Bréguet 941

The Breguet 941 was a French four-engine turboprop short takeoff and landing (STOL) transport aircraft developed by Breguet in the 1960s. Although widely promoted, both by Breguet in France and by McDonnell Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas in the United States, it was not built in large numbers; only one prototype and four production aircraft were built.

Design and development
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the French aviation pioneer Louis Charles Breguet developed a concept for a short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft using four free-turbine turboshaft engines to drive a common powershaft, which, in turn drove four oversize propellers, which were evenly spaced along the leading edge of the wing with large, full-span, slotted flaps, with the arrangement known as "l'aile soufflée" or blown wing. An initial, experimental prototype, powered by four Turbomeca Turmo II engines, the Breguet 940 Integral, first flew on 21 May 1958, and was used to prove the concept, demonstrating excellent short field performance. This led to an order being placed in February 1960 for a prototype of an aircraft employing the same concept, but capable of carrying useful loads. This aircraft, the Breguet 941, first flew on 1 June 1961. Testing of this prototype resulted in an order for four improved production aircraft, the Breguet 941S for the French Air Force, first flying on 19 April 1967. These were fitted with more powerful engines and a modified rear cargo door to allow for air-dropping of stores.

Br 942
Breguet intended to develop the 940 genre further by adding a pressurised fuselage with airline seating as the Breguet Br 942. Wings, landing gear, empennage and engines were essentially similar to the Br 941, but were to be mated to a new 3.1 m diameter circular section fuselage, with airline seating for 40 first/business class or up to 60 economy class passengers. After the limited success of the Br 941 and Br 941S and expected high running costs, further development was abandoned.

McDonnell Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Aircraft acquired a production licence for the 941 in the United States and began marketing the aircraft with minimal changes as the McDonnell 188. The company also promoted an upgraded version with a circular-section pressurised fuselage, uprated engines, and other enhancements as the 188E. Marketing of the 188E continued after McDonnell merged with Douglas Aircraft to form McDonnell Douglas, and the merged company proposed to build an even larger and more powerful version as the McDonnell Douglas 210.

Operational history
The 941 prototype was tested extensively in both France and the United States. McDonnell conducted demonstrations with the prototype in late 1964 and again in early 1965. The aircraft was evaluated by both NASA and the US military, but no orders were placed. McDonnell Douglas continued these efforts, using a production 941S for limited passenger operations for two months in 1968 with Eastern Air Lines between busy urban centers in the northeast U.S. The following year, this same aircraft was tested by American Airlines and then by the Federal Aviation Administration to evaluate the STOLport concept for operation from small city airports. Despite these tests, the company found that airlines were primarily interested in operating jets from conventional airports, and did not embrace the novel STOLport concept; no sales resulted and none of the proposed upgraded versions left the drawing boards.

The four Breguet 941S aircraft entered service with the French Air Force in 1967, serving until 1974.

Variants



 * Breguet Br 940 Integral
 * Experimental prototype for concept demonstration, one built, powered by 4 400 hp Turbomeca Turmo II turboshaft engines.


 * Breguet Br 941
 * Prototype transport, one built, powered by 4 1,225 hp Turbomeca Turmo IIID turboshaft engines.


 * Breguet Br 941S
 * Production version for the French Air Force, an enlarged version of the 941, four built, powered by 4 1,450 hp Turbomeca Turmo IIID3 turboshaft engines.


 * Breguet Br 942
 * Proposed airliner development to have had a pressurised fuselage with airline seating for 40 first/business class or up to 60 economy class passengers.


 * Breguet 945
 * Studies for a smaller version of the Breguet 942, primarily for military use, for operation from 1000 ft length hot and high airstrips. Power was to be supplied by two 1,450 hp Turbomeca Turmo IIIDs and a payload of about 3300 lb would be carried for more than 900 mi at about 240 mph. Development of the 945 was not continued to production status.


 * McDonnell 188
 * Proposed licence manufacture of 941S in the United States by McDonnell Aircraft and later McDonnell Douglas; none built.


 * McDonnell Douglas 188E
 * Proposed airliner development with four 1,600 shp General Electric CT58-16 engines, pressurisation, up to 76 seats, and redesigned landing gear; not built.


 * McDonnell Douglas 210
 * Proposed airliner development with four 3,300 shp General Electric CT64-630-3 engines; two fuselages proposed, with either six-abreast seating for 90 passengers in a single-aisle 3-3 configuration (Model 210E), or 112 passengers in a double-aisle 2-2-2 configuration (210G); not built.

Operators

 * Armée de l'Air
 * Armée de l'Air

Surviving aircraft

 * The third Breguet 941S [941S-03] coded 62-NC was previously on display at the Parc Avenue amusement park in Lanas, France. It is now at to the Ailes Anciennes Museum at Toulouse Blagnac Airport
 * The fourth Br 941S [941S-04] coded 62-ND is stored with the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at the Dugny storage site on the far side of Paris Le Bourget Airfield.