The Bréguet 17 was a two-seat biplane fighter developed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

towards the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and operated by that country during the 1920s.

Design and development

The Bréguet 17 was a derivative of the highly successful 14

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

, but somewhat scaled down and carrying a more powerful engine and heavier

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

armament in place of a bomb load. The

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

was impressed enough to place orders for 1,000 of these aircraft during 1918, to be delivered the following year. The end of World War I ended these plans, but some limited production did take place into the early 1920s.

Operational history

The type was operated as the Bre.17C.2 with several escadrilles as a supplement to existing aircraft, but never formed the basis for any one unit on its own. A single example was converted into a prototype

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

, but no production ensued.

Variants

;Bre.17C.2 :Main production version. ;Bre.17 :Night fighter prototype.

Operators

; *

Specifications

References

* * {{Breguet aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes with negative stagger 1910s French fighter aircraft 0017 Aircraft first flown in 1918