R.U1 no. 40 biplane

In 1908 Louis Breguet abandoned helical winged flight to study and construct aeroplanes. In 1911, as the army was showing an increasing interest in aviation, with his brother Jacques he created the Louis Breguet company. The same year, the pilot Henri Brégi completed the first long-distance flight in Morocco, from Casablanca to Fez, in 2 hours 50 minutes with a passenger on board this military-type biplane. The aircraft’s wooden fuselage is clad with canvas at the front. Its wings’ front edges are reinforced with aluminium and had a system of struts with flexible mounts patented by Breguet. The undercarriage has air-hydraulic springs and the aircraft is powered by an 80-horsepower Salmson Canton-Unné engine with seven cylinders in a star. The aircraft was slightly modified for the Moroccan flight: the upper wings were lengthened and the third seat was removed to make way for the load necessary for the mission. In 1912 the Breguet company donated the biplane to the Conservatoire to show recent progress in aviation.