Breguet Type I

Breguet Type I
The Breguet Type I after its accident at the Grande Semaine d'Aviation in August 1909
Role Experimental aircraft
National origin France
Manufacturer Louis Breguet
Designer Louis Breguet
First flight 28 June 1909
Number built 1


The Breguet Type I was an experimental aircraft built in France in 1909. It was Louis Breguet's first fixed-wing aircraft design.[1][2] Breguet had previously had some success with two helicopter designs, one of which had been exhibited at the Paris Aero Salon in December 1908. Because of these machines, the Type I was at first known as the Breguet Type III.

Design

The Breguet Type 1 differed from most biplane designs of the time by being of tractor configuration and not having a forward elevator, as used by the Wright Brothers and Gabriel Voisin. The engine was mounted at the front of the aircraft in a square section nacelle projecting forwards from lower wing, driving a three-bladed propeller. The upper wing was built in three separate sections, with the entire outer sections pivoting about the main spar for control purposes, while the lower wings, which had a smaller wingspan, were divided into two pivoting planes, with a large gap between them in place of a centre section. The wings were connected by four steel tube interplane struts, each enclosed in a streamlined fairing. The tail surfaces were mounted on four cross-braced steel booms and consisted of a large span upper elevator and a smaller lower surface, with a pair of rudders filling the gap between them. The undercarriage consisted of a pair of forward-projecting skids with a small wheel mounted between them, supplemented by outrigger wheels on each wingtip. Power was provided by a 60 hp (45 kW) Renault V-8 engine.

Another view of the Breguet Type I crash

The machine was displayed without an engine at the Olympia Aero Show in London in March 1909[3] and first took to the air on 28 June.[2] Breguet flew this aircraft, given the exhibition number 19, at the Grande Semaine d'Aviation in August,[4] but crashed when the machine was caught in a gust of wind . Breguet himself was unharmed.[5]

Specifications

Data from Hartmann 2005, p.6

General characteristics

Performance


Notes

  1. Grant 2002, p. 64
  2. 1 2 Hartman 2005, p.6
  3. "Flyers at Olympia" Flight 27 March 1909 p177
  4. Massac Buist 1909, 539
  5. "What a Wrecked Biplane Looks Like" Flight 4 September 1909

References

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