F-AOHB    Bloch 220                                                      (c/n  02)

                                

                                      This oft-published photograph of the first production Bloch 220 was acquired from SNCASO
                                      in 1948.  The re-organization of the French aircraft industry in 1936 was doubtless responsible
                                      for the fact that Air France did not begin receiving its Bloch 220s until the fall of 1937, even though
                                      the prototype had flown two years earlier.  F-AOHB was named "Gascogne" (the name is seen
                                      under the Air France logo).   Only five Bloch 220s survived WW II and F-AOHB was not one
                                      of them.  The whole lot were impressed into service with the French Air Force in 1940 and, follow-
                                      ing the German occupation, several were transferred to Lufthansa.   It is possible that F-AOHB
                                      was one of them.