The most modern multi-role French aircraft at the beginning of the war was the superb Bloch MB.170 series which for the most part served as an armed reconnaissance bomber. It displayed excellent handling characteristics and overall good performance but the German invasion came before it was able to be fielded in sufficient numbers as only fifty aircraft had been delivered by May 1940. During the heavy fighting that followed, the MB.174 distinguished itself suffering few losses in combat (most were destroyed on the ground) with surviving aircraft taken up by Vichy forces and the Luftwaffe who used them as trainers, they were also used by the Free French in North Africa and Tunisia and some were built post-war as torpedo bombers for the Aéronavale. The MB.174 is also memorable for their long-range reconnaissance missions which were described in author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book Flight to Arras.

The prototype MB.170 first flew on 15 February 1938 with the first production versions, the MB.174 entering service 11 months later (the first sortie was flown by none other than Saint-Exupéry himself). Production of the Bloch 174 accounted for the grand majority of units and manufacturing continued after the war. A last-ditch emergency variant with increased payload via an internal bomb bay was designated MB.175 and saw most action after the surrender by both Allied and Axis forces. Other variants included the limited-production MB.176 with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines and the MB.175T torpedo bomber built after the war for naval service.