Breguet 763 Deux Pont / Provence / 765 Sahara

I left a comment on the Breget deux pont already. But to make story short in 2019 I flew from Lisbon to Alicante same kind of plane scary noise incredible take 2 hours horrible experience and very expensive on top of it TAP airline unfriendly big time as well. Avoid this trip worst experience ever.

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In the mid-sixties I was a (very junior) engineer on the Concorde project, a job which involved occasional liaison with Sud Aviation in Toulouse. This trip was usually by commercial flight from Bristol to Paris and then from Paris to Toulouse. Only once did I encounter the Deux-Ponts - on the Bristol Lulsgate to Paris leg - but it was an unforgettable experience! In common with an earlier poster, Paul Turner, I found the overwhelming impression that of the noise from the four Pratt & Whitney radials. It was by far the noisiest aircraft I've ever flown in. A somewhat surreal element was provided by the emergence via a staircase of the immaculately outfitted steward bearing a tray of drinks from the deck below. The subsequent Caravelle flight from Paris to Toulouse was sublime in comparison.

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Strange but interesting 'plane.

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As an airline staff passenger, returning from Paris Air Show at le Bourget (1969), I found it impossible to get a seat on a passenger flight back to London. Air France had a cargo flights from Orly at 0030hrs, so I travelled to there and the Captain was very gracious in offering me a seat on the flight deck for the trip to LHR. Magnifique! I seem to recall it took 90mins at 6000 feet altitude, with flight engineer always busy trying to balance the vibrations of the engines. For me, I am eternally grateful for the seat being made available, especially in such an unusual aircraft.

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I flew on Breguet 763 about four times between Paris and Algiers and once between Algiers and the city of Bone. It may have been a bit noisy but it has always been one of my favourite three aircraft along with the DC-3 and the Boeing Stratocruiser. There was a complete thrill flying it. I wish one at least was still flying somewhere.

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Very Interesting and rare Aircraft
also very FAT it point make me smile)

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In between the Breguet and the Caravelle we had Viscounts. Either 804 or 810 series taking 53 minutes London-Orly, but 75 minutes for the Epicurean flight! I think we used Vikings before the Provence, and that the Provence was used on the pilgrimages - goats and all!! The Sahara variant did all we asked it to do in shifting men and materials but it was fearfully noisy so everyone for miles around knew where we were. My last flight was with an ex-Luftwaffe (Condor) pilot and the crew were from 5 nationalites. ....Dieter was officially Swiss.....

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It was 3 Breguet 761 used par French Air Force.
12 763 "Provence" for Air France
4 765 "Sahara" for FAF.
After,6 of Breguet 763 was buyed par FAF and used in Tahiti.

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The last of the 765 Sahara's is at the French airbase (105)
in Evreux France being restored

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if you fancy a meal aboard a Deux Ponts and you are in Paris, F-BASS has been converted into a restaurant. Menus 18 OR 28 EUROS,cooking good, service excellent complete with photos and history.Directions: N4 out of Paris. You will see aircraft on your left just after Fontenay-Tresigny.

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Air France used this airplane carrying charter passengers to the Island of Caprera (Sardinia) Club Mediterranee about in 1961 /1962. The weekly summer flight from Paris had a stop at Ajaccio and then to Alghero, as the closer airport of Olbia... did not exist yet. I was a child and flew with it from Alghero to Ajaccio and back in an one day incentive tour as my father was then working at Alghero airport.

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I know this may be a long shot but can anyone remember a cartoon published in a small sized model British magazine sometime in the late 1950's or early 1960's. It showed three mechanics looking across the field at a Breguet 763 Provence, running up its engines. The landing gear has been air brushed out to make it look like a really low pass and one mechanic is saying to the others; " premier au canard est un poulet" or first one to duck is a chicken. I have it somewhere in my saved stuff but it has so far eluded me. I have googled for it as well with no luck.

Thanks Dennis

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Air France used this aircraft on the Bristol (Lulsgate) to Paris (Orly) route in the early to mid 1960's. I flew on it just twice. My only lasting impression is of the noise. It was quite impossible to have a conversation with the person sat next to me. Oh, and because it was not pressurised, my little can of water sprayed me when I opened it.

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These aircraft were occasionally used on relief (and possibly scheduled) passenger flights to London (now Heathrow) fairly regularly in the mid-1950's. I cannot remember any of them being used after the Caravelle services started, but may be wrong. I seem to remeber that in the early '60s, services were a combination of Constellations and Caravelles only.

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I shall be extremely grateful if you could kindly
provide me with the best cutaway drawing for this
aircraft which I find extremely facinating !

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I rather think our variant we flew in was the Provence.
I do well recall that we all three sat in line abreast on both journeys (upper & lower decks); l do not recall as to how many rows of seats there were, other than the impression that there were more on the upper deck than there were on the lower.

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I recall back in c.1953 flying with my mother and sister out of Orly (on the top deck) one very foggy morn and landing at Marseilles and at the end of our holiday at Cap d'Antibes making the reciprocal night flight on the lower deck. In my mind's eye l can still clearly recall the thunderous power as all four engines were 'opened up' for take-off.

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I stooped at Evraux on the 3 /8 /07 and got two photos of the Sahara, but was told by the security guard that photographs are prohibited. I would email them to reply

I saw these many times when I lived in Tunis in the early sixties. Got a few photos of them at El Aounia.

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