Bréguet, Louis-Charles

Louis-Charles Bréguet, (born Jan. 2, 1880, Paris—died May 4, 1955, Paris), French airplane builder, many of whose planes set world records, and founder of Air France.

Bréguet was educated at the Lycée Condorcet and Lycée Carnot and at the École Supérieure d’Électricité. He joined the family engineering firm, Maison Bréguet, becoming head engineer of its electric service.

Bréguet built his first airplane in 1909, set a speed record for a flight of 10 kilometres in 1911, and in that year founded the Société des Ateliers d’Aviation Louis Bréguet. In 1912 he constructed his first hydroplane and in 1917 designed and flew a “gyroplane,” the forerunner of the helicopter. During World War I he manufactured military planes; his Bréguet-XIX was especially noteworthy.

In 1919 he founded the Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes, which ultimately became Air France. A Bréguet plane made the first nonstop crossing of the South Atlantic in 1927; another made a 4,500-mile flight across the Atlantic in 1933, the longest nonstop Atlantic flight up to that time. Bréguet remained an important manufacturer of military planes during World War II and afterward produced a series of large four-engined transports.