Restauravia Breguet 14.

[Ferry_vO]

Not sure if this was mentioned here before, but there's a pretty nice Breguet 14 mailplane on the Restauravia website available:

 

[blanston12]

Looks very interesting, I will be trying this out tonight.

 

[blanston12]

I gave her a spin and really like her. I do have one question about it I could not figure out, those square-ish pods under the wings, there are on one of the two models, I assume they are fuel tanks but could not find out anything about them. Anyone have any idea's?

 

[Ferry_vO]

I think those are cargo pods, used for presumably mail.

 

[blanston12]

Cargo pods are possible, but they seam small and oddly shaped for cargo pods, especially considering how much you could carry if you just removed the front cockpit and used it for storage, which is what they did to make the Type 14T, putting a cabin with 3 seats between the pilot and the engine. But as fuel tanks they are mounted very low for a WW1 era aircraft where they preferred to put the tank in the upper wing so gravity would help fuel flow.

Then I read that Pierre-Georges Latécoère conducted experiments in inflight refueling using Breguet 14's, so I wonder, given that we have two Type 14's in this package with almost the same paint but different registration numbers and one with these strange tanks and one without, were these supposed to be the aircraft used in that inflight refueling experiment. There the low mounted fuel tanks would not be a problem since of the experiments I have read about, it normally involved lowering a hose from the tanker down to the other aircraft.

 

[blanston12]

But I also just found this:

During 1919 Breguet 14 made a number of long-distance flights and Louis Breguet founded the Compagnie des Messageries Aeriennes with them, making regular air mail flights linking Paris with Brussels and London. These Bre 14 had special mail containers fitted under the wings. A cabin version with provision for two passengers was built as the Breguet 14T.

That supports the idea that the pods under the wing were cargo/mail containers.


The source of the quote is here: http://all-aero.com/index.php/59-planes-b-c/1875-breguet-bre14

 

[Roger]

The website seems to be presently unavailable

 

[dhazelgrove]

Do not try the link in the first post. It does lead to a download link, but that link has been compromised.

Dave

 

[blanston12]

I did that when I first clicked on the link, it tried to install something that required flash. I immediately closed that window and clicked on it a second time and the file downloaded.

Edit: The original link seams to be a mirror of there main site, which is http://restauravia.fr/

 

[Roger]

It's coming down at 34kbs and then fails over and over again. I tried the main site (which is where I'm downloading from), thanks Blanston for your suggestion.

 

[Roger]

Got it now

 

[Alan_A]

Looking forward to hearing some more reactions. Quite interested in this - I think my avatar needs one...