Valtion Lentokonetehdas Mörkö-Morane

According to Finnish sources, a total of 41 aircraft were rebuilt, retaining their original numbers and their code MS- was added to MSv-. The conversions were carried out from 1942 and the first flight was made on 04.02.1943. During trials a solid increase in performance was found and the aircraft were to be rebuilt in stages as the existing MS 406/410 were delivered. By the end of the "Continuation War", i.e. the fighting against the USSR, only 3 machines had been rebuilt, several others were assembled at the beginning of the "Lapland Campaign" to drive the German troops out of Finnish territory. The rest of the total number was rebuilt by 1946.
The reason for the rebuild was to replace the outdated French-made engines for which spare parts were difficult to find, and above all to improve the not so dazzling characteristics of the Moran 406/410s used by the FAF. The Klimov VK-105 engine was derived from the same Hispanic, and therefore it was not such a big problem to build it into the airframe, a reducer and propeller were also used. The engines came from a salvage yard and according to some sources were overhauled at Avia before being built. As the Finns originally had 87 Morans (30 from France and 57 delivered later from German loot), machines with less range were selected and the rebuild was to be carried out on them. The machines had already undergone modifications in Finland prior to this, the armament was changed and the MAC machine guns were replaced (perhaps not on all machines) by Browning machine guns and the machine gun in the engine was replaced by the HS-204 gun from 1941, and from 1942 it was replaced by the UB 12.7 calibre machine gun. In the Mőrkő Morani, the armament was the MG-151/20 gun (it is questionable whether all machines received it) and the machine guns of the original fighter (i.e. MAC or Browning).
I couldn't find anything about the combat deployment of the machines. Mőrkő means ghost or phantom in translation. The machines were used until 1948 and then cancelled as part of the Army Reduction Treaty (the much more powerful Bf 109 G remained in service).

Fotografie Mörkö-Morane.

Náčrtek pohled z boku.

Ještě další fotografie z druhé strany. Bohužel po roce 1948 byly všechny stroje sešrotovány a neexistuje ani jediný v muzeu.