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Louis Charles BreguetLouis Charles Breguet (January 2, 1880 - May 4, 1955) was a French airplane designer and builder, one of the early aviation pioneers. He was born in Paris. With his brother Jacques, and under the guidance of Charles Richet, he began work on a gyroplane (the forerunner of the helicopter) with flexible wings in 1905. It achieved the first ascension of a vertical-flight aircraft with a pilot in 1907. His first airplane, which he built in 1909, set a speed record in 1911 for its 10 kilometre (6.2 mile) flight. Also that year, he founded the Socit des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet. In 1912, Breguet constructed his first hydroplane. He is especially known for his development of a reconnaissance airplanes used by the French in World War I and through the 1920s. One of the pioneers in the construction of metal aircraft, the Breguet-14 day bomber, perhaps the most famous French warplane of all time, was made almost entirely of aluminium. As well as the French, sixteen squadrons of the American Expeditionary Force also used it. In 1919, he founded the Compagnie des Messageries Aeriennes, which evolved into Air France. Over the years, his aircraft set several records. A Breguet plane made the first nonstop crossing of the South Atlantic in 1927. Another made a 4,500 mile (7,250 km) flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1933, the longest nonstop Atlantic flight up to that time. He returned to his work on the gyroplane in 1935. Created with co-designer Ren Dorand, the craft, called the Gyroplane Laboratoire, flew by a combination of blade flapping and feathering. On December 22, 1935, it established a speed record of 67 mph (108 km/h). It was the first to demonstrate speed as well as good control characteristics. The next year, it set an altitude record of 517 feet (158 m). Breguet remained an important manufacturer of aircraft during World War II and afterwards developed commercial transports. He died on May 4, 1955 in Paris. Breguet, Louis Charles Breguet, Louis Charles Breguet, Louis Charles
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