WOW616 Breguet 14 ‘The Blue Snake’

Description

WOW616 Breguet 14

The Louis Breguet design of his Breguet AV Type 14 aircraft was a major departure from his previous designs. Intended to survive the increasingly violent aerial combats of the Western Front the new design used a tractor layout, featured a low wing-loading, was intended for the Renault engine (over the objections of the Section Technique de l’ Aéronautique [S.T.Aé.]), and for the first time extensively used duralumin in lieu of wood. The first prototype was powered by a 263 hp Renault and the second by the 272 hp Renault. The first prototype flew on 21 November 1916 at Villacoublay and was piloted by Louis Breguet. In November 1916 the S.T.Aé. had formulated a request for four types of aircraft. The Breguet 14A2 met the requirements for a 2-seat Army cooperation aircraft. The 14B2 version met the requirements for a day bomber. By 17 February the S.T.Aé. had completed its evaluation of the aircraft, official orders were received on 6 March 1917.

The aircraft turned out to be an outstanding bomber/reconnaissance aircraft during WW1 and beyond. The Bre 14 A2 reconnaissance version and the Bre 14 B2 bomber equipped at least 71 French escadrilles on the Western Front by November 1918 and were also used by units in Serbia, Greece, Macedonia and Morocco, some 8,000 of the type were built up to 1926.

A robust two-bay unequal-span biplane of mixed construction, it was remarkable for its time in the amount of duralumin used in the fuselage and wing structure. Covering was of fabric. The metal cowling over the 238.5kW Renault 12Fe engine was extensively louvred and a distinctive frontal radiator was fitted. The Bre 14 A2 was armed with a single fixed 7.7mm Vickers machine-gun on the left side of the fuselage and twin Lewis guns in the observer’s cockpit. The B2 version could be fitted with an additional Lewis gun that fired downwards through the rear fuselage floor and had a maximum bomb load of 256kg, carried on underwing racks.

The reconnaissance version was followed into production by the bomber in the summer of 1917, the latter differing in having Breguet-designed automatic trailing-edge flaps on the lower wings and transparent panels in the sides of the observer’s cockpit. Late production examples of both versions had horn-balanced ailerons, the B2 aircraft thus equipped doing away with the trailing-edge flaps. A single-seat long-range version, known as the Bre 14 B1, was also built in limited numbers during 1918, and was intended to bomb Berlin. In fact it was little used and never mounted an attack on the German capital. Breguet 14 also equipped American and Belgian units during World War I, some powered by Italian Fiat A-12 and A-12bis engines.

Breguet 14’s remained in service in the colonial/TOE throughout the 1920s, equipping many overseas units. A number of foreign countries also flew the type.

We have 2 x 1/30 scale Breguet bombers available priced at $750 plus postage

The figures and accessories are not included and are shown for scale comparison purposes only.