Modern redesign for a 100 year old Morane-Saulnier aircraft

The basis for this project has been to retrieve archive documents and above all redesign the plans of this ancient aircraft. This work has been conducted with state-of-the art aeronautical design tools and avionics experts’ know-how. The numerical modeling enabled the complete creation of the aircraft plans in two dimension ensuring that the data will be preserved for the future and that the manufacturing of wooden and metal parts was optimized. 

Modern tools were also used in the manufacturing process. For instance some of the pieces are directly printed in three dimension. This is an innovative process of molten metal balls which can produce parts directly from digital data. Suitable for developing prototypes, it allows the creation of a part without going through the step of creating a mold. It is at the same time a way to optimize the development phase of the project and to respect the tight agenda set for the construction of the Morane-Salunier aircraft. The choice of modernity taken by the Réplic’air team makes possible a real optimization of every phase of the project.  

Réplic’Air association honours the history of aviation by constructing or reconstructing ancient aircraft and at the same time it provides a truly a modern way to preserve the aeronautical heritage.

As a partner of Réplic’Air’s adventure, Thales will be covering the project over the coming months on Onboard, the Thales Avionics blog.

For more information about Réplic’Air, visit www.replicair.fr (in French).