Bréguet 16

The Breguet 16 was a bomber biplane produced in France toward the end of World War I.

16
Portuguese Bre16Bn.2 "Patria"
Role Night bomber
Manufacturer Breguet
Designer Marcel Vuillierme
First flight 1 June 1918
Introduction 1921
Retired 1926
Number built ca. 200

Design and development

The design of the Breguet 16 was essentially a scaled-up version of Breguet's highly successful 14 — a conventionally configured biplane with two-bay, unstaggered, equal-span wings. Trials in 1918 proved promising, and mass production by several French manufacturers, under licence from Breguet, was planned for 1919. These plans were discarded upon the Armistice, but more limited production was revived in the early 1920s as the French Air Force began a programme of modernisation.[1]

Operational history

In service, the single-engine Breguet 16 was used to replace obsolete twin-engine Farman F.50s in the night bomber role as the Bre.16Bn.2. Some of the 200 aircraft built were deployed to Syria and Morocco, and Breguet also managed to sell some to the military air arms of China and Czechoslovakia.[2] A single Breguet 16 was acquired by the Portuguese Air Force in 1924 for an attempted flight between Portugal and Macau, but the attempt failed, with the aircraft being destroyed in a forced landing in India.[3]

Variants
Bre.16Bn.2
Night bomber version.

Operators
 China
 Czechoslovakia
 France
 Portugal

Specifications

General characteristics

  • Crew: Two, pilot and observer
  • Length: 9.55 m (31 ft 4 in)
  • Wingspan: 16.96 m (55 ft 8 in)
  • Height: 3.32 m (10 ft 11 in)
  • Wing area: 75.5 m2 (813 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 1,265 kg (2,789 lb)
  • Gross weight: 2,200 kg (4,850 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Renault 12Fe , 224 kW (300 hp)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn)
  • Range: 900 km (559 mi, 486 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 4,600 m (15,090 ft)

Armament

  • 1 × trainable 7.7 mm (.303 in) Lewis Gun in observer's cockpit
  • 550 kg (1,213 lb) of bombs

References

Notes
  1. Taylor and Alexander 1969, pp. 74–75.
  2. Taylor 1989, p. 199.
  3. Niccoli 1998, p. 23.

Bibliography
  • Niccoli, Riccardo (January–February 1998). "Atlantic Sentinels: The Portuguese Air Force Since 1912". Air Enthusiast. No. 73. pp. 20–35. ISSN 0143-5450.
  • Taylor, John W. R. and Jean Alexander. Combat Aircraft of the World. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. ISBN 0-71810-564-8.
  • Taylor, Michael J. H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions, 1989. ISBN 0-517-69186-8.
  • World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing, File 890, Sheet 80–81.
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