Breguet 19 - Record Variants

Record Variants

Both standard and modified Breguet 19s were used for numerous record-breaking flights. The first was the Br.19 prototype, which won a military aircraft speed contest in Madrid on 17 February 1923. On 12 March 1923, it also set an international altitude record of 5,992 m (19,660 ft) carrying a 500 kg (1,100 lb) load. It was later bought by Spanish government.

Many crews made long-distance flights in Br.19s. In February 1925, Thieffry flew from Brussels to Leopoldville in central Africa, a distance of 8,900 km (5,500 mi). Two Br.19 A2s were bought by the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper and fitted with additional fuel tanks. They were flown by H. Abe and K. Kawachi on the Tokyo-Paris-London route in July 1925, covering 13,800 km (8,600 mi). Between 27 August and 25 September 1926, the Polish crew of Boleslaw Orlinski flew the Warsaw-Tokyo route (10,300 km/6,400 mi) and back, in a modified Br.19 A2, despite the fact that one of its lower wings was broken on the way. Between 1927 and 1930, Romanian, Yugoslavian and Polish Br.19s were often used in Little Entente air races.

Breguet 19 GRs and TRs set several world records, mostly of long-distance non-stop flights, starting with Arrachart and Lemaitre's 3,166 km (1,967 mi) flight from Paris to Villa Cisneros in 24½ hours on 2–3 February 1925. On 14–15 July 1926, Girier and Dordilly set a new record of 4,716 km (2,930 mi) between Paris and Omsk, beaten on 31 August-1 September by Challe and Weiser's 5,174 km (3,215 mi), and on 28 October by Dieudonne Costes and Rignot's 5,450 km (3,390 mi). From 10 October 1927-14 April 1928, Costes and Le Brix flew a Br.19 GR (named Nungesser-Coli) around the world, covering 57,000 km (35,418 mi) - though the journey between San Francisco and Tokyo was taken by ship.

The Super Bidon was created especially for the purpose of a transatlantic flight. It was named Point d'Interrogation ("The Question Mark"). Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte set a non-stop distance record of 7,905 km (4,911 mi) from Paris to Moullart on 27–29 September 1929 on this plane. Then on 1–2 September 1930, they flew from Paris to New York City, a distance of 6,200 km (3,900 mi) making the first non-stop east-west crossing by a fixed-wing aircraft of the North Atlantic. The second Super Bidon, the Spanish Cuatro Vientos, vanished over Mexico with M. Barberan and J. Collar Serra, after a transatlantic flight from Seville to Cuba on 10–11 June 1933.