Origins
Louis Breguet founded his aircraft manufacturing company in 1911, building on experimental work begun as early as 1907 with the pioneering Breguet-Richet Gyroplane — one of the earliest rotary-wing aircraft ever built. Over the following six decades, Breguet Aviation produced an extraordinary range of aircraft spanning biplanes, flying boats, airliners, bombers, naval patrol aircraft, jet fighters, STOL transports, and helicopters. The company merged with Dassault in 1971 to form Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation, bringing its Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft and Jaguar programmes into the new organisation.
Aircraft Involved
Pioneering Rotary-Wing and Early Aircraft (1907–1914)
The Breguet-Richet Gyroplane (1907) was an experimental single-seat helicopter-like craft with four rotors — one of the earliest attempts at vertical flight. The Breguet-Richet Gyroplane No.2 (1908) was a tandem biplane with large inclined propellers providing both thrust and lift. The Breguet Type I (1909) was a single-seat tractor biplane with boxkite-like tail on booms, followed by the Type II (1910) with tricycle undercarriage and fuselage-like structure, the Type III (1910) as a three-seat rotary-engine development, and the Type IV (1911) — the first Breguet aircraft produced in quantity. The Breguet Type R.U1 (1911) was a single-engine biplane, and the Breguet Aerhydroplane (1913) an ambitious single-seat seaplane that did not fly.
First World War Aircraft
The Breguet 4 (1914) was a single-engine two-seat pusher-configuration biplane bomber. The Breguet 5 (1915) was an escort fighter variant, the Breguet 6 (1915) a version with a different engine, and the Breguet 12 (1918) a night fighter variant armed with a 37mm cannon and searchlight. The Breguet 14 (1916) was the most important Breguet aircraft of the war — a highly successful single-engine two-seat biplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft produced in large numbers and widely exported. The Breguet 16 (1918) was a larger bomber development and the Breguet 17 (1918) a smaller fighter variant of the same family.
Interwar Aircraft (1922–1938)
The Breguet 19 (1922) was a single-engine two-seat biplane reconnaissance and light bomber that achieved worldwide fame through long-distance record flights, including the first east-to-west transatlantic crossing. The Breguet 20 Leviathan (1922) was an ambitious twin/four-engine 20-seat airliner, developed further as the Breguet 22. The Breguet 26T (1926) was a single-engine eight-passenger biplane airliner, refined as the Breguet 280T (1928). Breguet also licence-built the Short S.8 Calcutta (1928), a three-engine fifteen-seat biplane transport.
The Breguet 27 (1929) and Breguet 270 (1929) were reconnaissance aircraft, and the Breguet 393T (1931) a three-engine biplane airliner. The Breguet 410 was a twin-engine light bomber. The Breguet-Dorand Gyroplane Laboratoire (1935) was an important helicopter prototype that established key principles of rotary-wing flight. The Breguet 460 Vultur was a twin-engine light bomber, the Breguet 470 Fulgur (1936) a twin-engine airliner of which only one was built, and the Breguet 693 (1938) a twin-engine two-seat monoplane ground attack aircraft that served with the Armée de l'Air during the Battle of France. The Breguet 730 (1938) and Breguet 731 were four-engine long-range flying boats, and the Breguet 521 Bizerte (1933) — a development of the licence-built Calcutta — served as a long-range patrol flying boat with the French Navy, with the Breguet 530 Saigon as its civilian variant.
Postwar Aircraft and Airliners
The Breguet 482 (1947) was a four-engine bomber designed before the war, of which only a single example was built. The Breguet G.111 (1949) was a coaxial helicopter prototype. The Breguet 763 Deux-Ponts (1949) — also known as the Br.761 and Br.765 — was a four-engine double-deck large airliner operated by Air France on European and North African routes, one of the most distinctive airliners of the early jet age. The Breguet 790 Nautilus was a single-engine flying boat, and the Breguet 890 Mercure a civil/military transport project.
Breguet also produced a series of competition sailplanes: the Br.900 Louisette (1948), Br.901 Mouette (1954), Br.904 Nymphale (1956), and Br.905 Fauvette (1958).
Among the most extraordinary unbuilt projects in aviation history were the Breguet 850 — a 28-engine airliner concept — its revision the Breguet 851, the Transport de 500 Tonnes with 60 engines, and the almost incomprehensible Transport de 1000 Tonnes with 120 engines. None were built, but they illustrate the ambition of Breguet's engineering thinking in the postwar period.
Military and Naval Aircraft
The Breguet 940 and Breguet 941 (1961) were four-engine turboprop STOL transport aircraft with remarkable short-field performance, developed for both military and civil use. The Breguet 960 Vultur (1951) was a twin-engine naval anti-submarine aircraft with mixed jet and turboprop power. The Breguet 1001 Taôn (1957) was a single-engine jet strike aircraft developed for a NATO lightweight fighter competition. The Breguet 1050 Alizé (1956) was a single-engine three-seat turboprop naval anti-submarine aircraft that served with the French Navy and Indian Navy for decades. The Breguet 1100 (1957) was a twin-engine jet fighter project, and the Breguet 1150 Atlantic (1961) — Breguet's final and most important military programme — a twin-turboprop long-range maritime patrol aircraft that served with the French, German, Italian, and Dutch navies and remained in front-line service into the 21st century.
Leduc Ramjet Aircraft
Through its association with engineer René Leduc, Breguet was connected to the remarkable Leduc ramjet research programme. The Leduc 0.10, Leduc 0.21, and Leduc 0.22 were experimental ramjet-powered aircraft that explored the aerodynamic and propulsion limits of high-speed flight in the early 1950s — among the most technically audacious French aviation projects of the postwar era.
Legacy
Breguet Aviation's merger with Dassault in 1971 created one of Europe's most powerful aerospace companies. The Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft continued in production and service under the Dassault-Breguet banner, and the SEPECAT Jaguar — developed jointly with the British Aircraft Corporation — became a major export success. Louis Breguet's legacy spans more than six decades of French aviation history, from the first tentative rotary-wing experiments of 1907 to the sophisticated turboprop patrol aircraft of the jet age.