General History

The A-I was the product of a long line of successful Morane aircraft.  It entered service in the spring of 1918 in time to see combat during the last few months of World War I.  The parasol-type design was a big advantage over the biplanes because of improved visibility.  The aircraft was a complete success but by late 1917, the French had adopted the SPAD, with its Hispano Suiza V-8 engine, to equip all of its squadrons.  The 160 hp Gnome engine was noisy and not as nice to operate as the liquid-cooled Hispanos.  When the Americans entered the war, they received 160 hp Gnome powered aircraft from the French like the Morane A-I and the Nieuport 28.  Most A-I’s were sold to the new U.S. Army Air Service and flew with 2 squadrons of the Lafayette Flying Corps.  The Army used the majority as advanced trainers while several went to the Navy for 'Carrier' experimentation.

Many pilots were initially leery of the monoplane design as they felt that they were not as strong as the biplanes they were used to flying.  In an earlier 1916 Morane monoplane, but of mid-wing design, French pilot Roland Garros came up with a crude but ingenious idea to fire a machine gun through his propeller.  In an attempt to use a forward firing machine gun that he mounted on top the Morane’s fuselage he bolted angled 'deflector plates' to the propeller to deflect any occasional bullets that might hit the propeller.  With a few drawbacks, his idea worked and he became the first ever ace by shooting down five enemy aircraft.  Garros unfortunately forced landed behind German lines and his airplane was captured.  Tony Fokker was sent to the front and shown the aircraft and its crude system.  He came up with a better design and developed the first synchronized machine gun to fire through a propeller.  Eventually, the allies captured a German airplane and copied Fokker’s  concept.

Personal History

This particular aircraft was sold to the United States Army Air Service in 1918.  This aircraft, along with several others, was shipped to McCook Field in Ohio for testing.  Surviving the test programs of the early 1920’s they eventually were sold to private pilots.   

This particular aircraft ended up in the Tallmantz Collection and was acquired by Kermit when he purchased the collection in 1985.  It was sent to England and restored by Personal Plane Services in the late 1980’s.  It has the original style 'aluminum powder in the paint' finish and newly manufactured Michelin tires. 

The aircraft was painted in the colors of a pilot by the name of Lt. Demeraux.  Flying with an Escadrille who called themselves the “Knights of the Air” their motif was a silver Knights helmet.  Demeraux adopted his own version of the helmet, mantling in red, and as a personal marking adopted the blue and white chevron from one of his earlier units.  While there seems to be no mention of Demeraux having any 'kills' or surviving the war, he had one of the more flamboyant and interesting paint schemes of the period.  That is why it was chosen. 

Kermit Comment

The 160 hp Gnome Rotary in this aircraft is called a 'Monosoupape', which means single-valve in French, and is the most interesting of all rotaries to run and operate.  It has only 1 valve in the top of each cylinder, which is utilized for both inlet and exhaust.  As with all rotaries, the crankshaft is fixed and the engine and propeller spin as one unit.  With Gnome designs up to 100 hp there was no throttle control.  The pilot either had full power or no power.  By pressing a 'blip switch' located on the top of the stick, the pilot could ground out the magneto and stop the spark plugs from firing.  When this bigger engine of 160 hp was designed, it was felt that there had to be some way to control the engine power better for ground handling and landing.   Two magnetos were incorporated in the design.  One was used in the normal fashion where it was either, 'on' or 'off'.  The second magneto was routed through an interrupter accessory.  With the first magneto grounded and not firing, the pilot had a 5 position switch for the other magneto and could select full, half, quarter, one-eighth throttle or off.  This was accomplished by interrupting the normal firing order of the engine.  Normally, a 4-cycle engine fires once every 2 revolutions.  With the selector in the half-throttle position it would fire once every 4 revolutions.  In the quarter position it would fire once every 8revolutions and in the eighth throttle position, once every 16.  It is very interesting to hear this engine operate.  If you did not know how it worked, you would think that it was the worst running engine that you have ever heard!

After the war, a Frenchman set a World Inside Loop record in an A-I doing 1,111 loops in 111 minutes.