Breguet Bre.5

The Breguet Bre.5 and its derivatives the Bre.6 and Bre.12 were French escort fighter biplanes of World War I.

Design and development
This family was a development and refinement of the escort fighter concept that Breguet had designed to be produced by Michelin as the 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 allocated to bomber units. The British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) operated 35 of these aircraft, 10 purchased from Breguet, and 25 built in the UK by Grahame-White as the G.W.19.

The Bre.6 was an essentially identical machine powered by a Canton-Unné engine, developed in response to fears that production of the Bre.5's Renault engine may have been unable to keep up with demand. It was produced both as an escort fighter and as a bomber.

As the Bre.5 reached obsolescence, a number were remanufactured as Bre.12 night fighters and night bombers. The fighter variants carried the 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon and was equipped with a searchlight.

Variants

 * Bre.5
 * Renault-powered version.


 * Bre.5Ca.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.6B.2
 * Bomber version.


 * Bre.6Ca.2
 * Cannon-armed escort fighter version.


 * Bre.12
 * Bre.5s remanufactured for night fighting


 * Bre.12B.2
 * Night bomber version.


 * Bre.12Ca.2
 * Cannon-armed night fighter version.

Operators

 * French Army
 * Royal Naval Air Service
 * Royal Naval Air Service
 * Royal Naval Air Service