Breguet Nautilus

The Breguet 790 Nautilus was a prototype French three-seat coastal patrol flying-boat designed and built by Breguet Aviation to meet a requirement from the French navy.

Development
The Nautilus had a high-set monoplane wing on a single-step hull, the wing was fabric covered and the hull all-metal. The aircraft was powered by a 720 hp (537 kW) Hispano-Suiza 12Xirs V-12 piston engine strut mounted above the hull driving a pusher propeller.

The first of two prototypes flew in 1939 and performed well enough that a production order for 75 was placed. The order was reduced to 45 in May 1940 in order to free production capacity for more urgently needed combat aircraft, but none were built following the German invasion.

Variants

 * Breguet 790
 * Basic three-seat coastal reconnaissance aircraft, powered by 720 hp Hispano-Suiza 12Xirs engine. Two prototypes built.


 * Breguet 791
 * Proposed version powered by single 660 hp Gnome-Rhône 14M radial engine. Unbuilt.


 * Breguet 792
 * Proposed version for ship-based reconnaissance aircraft, powered by two 360 hp Béarn 6 air cooled inline engines. Unbuilt.