1933 Bre 521

three 900 hp Gnome-Rhône 14Kirs

Information on back of photo

An air cruiser for French naval air arm

When the French navy wanted a long-range reconnaissance flying boat in 1932, Breguet used a military version of its commercial Breguet 530 Säigon, which had been inspired by the British flying boat Calcutta made by Short Brothers. Of all-metal construction the Breguet 521 Bizerte was a biplane powered by three Gnome-Rhône engines braced between the wings, and was manned by a crew of eight. The Bizerte prototype first flew in September 1933 and the type became operational in 1935. Thirty one units were built between 1935 and 1940, and these formed the equipment of five naval squadrons at the begin- ning of the Second World War, operating in their planned reconnaissance role over the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Turmoil

When France fell in June 1940, three squadrons using the Breguet 521 were disbanded and the two remaining passed to the German puppet Vichy government. In November 1942, the German occupation forces in France commandeered eight of the flying boats from the Vichy government when this entity was overrun by the Germans after Allied forces had landed in North-West Africa. In the service of the Luftwaffe, they were employed for search and rescue missions along the Atlantic coast.