Les Avions Breguet Vol 1 by Henri Lacaze
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Book Review
This is the latest addition to the History of Aviation series from Lela Presse and it comes in a hardback format of 272 pages. The narrative is French throughout, as are all the photo captions. Coverage starts by telling the story of the foundation and early days of Breguet, with details of those behind it, both from the business and design point of view. The narrative then starts to look at all the designs from this firm, starting with a section dedicated to gyroplanes that includes some serious early 'magnificent men in their flying machines' designs! The next section looks at what they call 'trial and error' as various design concepts were tried and tested during the early days of aviation. Next comes a section dedicated to the first series of designs from 1910 through to 1914. This is followed by a section looking at the more successful designs from the Nelly (1912), though to the rather futuristic LE (Laboratoire Eiffel) from 1918. Coverage then moves to the B series, from the BU3 in 1915 to the Type 12. By this stage the coverage deals with one specific design, in this case the well-known Breguet XIV, as well as looking at the 15, 17 and 18. A separate chapter deals with the 19, as well as the 23, 24, 25 and 26. The next section is entitled 'Léviathan' and it deals with the huge Breguet 20, 22, 23 and futuristic 30 and 500T. The next section is short, as it looks at the various one-offs produced by Breguet in the early days such as the Le Colibri (Hummingbird) as well as their development work on propellers. The penultimate section looks at transport aircraft, such as the 28T, 31, 370T etc., and this is followed by the last section, which looks at the Breguet 270. Each of these section is packed full of period images and diagrams, the former showing overall shots of the aircraft plus detailed images of construction, components, engines and equipment.
Conclusion
A superb book, full of information on a manufacturer that has for too long been lacking in such detailed technical and historical coverage. We can but hope some of these designs see the light of day as new injected kits in 1/72nd and 1/48th. This title is highly recommended to all French aviation fans and modellers.
Our thanks to LeLa Presse for the review sample, this should be available from specialist outlets in the UK, but if you have any problems visit their website www.avions-bateaux.com or email contact@avions-bateaux.com
This is the latest addition to the History of Aviation series from Lela Presse and it comes in a hardback format of 272 pages. The narrative is French throughout, as are all the photo captions. Coverage starts by telling the story of the foundation and early days of Breguet, with details of those behind it, both from the business and design point of view. The narrative then starts to look at all the designs from this firm, starting with a section dedicated to gyroplanes that includes some serious early 'magnificent men in their flying machines' designs! The next section looks at what they call 'trial and error' as various design concepts were tried and tested during the early days of aviation. Next comes a section dedicated to the first series of designs from 1910 through to 1914. This is followed by a section looking at the more successful designs from the Nelly (1912), though to the rather futuristic LE (Laboratoire Eiffel) from 1918. Coverage then moves to the B series, from the BU3 in 1915 to the Type 12. By this stage the coverage deals with one specific design, in this case the well-known Breguet XIV, as well as looking at the 15, 17 and 18. A separate chapter deals with the 19, as well as the 23, 24, 25 and 26. The next section is entitled 'Léviathan' and it deals with the huge Breguet 20, 22, 23 and futuristic 30 and 500T. The next section is short, as it looks at the various one-offs produced by Breguet in the early days such as the Le Colibri (Hummingbird) as well as their development work on propellers. The penultimate section looks at transport aircraft, such as the 28T, 31, 370T etc., and this is followed by the last section, which looks at the Breguet 270. Each of these section is packed full of period images and diagrams, the former showing overall shots of the aircraft plus detailed images of construction, components, engines and equipment.
Conclusion
A superb book, full of information on a manufacturer that has for too long been lacking in such detailed technical and historical coverage. We can but hope some of these designs see the light of day as new injected kits in 1/72nd and 1/48th. This title is highly recommended to all French aviation fans and modellers.
Our thanks to LeLa Presse for the review sample, this should be available from specialist outlets in the UK, but if you have any problems visit their website www.avions-bateaux.com or email contact@avions-bateaux.com
