Breguet Bre.5

The Breguet Bre.5 B.2 bomber

The Breguet Bre.5 B.2 bomber and Breguet Bre.5 Ca.2 escort fighter were French and biplanes of World War I which were developments of the Breguet Bre.4 bomber. The Bre.6 and Bre.12 were in turn developments of the Bre.5

Design and development

This aircraft was a refinement of the escort fighter that Breguet Aviation had designed and was manufactured by Michelin as the Breguet-Michelin BUC. Initially intended to carry the same 37 mm (1.46 in) Hotchkiss cannon that armed the BUC, the Bre.5 was revised at the request of the French Army to carry a 7.7 mm (.303 in) Lewis Gun fired rearward from atop the biplane's upper wing.

Operational history

A small number of cannon-armed machines were produced from April 1916 onwards and allotted to bomber units. The British Royal Naval Air Service operated 35 of which ten came from Breguet, and 25 were built in the United Kingdom by Grahame-White as the G.W.19.
The Bre.6 was similar but powered by a Canton-Unné engine, and was developed in case production of the Bre.5's Renault engine was unable to keep up with demand. It was also produced both as an escort fighter and as a bomber.
As the Bre.5 reached obsolescence, a number were rebuilt as Bre.12 night fighters and night bombers. The fighter carried a 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon and a searchlight.
Variants
Bre.5
Renault-powered version.
Bre 5 B.2
Bomber version.
Bre.5 Ca.2
Cannon-armed escort fighter version.
Grahame White G.W.19
British-built version for RNAS with Rolls-Royce Falcon engine.
Bre.6
Canton-Unné-powered version.
Bre.6 B.2
Bomber version.
Bre.6Ca.2
Cannon-armed escort fighter.
Bre.12
Bre.5s remanufactured for night fighting
Bre.12 B.2
Night bomber.
Bre.12 Ca.2
Cannon-armed night fighter.