The original Morane Saulnier M.S.880 made its
first flight on June 10, 1959. The 2/3 seat
aircraft, powered by a 100hp Continental O-200
went into production the following year, and
became known as the Rallye-Club due to its
intended market. A 105hp Potez powered version was
known as the M.S.881.
The follow on M.S.885 with
was uprated to 145hp Continental first flew on
January 1 1961, and was known as the Super Rallye.
The M.S.890 Rallye Commodore with a 150hp Lycoming
was the first four seat version. The M.S.893 was
intended as an agricultural aircraft, but was
developed as a tourer instead with the 180hp
O-360-A2A engine. A more powerful version, the
220hp Franklin 6A350-C1 powered Rallye Minerva
followed.
Morane-Saulnier became a subsidiary of Sud-Aviation
in 1965. The Society de Contruction de Tourisme et
d'Affaires (SOCATA) was formed the following year
- also as a subsidiary of Sud-Aviation. (various
mergers and other rearrangments have resulted in
SOCATA now being a subsidiary of Aerospatiale).
SOCATA continued the construction and development
of the Rallye, and over 3000 were built.
The name
was continued until 1979, when SOCATA introduced
new names to the developments. The SOCATA Galopin
follows on from the 110hp Avco Lycoming powered
Rallye 110ST, the Galerian follows on from the
O-540 powered Rallye 180T intended for glider
towing, and the Gabier follows on from the O-540
powered Rallye 235GT high performance STOL model.
The P.Z.L.110 is a licence built version of the
SOCATA Rallye 100ST. Powered by a license built
Franklin 4A-235-B1, the first flight of the Polish
version was made on April 18, 1978. Intended as a
2-4 seat model, the aircraft was upgraded, and
production amounted to 10 Series I, 25 Series II,
and 45 Series III aircraft. In 1987 a new version
was proposed. Powered by a 150hp Lycoming
O-320-E2A, this was known as the Koliber 150 (Koliber
means Hummingbird). The prototype aircraft (SP-PHA)
first flew on September 27, 1988. A further
development, the Koliber 235 (235hp Textron
Lycoming O-540-B4B5) was announced in 1991.
