Breguet Br 901 Mouette

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901 Mouette
Displays at the Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget, Paris, France, September 2008 (2).JPG
Breguet Br 901 Mouette (F-CAJA)
RoleSingle seat competition sailplane
National origin France
ManufacturerSociété des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet (Breguet Aviation)
DesignerJean Cayla
First flight11 March 1954
Produced1955-9
Number builtc.36

The Breguet 901 Mouette (English: Seagull) is a very successful single seat French competition sailplane from the 1950s. It was the winner at both the 1954 and 1956 World Gliding Championships.

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.

The World Gliding Championships (WGC) is a gliding competition held every two years or so by the FAI Gliding Commission. The dates are not always exactly two years apart, often because the contests are sometimes held in the summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Contents

Design and development

Breguet's first sailplane, the Type 900 had some success in national competitions but failed to impress at the two World Championships of 1950 and 1952, partly because of its short wingspan. [1] The 901 is a development of this aircraft, retaining its mid wing layout and largely wooden construction. The wing of the 901 is straight tapered and built around a single spar, with a leading edge torsion box and fabric covered aft of the spar. On the 901 the torsion box was skinned with a plywood-klegecell (a plastic foam) sandwich rather than the ply of the 900. At 17.32 m (57 ft 8 in), its span is 2.97 m (9 ft 9 in) greater than the 900, raising the aspect ratio from 12.9 to 20. There are long span, short chord slotted flaps inboard, mid-chord airbrakes and tips finished with small "salmon" fairings. Both designs have plywood skinned fuselages, though that of the 901 is longer in the nose where the cockpit has an extended, single piece canopy. [1] [2] [3]

The Breguet Br 900 Louisette was a short-span, single-seat competition sailplane built in France in the 1940s. It set some French gliding records but was unsuccessful at the international level. Only six production aircraft were built.

Wingspan distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip of an airplane or an animal (insect, bird, bat)

The wingspan of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777-200 has a wingspan of 60.93 metres, and a wandering albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of 3.63 metres, the official record for a living bird. The term wingspan, more technically extent, is also used for other winged animals such as pterosaurs, bats, insects, etc., and other fixed-wing aircraft such as ornithopters. In humans, the term wingspan also refers to the arm span, which is distance between the length from one end of an individual's arms to the other when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at a 90º angle. Former professional basketball player Manute Bol stands at 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) and owns one of the largest wingspans at 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m).

Aircraft fabric covering

Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures, the de Havilland Mosquito being an example of this technique, and on the pioneering all-wood monocoque fuselages of certain World War I German aircraft like the LFG Roland C.II, in its wrapped Wickelrumpf plywood strip and fabric covering.

The first two 901s built retained the curved vertical tail of the 900 [4] [5] but the third [2] [5] had a straight topped shape with a rudder that was straight edged except at the heel. The 901's undercarriage is a retractable monowheel, fitted with a brake, plus a tail bumper. [2]

The 901 flew for the first time in March 1954. In 1956 it was developed into the 901S, which had a fuselage 510 mm (20 in) longer with a similar large area rudder like that of the 901 third prototype. A further development, the 901S1, had a more angular rudder and a fin without a fuselage fillet. [3]

Fin flight control surface

A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fins are also used to increase surface areas for heat transfer purposes, or simply as ornamentation.

Fillet (mechanics) rounded edge or corner of a manufactured object

In mechanical engineering, a fillet is a rounding of an interior or exterior corner of a part design. An interior or exterior corner, with an angle or type of bevel, is called a "chamfer". Fillet geometry, when on an interior corner is a line of concave function, whereas a fillet on an exterior corner is a line of convex function. Fillets commonly appear on welded, soldered, or brazed joints.

Operational history

Gerard Pierre won the 1954 World Gliding Championships in the first prototype 901 only four months after its first flight. The second prototype, flown by G. Rousselet, finished in seventh place. [6] By the time of the 1956 Championships the 901 had been developed into the 901S; Paul MacCready piloted it to a second Breguet championship victory. [6]

Paul MacCready American aeronautical engineer

Paul B. MacCready Jr. was an American aeronautical engineer. He was the founder of AeroVironment and the designer of the human-powered aircraft that won the first Kremer prize. He devoted his life to developing more efficient transportation vehicles that could "Do more with less".

As well as its international achievements the 901 set, and sometimes reset, numerous French national records. [3]

Nine 901S remained on the French register in 2010. [7]

Variants

Production numbers from [5]

901
Original version. Third example had a straight topped vertical tail with a straight edged rudder apart from a rounded heel. Retained fin-fuselage fillet. 3 built.
901S
510 mm longer, larger, tail similar to third 901, modified flaps, heavier. 21 built.
901S1
As 901 but with rudder straight edged without rounded heel, no fillet. 9 built.
901S2
3 built.

Aircraft on display

Of the numerous 901s with French museums, two are on public display:

Specifications (901S)

Data from [3]

General characteristics

Performance

Notes

  1. 1 2 Simons, Martin (2006). Sailplanes 1945-1965 (2nd revised ed.). Königswinter: EQIP Werbung & Verlag GmbH. pp. 59–61. ISBN   3 9807977 4 0.
  2. 1 2 3 Bridgman, Leonard (1956). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1956-57. London: Jane's All the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd. p. 131.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Brütting, Georg (1973). Die berümtesten Segelflugzeuge. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. pp. 141–2. ISBN   3 87943171 X.
  4. ↑ "First prototpye 901 production list" . Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "Breguet production list" . Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Single-Seater Championship Results" (PDF). Gliding. 5 (3): 79. Autumn 1954.
  7. ↑ Partington, Dave (2010). European registers handbook 2010. Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN   978-0-85130-425-0.

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References

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