Louis Breguet, thus twice strongly influenced the history of the helicopter and inspired a whole generation of engineers in his wake, including Igor Sikorsky and Frank Piasecki. Breaking records of maneuverability, speed (108 km/h), altitude (158 meters), endurance (one hour and three minutes) and hovering (10 minutes), it firmly established itself as the first modern helicopter. Nevertheless with a reduced team consisting of René Dorand and Maurice Claisse, and after three years of relentless efforts, 19 saw the exploits of the experimental Breguet-Dorand gyroplane. Even though the technology had advanced considerably, especially so far as engines were concerned, the undertaking was still regarded as somewhat crazy. Indeed, 23 years later, in 1932, he decided to resume the gyroplane venture, when, at the peak of his career he was listened to and watched by his competitors around the world. But he hadn’t yet said his last word on the matter. In its meeting of September 16 it made the lift-off of August 24 official by declaring: “A helicopter- type craft succeeded for the first time in becoming weightless and leaving the ground with its engine, supplies and one man on board.” Faced with the poor results obtained by two other rotary-wing machines, Louis Breguet, abandoned vertical takeoff in 1909, despite his conviction that this was a promising solution, and embarked on the construction of conventional aircraft with biplanes and then monoplanes.
It was a world first and Louis Breguet immediately informed the Academy of Sciences. In 1907 his Gyroplane n☁, a curious aircraft with four rotating systems comprising eight propellers each, was twice airborne for about one minute: it reached an altitude of 60 centimeters on August 24 and almost 1.5 meters on September 20. The gyroplane, an early helicopterįrom 1905 to 1909, in partnership with his brother, Jacques, and professor Charles Richet, Louis Breguet entered the emerging world of aviation with an original approach: rotary wings or vertical takeoff. As an engineer and company manager, Louis Breguet entered history in his lifetime on three counts: for his pioneering work on helicopters, for his major contribution to military aviation and for his role in establishing civilian air transport. Summing up the career of Louis Breguet in a few lines is no easy task given that he and the Société Anonyme des Ateliers d’Aviation Louis Breguet that he established and ran (later known as Breguet Aviation) became the major players of the aviation world for nearly a century. However he surprised his relatives by turning decisively towards aviation.
Louis Breguet, newly graduated from the École supérieure d’électricité (school of electrical engineering), seemed destined to take over the family telecommunications and electric-motor activities, the watchmaking business having been sold by his grandfather in 1870. Louis’ father, Antoine Breguet (1851-1882), graduate of the Polytechnique and one of the most promising engineers of his generation, introduced the Bell telephone in France before dying prematurely at the age of 31. In recognition of his many achievements, his name is featured on the Eiffel Tower. He invented and built a dial telegraph adopted by many countries and developed several telecommunication systems that improved railroad safety.
Louis’ grandfather, Louis-Clément Breguet (1804-1883), also member of the Academy of Sciences, devised a large number of electrical instruments. Louis Breguet in fact represented the fifth generation of his family since the arrival in France in 1762 of his great-great- grandfather, Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), member of the French Academy of Sciences, who established his business in Paris and, with his son, Antoine- Louis (1776-1858), brought the art of watchmaking to its peak.
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