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This article was published in the daily newspaper La Liberté de Normandie, of Caen, France, page 4, on October 12, 1954.
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Tells us Mr. Louis Bréguet
the famous plane builder
An admission first of all. When I knew that I had the opportunity to meet with Louis Bréguet, I really promised myself to ask the pioneer in Aeronautics what he thought of the flying saucers. But right when I was introduced in the vast sober office, in the presence of this big man - who is also a great man -, of this brilliant glance of intelligence behind the glasses, this silhouette full of nobility, embarassed by the very benevolence he granted me... I did not dare anymore. Quite simply. And, well, I aked the questions motivated by a more terrestrial topicality: Mr. Bréguet's very recent trip to the United States.
The manufacturer has indeed just been invited overseas for the inauguration of a gallery of busts of the "Famous people of Aeronautics". There are three until now - among those, his. A deserved homage, but not so common on behalf of the Americans to a stranger:
"Ah! yes, Mr. Bréguet says abstractedly, they placed me in the hall of fame... Nah! My only credential is to have really been of one of the pioneers that were interested in aviation, and then I kept myself busy a little overall in this branch: civil aviation, military aviation, helicopters. Do you know that the question of the helicopters impassions me? I have some ideas about that and I believe I will manage, by quintupling the power of the "jets", if not to reduce consumption in motionless flight, at least to facilitate vertical takeoff. You immediately see the advantages of this facility...
Somehow... I imagine (in my mind) anticipations with their urban airbuses, which makes me think of these infamous saucers... But Mr. Bréguet continues his matter, and what he entrusts to me is too interesting to ignore. He tells me of his trip, the third in the United States, his enthralling visits to the manufacturers: Bell, specialist in radio-controlled rockets; Curtiss-Read, who builds the engines of the Super-Constellation and intends to replace the "Sapphire" jets by the "turbo" jets... This time, he went to Canada by flying over the falls of the Niagara. He was superbly welcome there too and noted the existence of innumerable projects for commercial aviation. Most important could be the order of 25 "Britannia" placed by Bristol with the Canader factories, where B25 turbines would mark a decisive evolution of the Bristol "Protheus" system. I am afraid I do not follow these technical considerations very exactly, and I find myself lost in the engines, the turbo engines, the jets, the rockets and other barbaric names. But what I remember - and what Mr. Bréguet omits to underline - is that he was called and considered in the United States and Canada as a Mentor, as an elder of which one requests the opinions.
"The French genius is much appreciated in America, he tells me. And when I see what the technicians and company managers in New York provided as policy of assistance to aviation during the ten next years, I ensure you that it is sad for a Frenchman to compare it with what he gets... Perhaps we should work with them, jointly, in order to support the expensive charges jointly, expensive even for them. Their workmen, in addition, are especially qualified for series. The future of aviation is such that nothing should be spared to save time, therefore money, or reciprocally. Because progress goes at giant steps. At the Bell factories, I contemplated, provided with dark glasses, the "rockets" from where alarming flames spout out. I believed I was in hell. But one thinks, with such materials, to perhaps reach 6 to 7000 kilometers [per hour]: it would be radio-controlled devices which would make war automatically. Of course, there is much of "Jules Verne" in these outlines but unbelievable things prepare, and quickly.
Undoubtedly a certain bitterness, but especially a beautiful ambition, shows through of these words. If France could in its turn go forward! It has the technical capacities to that. Mr. Bréguet provides it.
And we return... on the ground... "The time has come in transportation aviation, to reach towards comfort, high altitudes, the 7-800 km-hour speeds with large payloads. It is in this aim that I studied our "Super-Bréguet-Two-Decks" which alas could never be built as it would have been required. The "Super" would receive all the necessary improvements of comfort, which are nothing: think how in the Two-Deckers alone there were 24 kilometers of electric wire, a detail which lets you imagine the rest! It is not so easy to calculate the beds and toilets according to the practice and general data. Finally all is ready, since November 26, 1952. We could produce it very quickly.
- Which would be the performances of such a craft?
- I will not enumerate them to you. Just learn however that with turbo B-25 about which I will speak later, one would reach 700 [km/h] at 10.000 meters. But we could equip it less ambitiously to begin.
- So what are we waiting for?
- I really hope that we will not wait too much. That would be expensive, but France does not have one more one minute to waste if we want to reach again a decent place in the worldwide air grid. In any case, the aircraft won't be "obsolete" that fast, and what's the use of crossing the Atlantic in less than one night? What would be likely to be obsolete, if we do noct act, would be our country deprived of airplanes of a very good international class. The prices are high, naturally. But let me stress this, everyone agrees to recognize that nobody could have made Bréguet Two-Decker cheaper. In spite of the artisanal methods to which we resorted to manufacture our 12 apparatuses. So?
And Mr. Bréguet adds: "I remain confident."
It is me who actually has no "confidence". The interview will be over and the solemn moment came. Well, I dare: "Would be it indiscreet to ask you, Sir, which... finally, to me... please understand... the press has a liking for the sensational and I ...
Mr. Bréguet looks at me, raises and eyebrow - wondering obviously where I want to go from here... "I would like to know what you think of the flying saucers..."
Mr. Bréguet did not loose his temper. He smiled, gently. And he stated, weighing his words:
- That is the question I waited for. And I will answer to you, "why not?" And, above all, "why not the men of another world?" I would go further, you see. I do not have any special information about that. I am reading a book headlined: "The flying saucers come from another world", by Jimmy Guieu (1). I do not know this author. But if what the witnesses tell is true, I then state that these are not machines built by men. The saucers, if they are what one says, are not terrestrial machines, and this Sir is right.
I am astonished a little, I ask: "But the Americans - or the Russians?"
"Impossible. All the witnesses are unanimous to insist on the fact that the saucers take off silently. And that they do not have an aerodynamic shape to overcome the resistance of the air. That is enough for me. I personally threw the plans of a "turbo-lifting device" which would take off on the spot and oblique while slipping by very quickly. With only one "rotor", I could give it a saucer shape. But what I will not get rid of is the whirr of the jet! It is therefore necessary that the saucers, consequently, use other power sources than ours... Maybe a "field of forces" created on demand, from where the gleam comes. This is why I tell you again: either they do not exist, or the testimonys are inaccurate - what would surprise me when it is about a noise. Or the saucers come from another world.
And the man of science, staring seriously at me, added:
- Do we have the right to deny? What do we know, actually. We are in the childhood of science, one century and half after Lavoisier. Me, an electrical engineer, I do not know exactly what electricity is. I only refrain from imagination and I reason according to logic. The saucers cannot have a terrestrial origin, if they are what is told. Now, make your own conclusions...
And I was very impressed.
Marc BOURNEYROL
(1) "Fleuve Noir" publisher.
