 mph)
Range: 3200 km (1989 miles)
Service ceiling: 7200 m (23616 ft)

Development Timeline
- First Flight: 1936
- In Production: 1938
- In Service: 1938 (Air France)

Notes
An airliner version of the Bloch MB.160 four-engine bomber. The Languedoc has a few faults which will be addressed with an upgraded variant sometime in the future.

Bloch MB.220
Historical aircraft, introduced 1936.

General characteristics
Crew: 4
Capacity: 16
Length: 19.25 m (63 ft 1¾ in)
Wingspan: 22.82 m (74 ft 10½ in)
Height: ()
Wing area: 75 m² (807.32 ft²)
Empty weight: 6,807 kg (15,007 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 9,500 kg (20,944 lb)
Powerplant: 2× Gnome-Rhône 14N-16/7 radial engine, 735 kw (985 hp) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 330 km/h (205 mph)
Range: 1,400 km (870 mi)
Service ceiling: 7,000 m (22,965 ft)

Development Timeline
- First Flight: 1932
- In Service: 1935
- Ceased Production: 1940

Notes
The Bloch MB.220 is additionally built by the Atlantean firm Ripon as the Ripon-Bloch 220.

Latécoère Late-631 Airliner
OTL Aircraft, introduced 1941

General Characteristics
Crew: 5
Capacity: 46
Length: 43.46 m (142 ft 6] in)
Wingspan: 57.43 m (188 ft 4½ in)
Height: 10.1 m (33 ft 1½ in)
Wing area: 349.4 m² (3,760 ft² [2])
Empty weight: 32,400 kg (71,280 lb[2])
Loaded weight: 71,350 kg (137,300 lb)
Powerplant: 6× Gnome-Rhone 14R 14-cylinder air cooled radial engine, 1,194 kW (1,600 hp) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 394 km/h (213 knots, 245 mph[2])
Cruise speed: 297 km/h (161 knots, 185 mph)
Range: 6,035 km (3,281 nm, 3,750 mi)
Wing loading: 92.7 kg/m² (19.0 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.10 kW/kg (0.070 hp/lb)

Development Timeline
- First Flight:
- In Production:
- In Service:

Breguet-Nord Br.810 Bretagne
General characteristics
Capacity: 30-43
Length: 18.95 m (62 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 26.90 m (88 ft 2 in)
Height: 5.90 m (19 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 86.2 m² (927.5 sq ft)
Empty weight: 14,080 kg (31,030 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 20,100 kg (44,600 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Gnome-Rhône 18k Mistral Titan radial piston engine, 2,240 hp each

Performance
Maximum speed 560 km/h (348 mph)
Cruising speed: 422 km/h (229 knots, 263 mph)
Range: 1,140 km (617 nmi, 710 mi)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)

Development Timeline
- First Flight: February 26, 1940
- In Production: 1940
- In Service: Fall 1941

Notes
The Br.810T variant has a strengthened floor and a retractable cargo door. It can be used for cargo operations or dropping of paratroopers.

Bloch Transatlantique
The Bloch Transatlantique was optimized to carry a minimum of eighty passengers in a pressurized cabin nonstop from Paris to Cleito, or nonstop from Cleito to New York. Bloch pushed for the Transatlantique to live up to its name, aiming for the capability for nonstop Paris-to-New York service, with the goal of completely replacing airships on that route by 1941. The long-range requirement led to the selection of Clerget aero-diesel engines for better fuel efficiency, although both regular inline engines and radials were also proposed.

The "Transat" was designed with four doors (two on each side) and an air-stair in the tail.

Quoted

Bloch MB.970 Transatlantique

General characteristics
Crew: 4 (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, radio) + 2 stewards
Capacity: 82 passengers (standard capacity), 62 (sleeper berths), 102 (high-capacity seating)
Length: 28.8 m (94 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 36.65 m (120 ft 3 in)
Height: 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Wing area: 144.6 m² ( ft²)
Empty weight: 25,030 kg (55,181.7 lb)
Gross weight: 37,870 kg (83,489 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Clerget 16He diesel engines, 1801 kW (2416 hp, 2,450 cv) at 6,400 m

Performance
Maximum speed: 497 km/h (308 mph)
Cruise speed: 441.5 km/h (274 mph)
Range: 6,000 km (3,728 miles)
Service ceiling: 7,210 m (23,655 ft)
Rate of Climb: 7 m/s (23 ft/sec)

Notes:
Designed to fly nonstop from Paris to Cleito, or from Cleito to New York, without stopovers. A later version (MB.972) will have 6,800km range to fly from Paris to New York without stopovers.

Quoted

Bloch MB.972 Transatlantique

General characteristics
Crew: 4 (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, radio) + 2 stewards
Capacity: 85 passengers (standard capacity), 62 (sleeper berths), 102 (high-capacity seating)
Length: 30.6 m (100 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 36.65 m (120 ft 3 in)
Height: 7.94 m (26 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 144.6 m² ( ft²)
Empty weight: 25,030 kg (55,181.7 lb)
Gross weight: 45,820 kg (101,015.8 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Clerget 16He diesel engines, 1801 kW (2416 hp, 2,450 cv) at 6,400 m

Performance
Maximum speed: 545 km/h (339 mph)
Cruise speed: 493 km/h (306 mph) at 7,250m cruising altitude
Range: 7,015 km (4,359 miles)
Service ceiling: 7,525 m (24,688 ft)
Rate of Climb: 7.5 m/s (24.6 ft/sec)

Bloch MB.170T Boréas
The Boréas was developed by Bloch engineers as the first civilian application of turbojet engine technology. The firm's design team built off their extensive design experience, both with airliners and high-speed military aircraft, in order to produce the new airliner. Bloch announced the Boréas, up until then a secret company project, at the 1946 Paris Air Show, where Air France indicated its intent to purchase a small quantity of aircraft.

The airframe itself was not particularly revolutionary, being adapted from an earlier design study for a proposed turboprop-powered MB.163 Languedoc airliner. This led to the critique that the Boréas was little more than a jet-powered Languedoc - although in actuality, all of the wing spars and internal framework had been redesigned to improve strength and lightness, and the positioning and sweep of the wings had been changed in order to permit the use of a tricycle undercarriage. (A director for Air France famously commented that the only interchangable parts between the Languedoc and the Boréas were the seatbelts and the coffee pot.) The cabin was also pressurized in order to allow higher operating altitudes.

However, the truly revolutionary aspect lay in the aircraft's powerplant, which was composed of four SNECMA M-44 axial turbojets, positioned underneath the wings. This made the Boréas the fastest airliner in the world upon its appearance in April 1947, although they were not particularly fuel-efficient in comparison to contemporary propeller-powered (or even turboprop powered) airliners. The Boréas had other downsides, including intensive maintenance requirements and a long take-off run.

After an initial evaluation period testing two aircraft between Paris and Petrograd, Air France eventually purchased twenty aircraft. Due to the higher operating costs, the Boréas was used solely on high-capacity international routes with the selling point of speed and first-class service.

Due to the rapid advancement of jet engines and airliner design, the Boréas was quickly rendered obsolescent and retired after less than eight years in service. Two Air France aircraft were lost in accidents prior to the aircraft's retirement.

General characteristics
Crew: 4 (Pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer)
Capacity: 35
Length: 24.5 m (80 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 29.4 m (96 ft 5 in)
Height: 5.2 m (17 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 114 m² (1,227 ft²)
Empty weight: 12,755 kg (28,120 lb)
Gross weight: 21,000 kg (46,297 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × SNECMA M-44 turbojets, 8.8 kN (1980 lbf)

Performance
Maximum speed: 835 km/h (518 mph)
Range: 2800 km (1740 miles)
Service ceiling: 8200 m ( ft)

Development Timeline
- First Flight: 1946
- In Production: 1947
- In Service: April 1947 (Air France)