01/31/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "After WW I engine manufacturers tried to produce considerable stronger engines. Towards the end of 1919 Louis Breguet revealed work undertaken with Ettore Bugatti on the "engine of 1,000 hp". In fact, the unit which developed 870 hp at a test bench consisted of four 225 hp Bugatti eight-cylinder engines, all disengage able coupled to the single propeller shaft fitted with two enormous two-bladed propellers of 14 ft 9.2 in (4.5 m) diameter.
The ten-seat all-metal Bre 20 transport biplane was presented at the Paris Salon de l'Aéronautique in November 1921. It had a span of 83 ft 7 in (28.48 m), a length of 45 ft 9 in (13.94 m), while the wing area measured 1,500 sq.ft (139.35 sq.m). The aircraft seated six passengers in the front cabin, two pilots in open cockpits behind the wing, and two mechanics. Louis Breguet intended to use the Bre 20 on the Paris - London line.
Due to engine vibration problems the first flight was delayed to June 30, 1922, when it was flown from Villacoublay with Breguet's chief pilot Robert Thiéry at the controls.
