Breguet 25

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Breguet 25
Breguet XXV side view L'Aeronautique January,1926.png
RoleTwo seat fighter aircraft
National origin France
Manufacturer Breguet Aviation
First flight1925 if flown
Number built1

The Breguet 25 or XXV was a French two seat fighter (military category C.2) from 1925. It was heavily armed, carrying seven machine guns.

France Republic with mainland in Europe and numerous oversea territories

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Machine gun fully automatic mounted or portable firearm

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire rifle cartridges in rapid succession from an ammunition belt or magazine for the purpose of suppressive fire. Not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns. Submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, battle rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. As a class of military rapid-fire guns, machine guns are fully automatic weapons designed to be used as support weapons and generally used when attached to a mount- or fired from the ground on a bipod or tripod. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, features not normally found on rifles.

Contents

Development

The Breguet 25 was a single bay sesquiplane with a lower wing area only 28% that of the upper. The dominant upper wing was straight-edged and swept, its chord increasing outboard because the long, wide ailerons broadened towards angled tips. The sweep was 5.25° and dihedral about 1°. The lower wing had the same sweep but no dihedral. Its wings were braced together by a single, strongly outward-leaning, faired interplane strut on each side. A short cabane held the upper wing closely above the fuselage. The wing spars and ribs were metal but the wings were fabric covered. [1]

Chord (aeronautics) imaginary straight line joining the leading and trailing edges of an aerofoil

In aeronautics, a chord is the imaginary straight line joining the leading and trailing edges of an aerofoil. The chord length is the distance between the trailing edge and the point on the leading edge where the chord intersects the leading edge.

Aileron aircraft control surface used to induce roll

An aileron is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll, which normally results in a change in flight path due to the tilting of the lift vector. Movement around this axis is called 'rolling' or 'banking'.

Dihedral (aeronautics)

Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft. "Anhedral angle" is the name given to negative dihedral angle, that is, when there is a downward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft.

The engine mountings of the Breguet 25 could accommodate a Lorraine 12E Courlis W12, a Renault V12, a Hispano-Suiza 12G W12 or a Hispano-Suiza 12H V12, all with power in the range 340–360 kW (450–480 hp). A photo and drawing of the aircraft in June 1925 show it with a V12, rather than a W12 engine and with its retractable radiator mounted below the engine. Behind the engine the fuselage had a structure of steel tubes held together by moulded connections. [2] The engine mounting and forward fuselage, including the cockpit area, were covered in light metal. The pilot's open cockpit was under the trailing edge of the upper wing, which had a large cutout to allow him to see upwards; his forward view was between the wing and the fuselage. He controlled four fixed machine guns, a pair of Vickers guns firing through the propeller and a pair of Darnes on the wings. The gunner's post had three machine guns, with a pair of Lewis guns on a flexible mount and a third firing downwards and rearwards. [1]

Lorraine 12E Courlis W-12 piston aircraft engine family

The Lorraine 12E Courlis was a W-12 aero engine produced in France during the 1920s and 1930s.

W12 engine piston engine with 12 cylinders in W configuration

A W12 engine is a twelve cylinder piston internal combustion engine in a W configuration. W12 engines have been manufactured in two distinct configurations. The original W12 configuration used three banks of four cylinders coupled to a common crankshaft, with 60° angles between the banks. These were used in several aircraft engine designs from the 1920s, notably the Napier Lion and various French engines. The more recent configuration, used in the Volkswagen Group W12, uses four rows of three cylinders merged into two 'cylinder banks', coupled to a common crankshaft.

V12 engine piston engine with 12 cylinders in vee configuration

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders each, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft. Since each cylinder bank is essentially a straight-six which is by itself in both primary and secondary balance, a V12 inherits perfect primary and secondary balance no matter which V angle is used, and therefore it needs no balance shafts. A four-stroke 12 cylinder engine has an even firing order if cylinders fire every 60° of crankshaft rotation, so a V12 with cylinder banks at a multiples of 60° will have even firing intervals without using split crankpins. By using split crankpins or ignoring minor vibrations, any V angle is possible. The 180° configuration is usually referred to as a "flat-twelve engine" or a "boxer" although it is in reality a 180° V since the pistons can and normally do use shared crankpins. It may also be written as "V-12", although this is less common.

The rear part of the fuselage had a ovoid cross section, formed around the steel tube structure with stringers and fabric covered. The Type 25 used the same tail unit as the Breguet 19, with a triangular fin and straight-edged rudder. A triangular tailplane was mounted on top of the fuselage and carried balanced elevators. [1]

Longeron

In engineering, a longeron is a load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural frameworks.

Breguet 19 aircraft

The Breguet 19 was a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, also used for long-distance flights, designed by the French Breguet company and produced from 1924.

Rudder device to steer a vehicle

A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other conveyance that moves through a fluid medium. On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane. A rudder operates by redirecting the fluid past the hull (watercraft) or fuselage, thus imparting a turning or yawing motion to the craft. In basic form, a rudder is a flat plane or sheet of material attached with hinges to the craft's stern, tail, or after end. Often rudders are shaped so as to minimize hydrodynamic or aerodynamic drag. On simple watercraft, a tiller—essentially, a stick or pole acting as a lever arm—may be attached to the top of the rudder to allow it to be turned by a helmsman. In larger vessels, cables, pushrods, or hydraulics may be used to link rudders to steering wheels. In typical aircraft, the rudder is operated by pedals via mechanical linkages or hydraulics.

The landing gear was conventional and fixed. On each side a tapered metal leg, narrow near the ground and broadening upwards, angled slightly outwards. It was attached to the engine mounting and carried each end of a single axle. The shock absorbers were contained within the wheels. At the tail the free end of a short strut, hinged to the fuselage, was fixed to a vertical shock absorber within the rudder post, with the tailskid rubber mounted from it. [1]

Landing gear aircraft part which supports the aircraft while not in the air

Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft and may be used for either takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally both. It was also formerly called alighting gear by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin Company.

There are no reports of the first flight of the Breguet 25 in the French press, nor of further developments.

Specifications

Data from Les Ailes, June 1925 [1]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 235 km/h (146 mph; 127 kn) at 2,000 m (6,600 ft)
  • Service ceiling: 7,500 m (24,600 ft)
  • Time to altitude: 20 min 30 sec to 5,000 m (16,000 ft) [2]
  • Minimum speed:80 km/h (50 mph; 43 kn)

Armament

  • Two fixed, forward firing Darne machine guns
  • Two fixed, forward firing (through propeller disc) Vickers gun machine guns
  • Paired Lewis guns on flexible mount in gunner's post
  • Single downward firing Lewis gun in gunner's post

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Serryer, J. (18 June 1925). "L'avion Louis Bréguet XXV". Les Ailes (209): 2–3.
  2. 1 2 "Avions Breguet". L'Aéronautique. 80: 13. January 1926.
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