what is it?
The Bloch MB.130 and its derivatives were a series of French monoplane reconnaissance-bombers developed during the 1930s. They saw some limited action at the beginning of World War II but were obsolete by that time and suffered badly against the Luftwaffe. After the fall of France, a few were pressed into Luftwaffe service.
How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 20.3 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 92 years ago, in 1934.
- Top speed is 2.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 20.3 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 1,300 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1934-06-29
- introduced
- 1938
- number built
- 143
- role
- reconnaissance-bomber
- makers
- Bloch
- engines
- 2× Gnome-Rhône 14N-10 / Gnome-Rhône 14N-11
- crew
- 4
- length
- 17.9 m
- wingspan
- 20.3 m
- height
- 4.1 m
- max take-off weight
- 8,600 kg
- top speed
- 349 km/h
- cruise speed
- 270 km/h
- range
- 1,300 km
- ceiling
- 7,250 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q767748, Wikipedia: Bloch MB.131 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.