Air Enthusiast 2000-03
M.Passingham - From Calcutta to Bizerte
Bizerte No.1 on the water. The tail layout, complete with rearmost gunner's cockpit, can he seen in detail.
The third Bizerte of Escadrille E3 patrolling above the battleship Dunkerque.
Bizerte E55 on patrol, neatly framed between the lower wing and wingtip float of another flying-boat from the same Escadrille E5.
Four crew members on top of the forward hull of a Bizerte of Escadrille E2. Note the ‘Caravelle’ insignia of that unit.
Believed to be the second Bizerte, retaining the original bow configuration. Photographed at Cherbourg. Machine-gun armament has been installed.
Le Grand Coureur, Bizerte 2 of Escadrille E1. On the tail is the standard inscription 'BREGUET BIZERTE' No.18, indicating the Breguet constructor's number.
Three Bizertes in formation 'stepped up', photographed from a fourth example.
The 'White Goose in Flight' insignia of Escadrille E5 on the bow of Bizerte E52, No.17.
In-flight view of Breguet Bizerte No.1 giving a clear indication of the forward hull of this first prototype, including the bow gunner's cockpit, the cabin for the captain/navigator and the raised pilots' cabin behind that.
Bizerte 2 of E9 undergoing the delicate task of being moved by a heavy duty crane.
A Bizerte on beaching trolley gear, an interim experimental version with enlarged balanced rudder as on the civil passenger Saigon flying-boat. It also has two auxiliary fins mounted on the horizontal tailplane.
Bizerte 6 of Escadrille E1, c/n 21. On the bow the black wolf's head insignia of that escadrille.
The Breguet 522, the only Bizerte with Hispano-Suiza radials
Short Calcutta F-AJDB, purchased for Air Union. The aircraft has deployed its 'Diraison' apparatus to assist in alighting on the water
A Breguet-Short Calcutta about to be lifted onto the rear deck of the seaplane carrier Commandant Teste.
Calcutta with the black wolfs head insignia of Escadrille 3E1. At this stage it was depicted in a circle. This aircraft, rather unusually, has the vertical national colours painted on the Flettner servo carried by the rudder, as opposed to the normal arrangement of the tricolore stripes on the rudder itself.
Escadrille 3E1 lined-up on beaching trolleys on the hard standing in front of the hangars. The uncowled K9 radial engines are fitted with four-bladed wooden propellers
Fine study of Escadrille 3E1 Calcuttas based at Berre patrolling along the French Mediterranean coastline. 3E1 1 is flying an Admiral's flag from the rear starboard wing strut.