Aviation Nostalgia Forum | breguet universal air france

dows anyone remember this aircraft during the 60s been used as a frighter. i remember air france had a regular night flight to heathrow. also the french airforce and other pro french airforces round the world also used them but i can remember what the french airforce name was for them ,was it Deaux pont?

Deux Ponts. Meant two decks because they had two internal decks like an A380.

whitehatter obviously knows his french ! the aircraft had 4 piston engines ? built prob in the late 50s i would have thought . they seem to run them until B707s and caravelles was ready to be used.
I do remember seeing them only a night. never saw the French airforce version at all. but i think hey was identical. except they could be used as troop carriers

It was a strange looking thing by modern standards and wasn't really a success as it wasn't exported to any major carriers. French aviation was coming back strong after the war though, and Breguet made some interesting planes before their merger with Dassault.

the Atlantic is still in service, patrolling the seas for the French Air Force/Navy. Back to the Deux Ponts, it had four radials and was a relatively basic design using late 40s style engineering. There is at least one in preservation. I think the design was similar to the Carvair and Bristol freighter in that the thinking was to carry cars or cargo below and passengers above, although it could be used as a purely passenger plane with a surprising capacity.

Saw one at LHR in the seventies it landed nose down and made a right racket !!!

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-France/Breguet-763-Provence/1235591/L/

i tought there was one still flying but.....

Br-763 Provence c/n 6, F-BASS of Air France is used as restaurant at Fontenay-Trésigny, France
Br.765 Sahara c/n 501, 64-PE of the Armée de l'Air is preserved as a gate guard at Évreux-Fauville Air Base, France.[2]
Br.765 Sahara c/n 504, 64-PH of the Armée de l'Air is under restoration at Ailes Anciennes Toulouse, France.[3]

mmm well i am not surprised that there is little chance of any of them still flying. intesresting to note one is a french restaurant ! what do they serve there i wonder "french fries" maybe !
sorrt that was a joke . Bit like the plane itself more suitable as a french AF freighter/trrop carrier than for civil use . I had the impression they was extremly noisy inside. (ie ideal for a french restaurant)

It was what it was, 1940s bomber technology built by a French company recovering from the war. So in retrospect it was probably about as good as it could have been for the time. France wanted its aviation industry back up and running quickly and they built some novel planes as that got under way.