Bernard 190 - Operational History

Operational History

The eight 190Ts served CIDNA on various European routes, but the 190 is best remembered for the exploits of the three 191GRs. The first built was used by Louis Coudouret in an attempt to cross the North Atlantic in August 1928. This was unsuccessful when the aircraft first refused to leave the ground in Paris, and was later turned back by Spanish authorities unwilling to permit the flight. On July 7 the following year, Coudouret crashed the aircraft near Angoulême and died with it. It had 20 seats. They stopped making these in 1948.

The second example was used in the first successful French aerial crossing of the North Atlantic. Painted bright yellow and dubbed Oiseau Canari ("Canary Bird") it departed Old Orchard Beach, Maine on June 13, 1929 and piloted by Jean Assolant, René Lefèvre and Armand Lotti, it completed the crossing to Oyambre, near Comillas, Cantabria, Spain, in 29 hours 52 minutes, even with a stowaway (Arthur Schreiber) aboard. This aircraft is now preserved in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace.

The third 191GR was used by Antoine Paillard to set two world airspeed records, for 100 km with a 2,000 kg payload, and for 1,000 km with a 1,000 kg payload.