World War 2 In Review: Bréguet 460 Series: French Bomber

Bréguet 462.

The Bréguet 460 Vultur was a French bomber of the 1930s. Few of these twin-engined monoplanes and its variant, the Bréguet 462 Vultur, were built. At least one Bréguet 460 was sold to the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.

The Bréguet 460 was a light bomber initially based on the plane type labeled as Multiplace de Combat, a multi-functional aircraft, by the French aviation authorities. Eventually the prototype was modified in 1934 departing from the parameters set for its predecessor, the Bréguet 413, in order to meet the requirements of a high-speed bomber for the French Air Force.

The resulting plane was a monoplane fitted with two powerful radial Gnome et Rhône 14Kjrs engines and had more aerodynamic appearance, although it kept the tail of the obsolete Bréguet 413. Owing to technical difficulties production was delayed and when the first prototype of the Bréguet 460 Vultur flew it could not achieve the 400 km/h (250 mph) required for a high speed bomber. Thus the French Air Ministry lost interest in this unit and concentrated on projects by other companies such as the Amiot 340 and the LeO 45. These planes, however, would not be ready until three years later.

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War provided the French aircraft industry with a good opportunity both for getting rid of obsolete aircraft and for testing new developments. Therefore it is in this context that the Bréguet 460 prototypes ended up in the Spanish Republican Air Force. One of the units seen in a picture of the Spanish conflict has an improved, more modern tail of the same type that would be used later for the Bréguet 470 Fulgur airliner.

The number and the fate of the Bréguet 460 Vultur units in the Spanish Republican Air Force are obscure as is common with most of the flying units of the loyalist air arm during the conflict. It is known that one of these aircraft was based at the Celrà airfield towards the end of the conflict and that it belonged to the Night Flight Group no. 11, which comprised the Vultur and two Bloch MB.210. This particular Bréguet 460 crashed in the sea near L’Escala and all the crew perished in the crash.

The Bréguet Bre.462 was a modernized version of the Bréguet 460, although still very similar, that made its first test flight towards the end of 1936. The front part of the fuselage was redesigned to look more aerodynamic and the plane was fitted with two Gnome Rhone 14NO engines that allowed it to reach a speed of 402 km/h (250 mph). Flight described it as similar to the Bréguet 461 that was supplied to Japan in 1935 A planned installation of 1,350 hp engines was expected to give it a speed of around 300 mph. Bombload was 1076 kg. Defensive armament was a forward-firing 20 mm cannon and two rear-firing machine guns.

Only three Bréguet 462 were built. Two of them served in the Vichy French Air Force where they didn’t see much action. They ended up being scrapped in 1942.

Role: Bomber aircraft

National origin: France

Manufacturer: Breguet Aviation

First flight: 1935

Crew: 5

Length: 12.84 m (42 ft 2 in)

Wingspan: 20.58 m (67 ft 6 in)

Height: 4.10 m (13 ft 5 in)

Wing area: 60 m2 (650 sq ft)

Gross weight: 8,200 kg (18,078 lb)

Powerplant: 2 × Gnome-Rhône 14Kdrs 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 600 kW (804 hp) 815 cv each

Maximum speed: 400 km/h (249 mph; 216 kn)