Bloch MB.200

The Bloch MB.200 was designed in response to a 1932 requirement for a new day/night bomber to equip the French Air Force. It was a high-winged all-metal cantilever monoplane, with a slab-sided fuselage, powered by two Gnome & Rhône 14Kirs radial engines. It had a fixed tailwheel undercarriage and featured an enclosed cockpit for the pilots. Defensive machine guns were in nose and dorsal gun turrets and an under fuselage gondola. The first of three prototypes flew on 26 June 1933. As one of the winning designs for the competition, (the other was the larger Farman F.221), ==Operational history==

Czechoslovakia chose the MB.200 as part of a modernisation program for its air force of the mid-1930s. Although at the rate of aircraft development at that time, the MB.200 would quickly become obsolete, the Czechoslovaks needed a quick solution involving the license production of a proven design, as their own aircraft industry did not have sufficient development experience with such a large aircraft, or with all-metal airframes and stressed-skin construction, placing an initial order for 74 aircraft. After some delays, both Aero and Avia began license-production in 1937, with a total of about 124 built. ==Variants==

;MB.200.01 :single prototype – ;MB.200B.4 :main production version – 2x Gnome-Rhône 14Kirs ;MB.201 :two Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engines ;MB.202 :four Gnome-Rhône 7Kdrs engines ;MB.203 :two Clerget 14F diesel engines ==Operators==

, 1941 ;: Bulgarian Air Force – Purchased 12 ex-Czech MB.200s from Germany in 1939, using them as trainers. ;: Czechoslovak Air Force ;: ''Armée de l'Air'' (from 1935) ;: Vichy French Air Force ;: Luftwaffe (captured) ;: Slovak Air Force (1 piece) ; Republicans: Spanish Republican Air Force received 30 units from France, at least one aircraft survived 1938 but none of them survived throughout the war. ==Specifications (MB.200B.4)==