Breguet 16

16

Manufacturer: Breguet
First flight: 1 June 1918
Introduced: 1921
Retired: 1926
Number built: ca. 200

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

Design and development

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 highly promising, and production in mass by several French manufacturers under licences 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.

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 militaries of China and Czechoslovakia.

Variants

Bre.16Bn.2 Night bomber version.

Operators

China

Chinese Nationalist Air Force

Czechoslovakia

Czech Air Force

France

French Air Force

Portugal

Portuguese Air Force

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 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,265 kg (2,789 lb)
Gross weight: 2,200 kg (4,850 lb)
Powerplant: 1 x— Renault 12Fe, 224 kW (300 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph)
Range: 900 km (559 miles)
Service ceiling: 4,600 m (15,090 ft)

Armament

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

Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp. 199.
World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. pp. File 890 Sheet 80-81.

Breguet 16 Pictures and Breguet 16 for Sale.

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Source: WikiPedia