The Company named for the pioneering aircraft designer Louis Breguet, designed several jet-powered V/STOL concepts in the 1950s, although none of them were actually built. Louis Breguet and Michel Wilbault, who had originally proposed the concept for lift used on the Harrier, conducted a series of studies during 1954-1955, until Breguet's death in May 1955. Wilbault continued leading the V/STOL studies at Breguet for several more years.

Br 1010 Apterion

Vectored Thrust

The Br. 1010 Apterion, designed in 1954-55, was a ground attack aircraft. The BE 52 was the designation for the inital design was based on the concept proposed by Wilbault to use the engine to develop fore and aft lift posts around the center of gravity. For the installation in the Br. 1010, developed by Wilbault, it would have used a bifurcated compressor exhaust for two forward lift posts and a single exhaust nozzle for the rear lift post. Upward and downward facing puffer jets at the wing tips and fuselage rear (plus right and left nozzles) provided hover control. The vectoring lift/cruise exhaust nozzle used a top deflector vane and then a cascade of vanes below to direct the thrust from horizontal to vertical. Power: Bristol BE 52 engine Wing span: 5.5 m Length: 11.25 m 4-side-view

Br 1110 Apterion

Vectored Thrust

The Br. 1110 Apterion, designed in 1956-57, was a ground attack aircraft. The BE 53 was the original designation for the Pegasus engine, basically a more advanced version of the BE 52 design. It used "cold" bifurcated fan air for the forward posts, as with the BE 52 and today's Pegasus engine, but the hot exhaust ejected from a central ventral lift/cruise nozzle, which was seen to be "a mechanical device or a fluid thrust reverser of the SNECMA type." The forward nozzles mated with longer exhaust pipes to eject behind the wing when in the horizontal position. Downward facing puffer jets at the wing tips and fuselage extremes provided hover control. The Br. 1110 was a high-wing monoplane, the wing construction and design was based on the Br. 1001 Taon. The tail, which was identical to the Taon, used an all-flying horizontal surface. April 1957 Power: Bristol BE 53 engine Thrust: 4,740 kg or 3,370-3,560 kg (front); 1,620 kg (rear) Wing span: 5.5 m (18.04 ft) Wing Area: 9.75 m² (105 ft²) Take-off Gross Weight: 4,250 kg July 1957 Power: Bristol BE 53 engine Thrust: 21,626 lb Wing span: 22.6 ft Wing Area: 15 m² (162 ft²) Length: 57.7 ft Take-off Gross Weight: 14,300 lb 3-side-view The landing gear consisted of main skids and a tail skid. It was intended to conduct a short take off (calculated to take 175-230 ft) with the nozzles horizontal, although it could have conducted a vertical landing when 56% of the fuel and the rockets had been used. The rugged landing gear was designed to take the impact of a run-on landing with a full load.

Br 1110 Delta

Lift + Lift/Cruise

Nozzles controlled the attitude of the aircraft during lift. Breguet proposed skids for landing gear since they had less weight than a classical landing gear. The Br.1110 was designed to carry one nuclear weapon. In the last drawings of the project, the exhaust nozzles of the RB.162 were moved due to the proximity to the nuclear weapon. Lift Power: three RB.162 engines, each with 2,440 kg thrust Lift/Cruise Power: two RB.153/1 lift/cruise engines, each with 1,820 kg thrust Maximum Speed: 0.85 Mach Wing span: 8 m (26.2 ft) Wing Area: 29.8 m² (321 ft²) Length: 13.9 m (45.6 ft) Empty Weight: 4,045 kg (8,918 lb) Maximum VTO Weight: 8,400 kg (18,539 lb) 3-side-view

Br 1111 Delta

Lift + Cruise

In 1960, Breguet studied a new approach with the Br. 1111 Delta, a Mach 2 fighter. This project was canceled for the Br 1115 and 1116 projects then taking shape. Lift Power: 4 x RB.162 Lift Thrust: 2,200 kg (4,850 lb) each Cruise Power: 1 x RB.168 or PW TF10 Cruise Thrust: 5,000 kg (11,023 lb); 8,500 kg (18,739 lb) with afterburner Maximum Speed: 2 Mach Wing span: 8.9 m (95.8 ft) Wing Area: 35 m² (377 ft²) Length: 19.15 m (206 ft) Empty Weight: 5,910 kg (13,029 lb) VTOL Weight: 9,800 kg (21,605 lb) 3-side-view The RB.162 engines were mounted horizontally in the fuselage, with louvered inlets on the top of the aircraft and nozzles directed downward in a lift engine nacelle on either side, below the wing, as shown in the figure below.

Br 1116

Lift + Lift/Cruise

The Breguet Br. 1116 was proposed in the NATO NBMR.3 competition. This concept looked like the Br. 1100 with the delta wing. Lift Power: four RB.162 engines were mounted horizontally Lift Thrust: 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) each Lift/Cruise Power: two RB.168 engines Lift/Cruise Thrust: 2,510 kg (5,533 lb); 4,220 kg (9,304 lb) with afterburner Maximum Speed: 2 Mach Wing span: 8,15 m (26.7 ft) Wing Area: 35 m² (377 ft²) Length: 19.85 m (65.1 ft) Empty Weight: 7,200 kg (15,783 lb) VTOL Weight: 11,450 kg (25,243 lb) 3-side-view

Fans

Breguet also studied a number of applications of jet engine exhaust-powered lift fans to V/STOL transports as shown below. One concept (shown on the right, below) used four engines to power four lift fans in the wing. This concept weighed 125 t (275,000 lb) and was to attain a cruising speed of 750 km/h (405 kt).

Br 1030

Fan

Power: TB 1000 A turbocompressor with 2,280 hp Fan: two 3.2 diameter; 7,400 kg (16,300 lb) thrust Cruise Speed: 400 km/h at 5,000 m altitude Maximum Speed: 800 km/h were possible with the addition of a jet engine providing forward thrust Maximum Take-off Weight: 6,000 kg (13,200 lb) 3-side-view

HB 12

Fan

A similar propulsion concept like the Br 1030 was studied with Hurel and Bertin (q.v.) in 1962. The gear retracted into the wing tips to permit the wings to house the lift fans. Power: three probably based on the Hispano-Suiza R 800 Wing Spann: 11.6 m Lenght: 16.66 m Height: 6.6 m Crew: two Capacity: six passengers 2-side-view

Sources:
• The V/STOL Encyclopedia Series: Volume 2 France 10 December 2002.