Bréguet 693

The Bréguet 690 and its derivatives were a series of light twin-engine ground-attack aircraft that were used by the French Air Force in World War II. The aircraft was intended to be easy to maintain, forgiving to fly, and capable of at . The type's sturdy construction was frequently demonstrated and the armament was effective. French rearmament began two years later than that in Britain and none of these aircraft were available in sufficient numbers to make a difference in 1940.

Design and development

Bréguet 690

The Bréguet 690 had begun life in 1934 as the Bre 630, the Bréguet Aviation entry for the (STAé, Aeronautical Technical Service) specification of October 1934 along with the Hanriot H 220, Loire-Nieuport LN-20, Romano R.110 and the Potez 630. The Bréguet 630 was a twin-engined monoplane with twin tailplanes and Hispano-Suiza 14AB 02/03 (port and starboard) 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, both rotating inwards to limit torque problems if one engine failed. The aircraft was armed with two forward-firing Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon and a 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine-gun firing rearwards for aft defence. The Potez 630 won the C3 competition but Bréguet began construction of the prototype Bréguet 690 in 1935, without an order from the , which was not placed until 26 March 1937. Completion of the Bréguet 690-01 was slowed by a ten-month delay in the delivery of its engines from Hispano-Suiza. The Bre 690-01 was finished in early 1938 and flew on 23 March, revealing no serious design flaws and was sent to the (CEMA, the Air Equipment Test Center) at Vélizy-Villacoublay Air Base for testing.

Bréguet 690-01

The tests showed that the Bre 690-01 performed well, in some aspects surpassing the Potez 630. The encouraging test results led to the order of a hundred Bréguet 691 AB2 (, Two-seater Attack Bomber) on 14 June 1938. Bréguet replaced the navigator's position with a bomb-bay and bomb-racks, the port 20 mm cannon was changed for two 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine-guns, the forward-firing guns capable of being depressed by 15° for ground strafing. The undercarriage was altered, the oil cooler intakes were moved from the wings to the engine nacelles and fuel capacity was increased from . The first hundred Bre 691 aircraft had Hispano-Suiza 14AB10/11 radials and from then the 14 AB 12/13 radials, the first fifty aircraft having Ratier and later aircraft Hamilton-Standard three-bladed, variable-pitch propellers. The order for a hundred aircraft was doubled.

Production

Bréguet quickly established an assembly line and the first production aircraft Bréguet (Bre) 691-01 flew less than a year after being ordered; the type was in service before the end of 1939. As with the Potez 630, the Bre 691 was beset with engine difficulties. Hispano-Suiza had decided to concentrate on its V12 liquid-cooled engines and the 14AB engine was unreliable. The French authorities decided to limit Bréguet 691 production run to 78 aircraft, instead of 100. Orders were placed for another version, the Bre 693 powered by Gnome-Rhône 14M radials. Apart from the different engines, which were of slightly smaller diameter, the two types were virtually identical. Orders for the Bre 691 were switched to the new type and more than 120 of the latter had been completed by the time of the of the Allied defeat in June 1940. Late production versions of the Bre 693 introduced propulsive exhaust pipes that improved top speed by a small margin as well as, according to some sources, another two machine-guns in the rear of each engine nacelle. Belgium ordered 32 licence-built copies but none was completed before the Belgian collapse. French engine makers had even greater difficulties than airframe manufacturers in keeping up with demand from 1938 and in 1939 the French government decided that all combat aircraft had to be adapted for British and US engines. Fewer than 250 Bréguet 690 series aircraft were completed. The received only 211 aircraft, 78 Bre.691s, 124 Bre.693s and nine Bre.695s; the Germans captured several complete or near-complete aircraft at the factories.

Operational history

A small experimental unit had been investigating ground-attack tactics since 1937, initially in outdated biplanes such as the Potez 25, then in ANF Les Mureaux 115 monoplanes. Eventually, the concluded that low-altitude level bombing was more suitable than dive-bombing for engaging enemy vehicles and artillery on the battlefield. The chosen tactic consisted in a hedge hopping approach at maximum speed, followed by a strafing run or the delivery of time-delayed bombs directly over the target. French commanders widely considered this tactic safe for the attackers, as anti-aircraft weapons then in service would be inefficient. The French Army was not using anti-aircraft autocannon at the time (the 25 mm Hotchkiss and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon were issued only later), relying instead on rifle-calibre machine guns and slow-firing guns.

In late 1939, two squadrons transferred from level bomber units were gathered in the small airfield near Vinon-sur-Verdon, where they began their operational training. As Bréguet 691s were not available, the crews flew the Potez 633 light bomber. When they were delivered, the Bréguets were popular with their crews, although the unreliable engines in the Bre 691 affected aircraft serviceability and undercarriage failures proved especially troublesome. Only in March 1940 were the first combat-worthy Bre. 693s delivered and there were now five squadrons to equip, GBA I/51, GBA II/51, GBA I/54, GBA II/54, and GBA II/35 (GBA, , attack bomber squadron), with a theoretical complement of 13 aircraft each.

Because of late deliveries, crews were still working up their new machines and developing tactics when the Battle of France began. On 12 May, GBA I/54 and GBA II/54 performed the Bréguet's first operational sorties, against German motorized columns in the Liège–Tongeren–Maastricht area. German anti-aircraft fire shot down eight of the eighteen Bre.693s. The disastrous results of this first engagement forced the French commanders to reconsider their tactics. Until 15 May, GBA crews performed shallow dive attacks from higher altitude, which resulted in reduced losses but the attacks had clearly been inaccurate, as the Bréguet lacked a bombsight. On subsequent missions, the GBAs reintroduced low-level attacks in smaller formations. As the position of the French and Allied armies grew steadily more desperate, the assault groups were engaged daily, still enduring losses to anti-aircraft fire but also increasingly to German fighters.

In late June, the tried to evacuate its modern aircraft to North Africa, from where many hoped to continue the fight. The short-ranged Bréguets were not deemed able to cross the Mediterranean. Unlike other modern French types, the Bréguet 690 family saw its combat career end with the Armistice. By this time, 104 aircraft had been lost and 14 were written off in November 1940 (most of these had also been destroyed or damaged beyond repair during the campaign). Out of 205 Bréguets delivered to the , 58 per cent were lost. The five GBAs suffered crew casualties of around 50 per cent.

After the Armistice, the Vichy authorities were allowed to maintain a small air force in mainland France and its assault bomber pilots flew rare training flights in the Bre.693 and Bre.695. After Case Anton, the German occupation of all of France in late 1942, some of the survivors in the Italian occupation zone were transferred to Italy but were not used. The Germans ordered the completion of several unfinished aircraft after the Armistice that were used as advanced trainers.

Variants

;Bre 690.01: Bréguet 690 prototype.
;Bre 691.01: Bréguet 691 prototype.
;Bre 691: Two-seat twin-engine ground-attack aircraft.
;Bre 693.01: Bréguet 693 prototype.
;Bre 693: Two-seat twin-engine ground-attack aircraft.
;Bre 694.01: Prototype intended to be two or three-seat tactical reconnaissance aircraft.
:;S 10: Swedish reconnaissance variant of the export Bre 694 which would have had Swedish equipment and armament. 12 ordered but cancelled due to the war.
;Bre 695.01: Bre 695 prototype.
;Bre 695:A conversion of a Bre 693, was not particularly successful, the larger, heavier and higher- drag Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior engines reducing visibility and providing only a minor performance improvement at lower altitudes. Only a few 695s were operationally used before the armistice.
;Bre 696.01:A two-seat light bomber prototype, which was first ordered and then cancelled in favour of the Bre 693.
;Bre 697:Intended as a pre-prototype for the Breguet 700 C2 heavy fighter. Powered by Gnome-Rhône 14N-48/ Gnome-Rhône 14N-49 engines which offered 50% more power than the 14M, the Bre 697 prototype displayed a sensational rate of climb, and was as fast as a Bf 109E. The Bre 700 was expected to offer even higher speed and would have been very heavily armed.
;Bre 810: Bre 693 modified for carrier usage, adopted by the Aeronavale in 1939 for use aboard the Joffre class carriers. Had folding wings and could carry a torpedo.

Operators

;: French Air Force

;
Vichy French Air Force

;: Luftwaffe

;: Regia Aeronautica. Several aircraft captured, never brought back into service.

Specifications (Bre.693 AB.2)

See also

Footnotes

Bibliography

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Further reading

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{{Swedish military aircraft designations

0693
1930s French bomber aircraft
French attack aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1938
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear