Bréguet Br 900 Louisette
Bréguet Aviation · France · first flew 1948 · glider
The Bréguet Br 900 Louisette was a short-span, single-seat competition sailplane built in France in the 1940s. Only six production aircraft were built.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, tapered |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × none, embedded-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | plywood fuselage of oval section with a broad rudder reaching between the elevators |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- mid-wing cantilever glider with straight-tapered wings, marked dihedral and small tip fences
- plywood fuselage of oval section with a broad rudder reaching between the elevators
- fixed monowheel with an ash noseskid ahead of it
The wings have narrow ailerons on the outer halves and flaps of the same chord inboard. The straight-tapered horizontal tail folds upwards for transport, and the tow release uses two hooks, one on either side of the fuselage under the wing leading edge.
Specifications
- The Bréguet Br 900 Louisette has a length of 6.5 m (21 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 14.35 m (47 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 180 km/h (112 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
George Ricard designed the wooden mid-wing cantilever monoplane, which was the first glider built by Bréguet, with a comparatively short span of 14.35 m. The first prototype flew on 17 June 1948 and the second in March 1949.
Variants
From the second prototype onwards it had spoilers, at first of DFS type and later Schempp-Hirth brakes. Some production aircraft had taller vertical surfaces, and later aircraft had a smooth single-piece Plexiglas canopy in place of the angular multi-piece one.
Where you'll see it
The second prototype, flown by Paul Lepanse, set a French distance record of 470 km, which was later broken by Roger Biagi in the second production aircraft with 525 km. It was unsuccessful at the international level.
Related aircraft
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