@Patine Up to the late 30s some of these aircraft initially had Boris IIIs royal crest instead of the X. Will probably do such a He51 later.
@CurtSibling Is it an argument? I do not disagree with Pat, I find his points OT for graphics, but informative nontheless.
Besides, I was also a part of this debate. Be fair and tell me off too.
Back to work.
Bloch MB.150 fighters for France (130 MB.151 and probably 482 MB.152) including one Polish squadron. At the outbreak of World War II , only 120 machines had been delivered to the
Armée de l'Air , but none of them could enter into combat at first, since all had no viewfinder (collimator) and 95 of them did not have propellers either ; Later, when there were 385 copies delivered, these problems were solved but reliability suffered due to the overheating of the engines in most of the airplanes.
Compared with its French contemporaries, the Bloch 152 was the least successful in combat and the one that suffered the heaviest losses. Its two main faults were its inadequate range and poor maneuverability at altitude where its powerful armament frequently became useless due to insufficient heating, thus depriving many pilots of their "kills". The Bloch 152 was, nevertheless, a very sturdy machine and capable of taking much more punishment than its stablemates. It was also considered to be a very steady gun platform and could quickly attain high speeds in a dive.
In fighter-versus-fighter combat,...they (MB-151/152) were decidedly outclassed by the Bf 109E..., although the Bloch fighters possessed an edge over their German opponent in classic high-g maneuvering style of dogfighting, no German pilot with any experience allowed himself to be lured into that type of combat when he could out-dive, out-climb and out-run his French counterpart with ease.
The Vichy-France air force used the remaining machines and the 29 copies of the
MB.155 until their dissolution.
The Luftwaffe seized 173 MB.152/MB.155 from the Vichy regime in November 1942 and used them as trainers.
Greece got 9 MB.151 out of an order for 25. Note the two tone camo and the absence of fin colours. They took down two Italian Z.1007 and two German Do17.
Despite reports for 20 machines, Romania got 6 MB.152 in 1942. Can't find any pictures of them, so this look is speculative.
-edit- Most sources say Romania got 20 Blochs and used them against the USSR, French wikipedia says 6. Romanians on forums say they didn't get any. Bulgaria was bargaining with the Germans to get some but although the agreement was signed, Luftwaffe opposed this (because it was such an ideal plane for training?) and they got more Dewoitines instead.
Not that it meant anything different, in effect, in the '30's and '40's - the days of Krum, Simeon I, and such, were LONG past...
