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Breguet Br.690 (Series)

1939 WORLD WAR 2

History

The multi-headed twin-engine heavy attack/ground attack aircraft really came into play in the fighting of World War II (1939-1945) as there were many targets both in the air and on the ground. The workhorse of the war was actually developed in Started before the conflict in the 1930s, the work produced classics such as the American P-38 "Lightning" and the British DH.

98 "Mosquito" and German Messerschmitt Bf 110 (both described elsewhere on this page). The French were instrumental in trying to get a useful twin-engine heavy fighter, and the Breguet 690 series was a product of this period.

The Breguet 690 stems from a 1934 request by the French Air Ministry for a new three-seat, twin-engine, state-of-the-art heavy fighter. Breguet engineers opted for an aircraft that exceeded the weight limit set by the French authorities, thus enabling the competing Potez 630 series to meet the requirements.

Breguet sticks to their Bre. 690, now a private company and trying to support the French Air Force with a heavier, more powerful and more versatile strike platform.

The prototype was completed in 1937, but it was not until 1938 that it finally flew without an engine on its first test flight on March 23, 1938.

The French Air Force likes the fast and powerful Type 690 they see and is interested in ground attack platform development and theory elsewhere. The Breguet 690 seemed to be just the ticket, and the modern design finally came to fruition in June 1938, with an order for a 100-person two-seat light attack bomber known as the Bre. 691 AB2".

The order will grow only when war with Germany becomes inevitable and there is a precedent for the modernization of the French Armed Forces.

Finished Bre. The 691 offered a streamlined profile with its two crew members positioned in a straight line. Relying on a mid-mounted single-wing plane, while the empennage is arranged in a twin-rudder configuration. The landing gear - in the form of a "rear tug" - is retractable to the tail wheel. All positions except the back station are closed with window glass.

The engine nacelles were designed to be placed far away along the leading edges of their respective wings - allowing the pilot to clearly see each unit while limiting the critical field of view from the cockpit. Due to the low expected working altitude of the Br.

691 attack aircraft, the crew was protected by armor and the fuel tanks were self-sealing compartments.

Bre used as an attack platform. The nose of the 691 was armed with a 1 x 20mm cannon and 2 7.5mm machine guns (another benefit of having the engines mounted on the wings was the concentration of fire from the hollowed-out nose section).

One gunner mounted a 7.5mm machine gun on a flexible mount in the dorsal (backward) position, and another 7.5mm machine gun on the ventral side - although this unit was fixed in place only to fire backwards. An internal bomb bay carries 800 pounds to 1,000 pounds of conventional intermediate storage, designed to allow the aircraft to conduct dive bombing attacks on targets.

Bray. 690.01 Specifies a bre that is unique to the tag. 690 prototype, and the Br. 691. 01 played the same role in the development of the Bre. The 691, the first production car in the form of a two-seater ground attack. Bray. The 693.01 was another prototype used to develop the Bre. 693 people followed.

These carry 700 hp Gnome-Rhone 14M (M-6 or M-7) series radial engines, each driving a three-bladed variable-pitch propeller. Bray. 694. 01 is a proposed two- or three-seat tactical reconnaissance platform and Bre. The 691. 05 was created as another prototype, which should cover Bre. 695.

Bray. The 695 is based on Bre. 694 and Pratt & Whitney R. 1535 "Twin Wasp Junior" radial piston engine. The switch to larger US engines resulted in poor pilot visibility and only a slight improvement in low-altitude performance.

Bray. The 696 became a two-seater prototype bomber, ordered before the Bre's arrival. 693. Bray. The 696 name was used to develop the proposed Bre. 700 C2 - for heavy fighter jets. This version will be powered by 2 x Gnome-Rhone 14N-48 or 14N-49 engines with more power. The German invasion of France in 1940 ended all hope of design.

The demand for modern aircraft in the French Air Force was so great that the 691 Br. 691 was in service by the end of 1939 - the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, which started the Second World War.

The series was also intended to strengthen the beleaguered Belgian Air Force, but was not delivered before the country sank. Breguet quickly built production lines to be able to deliver its combat machines on time, with the French Air Force totaling 211 Bres. There were 690 fighters in his stablesmostly mine.

Type 693 (128 cases). Ground attack training only started and intensified around 1937, when it was too late to have any impact on the French cause.

So, Bray. When Germany invaded France in May 1940, 690 sailors were overwhelmed - the French campaign was underway. By this time the Germans had perfected their tactics in Spain, Poland, Belgium and elsewhere. Bray. The 693, which was successfully organized and airborne using low-altitude bombing techniques, performed poorly.

The self-sealing fuel tanks were also not as effective as advertised, and the aircraft took a serious hit against the mighty German air defenses. Switch to advanced dive bomb tactics, but this will only reduce accuracy.

Bray when all hope is lost. The 690 Lot was to be delivered to the French colonial army in North Africa. The engine's inherent range prevented this move, and the aircraft remained on French soil when France surrendered in June 1940. Some of the surviving stocks were turned over to the French Vichy government for local use, while others were employed by the Italians as trainers.

Interestingly, the Germans did not include this aircraft in their own inventory - a practice perfected by their many conquests in Europe. The Breguet Bre's days thus ended. 690 series.

The performance of the final bre. 693 AB. 2 includes a top speed of 305 mph (cruising close to 250 mph), a range of 840 miles and a service ceiling of up to 27,890 feet. The climb rate is 1,820 feet per minute. This variant carries 1 x 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.

404 cannons and 2 x 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns in nose, a pair of 7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns in dorsal (flexible) and ventral (fixed) positions. The reported bomb load was 1,015 pounds.