- Yes in regular tech tree
- Yes in premium
- Yes in event reward
- No
Hello, today i will present you the ultimate version of Breguet 690 built, the Breguet 697 C2.
Part I Genesis
Résumé
During the Interwar period, the Ateliers Louis Breguets produces several version of a a two-seat attack aircraft : the breguet 690.
This plane is available in different versions, the best known of which is the Breget 693 AB 2 (already present in games). By the way for those who don’t know, “AB” is for “Attacker Bomber” and “2” for the number of crew.
Subsequently, the engineers of the Breguet Atelier decided to build a fighter version of their Breguet 693 without a bomb but equipped with better motorization and better armament in order to intercept enemy bombers.
This is how the concept of the Breguet 697 C2 and its production version, the Breguet 700 C2, appeared. In this post we will focus only on the prototype version
Again the number 2 designating the number of crew. As for C, it is the first letter of the word “Chasseur”: hunter in English.
At present, there are no longer any photos of these planes and you will quickly understand why. However, these aircraft share litteraly,the same cell as the Breguet 691, and apart from a few minor differences in size, the appearance is almost the same.
Part II History
Résumé
It will be short .
After put 2 engine Gnome & Rhones on the Breguet 691 number 17, the new planes, renamed Br697 C2 made its first flight on October 19, 1939 at Villacoubay. Designed as a demonstrator, this aircraft made such a good impression on the authorities that a production version, the Breguet 700, was ordered immediately after.
This will never happen because of the defeat of France in June 40.
And the breguet 697 01 in all this? Between these two periods he continued these tests on the base of Villacoubay and seems to have been armed following an incident which enraged the test pilots.
During the Battle of France, a German Heinkel plane comes to taunt the pilots who were testing their planes in the air. Now these had at that time armed planes but… without ammunition.
On their return to the base, the pilots demanded that the next flights, including with civil aircraft, be made with loaded machine guns. However, only the gunsmith of the base was authorized to do this kind of manipulation. However, he agreed to load the weapons. Subsequently the pilots took to the air again, determined to use their weapons if they again encountered a German plane. This did not last because they had the unpleasant surprise to discover that the armourer loaded the ammunition in bulk so as to make them unusable. The ammunition being used only as weight for the tests, there was actually no question of giving operational weapons to civilian pilots.On June 13, 1940, faced with the advance of German troops towards Villacoubay, test pilot Maurice Claisse took off with the Breguet 697 at 11 a.m. and evacuated the area only a few hours before the Germans arrived, but 3 days later, he had to resolve to burn his plane to prevent it from being taken by the germans and the story of the breguet 697 ended there.
Part III Characteristics
Résumé
The Breguet 697 is distinguished from the Breguet 693 by two things: its armament and its motorization. For the armement, the place and number of machine gun is inchanged,except for one difference: as I said the Breguet 697 uses a Breguet 691 cell, but unlike the breguet 693 the front machine guns are semi-fixed on the breguet 691: they can point from an angle of 0° to -15°. This change is effected by pneumatic pressure.
Moreover, the plane receive 3 news gun of 20 mm of Hispano Suiza. With 90 ammunition per gun, we get a total of 360 ammo of 20 mm.
At the same time on the French side, only the SNCASE SE100 could claim better armament.
SNCASE SE 100, a prototype heavy fighter
For the motorisation, contrary at Breguet 693 version which have Gnome and Rhone 14M engines and Breguet 695 version which have Pratt and Whitney engines, the Breguet 697 has a Gnôme & Rhône 14N 48 on the left and a Gnome and Rhone 14N 49 on the right .What is the difference? The two engines turn in opposites sides. The characteristics of these engines are as follows: 1,070 hp restored at 3,700 m 2400 turn/minute.
At my knowledge, there are already in game only 2 others french planes which have this engines: The M.B.174A-3 and the M.B 162 An improved version of this engine, the 14 R is currently in game with the MB 157. Thanks to this power boost, the aircraft obtains a maximum speed of 570 km/h at 5000 m and an exceptional climb speed of 13.75 m/s allowing it to reach 4000 m in 4min 53 s and 6000 m in 7 min 18 . For comparison, this is more than the BF109 B.
However, Maurice Claisse, its test pilot and last man to have flown it, indicated that he reached the speed of 650 km/hour at 13,200 feet, or 4,023.36 meters if I was not mistaken in my conversion calculations.
Concerning the reliability of this information, it is indicated to us on page 6 of the magazine “Pionnier” of July 1, 2001 devoted to the biography of the pilot. The problem being that most of the documents having been destroyed to avoid falling into the hands of the Germans, we are somewhat obliged to take his word for it.
However, this information should be taken with caution.
In fact I have not found it anywhere else except in the book “Les Ailes de Glories” which indicates a similar speed for the Breguet 700 C2.
On the other hand, if this information proves accurate, the Breguet 697 could well be one of the fastest twin-engined, if not the fastest, twin-engined aircraft of the year 1940
At default chapter, Breguet 697 suffer of poor visibility because the 14N engines were bigger that the 14M. To remedy this problem, the cockpit had to be moved forward in relation to the wings on the Breguet 700 C2.
To summarize
Résumé
Breguet 697 C2
4 x 20mm cannons with 90 shells each
- 2 x 7.5mm machine guns in front with 500 bullets each with a firing angle of 0° to -15°+2 x 7.5mm machine guns in front .
Max speed 570km/h at 4500 m and 650 km/h at 13.200 feet or 4023,36 m (According to its test pilot)
Finally, why add Br 697 in game?
Résumé
-prop plane with 100 % french design
-Airplane easy to model sharing a lot of common points (airframes and cockpits with the Breguet 693 AB 2 already present in games)
-French equivalent to the english Beaufighter
-Excellent firepower, superior to that of all French aircraft present in the tree built before 1940
-Excellent speed (650 km/h) for an aircraft of its category, climb rate superior at all the BF110, HS 129B and Me410 present in games.
-2360 HP (against 1340 HP for Breguet 693)
-Likely to fill the gaps in the French aerial tree
-Upgraded version of Breguet 693
Sources
Résumé
Les ailes de gloires 1, Les avions d’assaut 690 à 695, Patrick MARCHAND, Junko TAKAMORI
édition Indochine
Nowa Technika Wojskowa 2000 Nr-02
Vers les sommets BREGUET 1919-1939 by Gérard HARTMANN
Le Fanatique de l’aviation édition Larivière n° 193 & 194
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnome_et_Rhône_14N
samolotypolskie.pl - Breguet 690
https://www-airwar-ru.translate.goog/enc/bww2/br691.html?
Thanks to Frizare to whom I owe the first image of this post found on the following site
Etienne Dhont perso - De l'illustration à la décalcomanie
The page 6 of the magazine “Pionnier” of July 1, 2001 indicating a maximum speed of 650 km/h at 13,200 feet.
Pionniers : revue aéronautique trimestrielle des Vieilles tiges | 2001-07-01 | Gallica
Icare | 1970-03-01 | Gallica“Breguet 697”?rk=64378;0
