The Breguet 14, the most famous French two-seater biplane military aircraft with a pusher propeller, began its existence in the company’s workshops in Vélizy-Villacoublay in the summer of 1916. It was produced from March 1917 to 1928 and was not retired from service in French military aviation until 1932. The prototype, designated Breguet AV Type XIV, made its first flight on November 21, 1916. The first prototype AV.1 is sometimes still referred to as Breguet 13 (the second with that designation).
The letters AV (Avant) in the prototype’s designation indicated the front placement of the newly created 12-cylinder Renault engine. Its angular, fabric-covered wings and fuselage featured a structure made of duralumin, steel, and wood; ailerons were present on both the upper and lower wings. The pilot and gunner-observer sat in open tandem cockpits. The aircraft had a robust chassis with a common axle and was equipped with a reliable Renault engine featuring a rectangular frontal radiator.
On March 6, 1917, an order was placed for 150 reconnaissance aircraft. By the end of the year, the number of orders totaled 2,650 units; this type was produced in bomber and reconnaissance variants by the Breguet company and five licensed companies. The reconnaissance variant Br.XIV (Br.14) A.2 was equipped with a camera, a radio transmitter, and racks for four light bombs.
The bomber prototype, which made its test flight in the spring of 1917, had ailerons and flaps on the lower wing and an increased wingspan compared to the A.2 model. Transparent panels were present on the sides of the observer’s cockpit; sections of the lower wing’s leading edge, alongside the fuselage, protruded slightly forward to accommodate Michelin bomb racks. Both variants had sliding panels in the floor of both cockpits, allowing observation of the ground. Br.14 B.2 aircraft carried out many impressive daytime raids in combat formation deep into German territory.
WWI Operations
In 1918, in an attempt to improve lateral control, horn-compensated ailerons were introduced. At the same time, the lower wing’s span was increased on the Br.14 A.2 (and reduced on the Br.14 B.2), and the shape of its tips was corrected. The flaps disappeared from the lower wing of the Br.14 B.2, thus eliminating the need for the originally present leading-edge protrusions for installing Michelin bomb racks, which were eventually replaced by improved design racks.
The Renault 12F engine was refined to develop 300 hp; nevertheless, many alternative powerplants were tested. Among them were engines such as the 400 hp Renault 12K, the 300 hp Fiat A.12bis, and the 400 hp Liberty. Plans to build many Breguet 14 aircraft with Fiat and Liberty engines for military service were canceled in 1919 due to the end of the war.
At that time, Breguet 14 B.2 aircraft were in service with 15 squadrons of the 1st Bomber Brigade, while Br.14 A.2 aircraft flew in 12 daytime reconnaissance squadrons and 19 squadrons belonging to the French Army’s aviation. Five independent army divisions each had a squadron of Br.14 A.2s. In total, 27 squadrons of Br.14 A.2s were attached to heavy artillery regiments. Other wartime variants included the single-seat Br.14 B.1 bomber, which did not enter large-scale production, and the Br.14S ambulance variant. An experiment was conducted in 1917 to use the Breguet 14 for rapid evacuation of wounded from near the front line. In 1918, four Br.14S ambulance aircraft, each capable of carrying two stretchers, were used at the front.
Post-War Variants and Adaptations
By late 1918, Breguet 14 aircraft were used by 14 squadrons in Greece, Serbia, and the Middle East, but it was in France’s overseas possessions that they achieved great renown for over a decade between the two world wars. The variant used in more remote colonies was designated Breguet 14 TOE (Théâtres des Opérations Extérieures). In total, by December 1918, 5,300 Breguet 14 aircraft had been built.
Three squadrons of the A.2 variant and six squadrons of the B.2 variant formed part of the French Occupation Forces, based in Western Germany from 1919. Other aircraft supported French intervention troops during the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution of 1917. A small number of Breguet 14 aircraft with Fiat engines and 24 Br.14 A.2s with Renault 12FeR engines (equipped with Rateau superchargers for improved high-altitude performance) were built. The Breguet 14 was widely exported and served in the air forces of Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Siam, Spain, and Yugoslavia. In the French army, it played an active role in fierce battles with Syrian and Moroccan rebels throughout the 1920s, and in Morocco until 1934.
By September 1926, 301 Breguet 14 A.2 aircraft and several Br.14 B.2 bombers were in use in French Morocco, supplemented by 52 Breguet 14T bis Sanitaire (ambulance) biplanes. France persistently pursued air ambulance for evacuating wounded from combat zones and built this civil variant in some numbers for overseas operation. In 1923 alone, Breguet ambulance aircraft evacuated 870 wounded in Lebanon and Morocco. The United States Air Service in France, which used Breguet 14 aircraft in its daytime bomber squadrons in 1918, acquired several Br.14 Et.2 training variants. These aircraft were used in significant numbers as trainers in French military aviation throughout the 1920s.
Making its first flight in 1919, a civil variant retained the pilot’s rear cockpit. The front fuselage section was increased in diameter to accommodate a two-seat cabin, with an entry door on the right side; several such aircraft were used by the C.M.A. (Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes) airline on domestic routes (as well as flights to London and Brussels) parallel to standard Breguet 14 aircraft equipped with underwing mailboxes.
This variant appeared in 1921, featuring a heavily modified cabin with four windows on each side, above which were four portholes in the upper deck. Fuel was stored in streamlined tanks, one on each side under the upper wing, closer to the root from the inner row of interplane struts; the cabin occupied the space where the front cockpit and fuel tanks were previously located. Lignes Aériennes Latecoere airline used over 100 Breguet 14 aircraft in the early 1920s, mainly the Br.14T bis model, on many of its routes, starting from Toulouse and Barcelona.
The French Navy tested military Breguet 14 variants as floatplanes: with two floats and with a large central float plus two stabilizing ones at the wingtips. Apparently, the use of Br.14 floatplanes was limited to a few Br.14T bis ambulance examples in colonial territories. Five civilian Br.14 bis floatplanes were used for several years in French Guiana.
Aerial Milestones and Legacy
With such demand for aircraft of this type, it is not surprising that after the war, production of the A.2 and B.2 variants from 1919 to 1928 totaled over 2,500 units (in 1925 alone, the French budget included funds for the acquisition of 376 Breguet 14 A.2s and 95 Breguet 14T bis ambulance aircraft). They were produced by no less than 19 different firms, not including the Breguet company. The last examples were withdrawn from service in 1932.
The Breguet 14 made several outstanding long-distance flights. In January 1919, Captain Coli and Lieutenant Roget twice crossed the Mediterranean, flying approximately 1609 km. On April 5 of the same year, Lieutenant Roget flew from Lyon to Rome and then to Nice, and subsequently, a new French distance record was set by Coli and Roget when they flew a distance of 1900 km between Le Bourget and Kenitra (Morocco).
Technical Specifications
| Modification | Bre.14 A.2(B.2) |
| Wingspan, m | 14.36 |
| Length, m | 8.87 |
| Height, m | 3.30 |
| Wing area, m2 | 49.20 |
| Empty weight | 1086 |
| Normal takeoff weight | 1765 |
| Engine type | 1 Piston engine Renault 12 Fox |
| Power, hp | 1 x 300 |
| Maximum speed, km/h | 177 |
| Cruising speed, km/h | 152 |
| Flight endurance, h | 2.30 |
| Maximum rate of climb, m/min | 278 |
| Service ceiling, m | 5800 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Armament | one 7.7-mm Vickers machine gun, installed on the left side of the fuselage, and a twin 7.7-mm Lewis machine gun on a ring mount in the observer’s cockpit. Bomb load up to 40 kg in the reconnaissance variant and up to 300 kg in the bomber variant. |
Image and diagram gallery of the Breguet 14
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