The Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 are the two aircraft that come to mind when one thinks of a double decker planes. In terms of a full-length double decker aircraft, the A380 is the first plane that comes to mind. There are those who continue to believe that the A380 was the first full-length double decker passenger plane in the world. But that’s not the case. The world’s first full-length double decker passenger plane is the Breguet 763 Deux-Ponts, which means “double-deck” in French.
Built by Breguet Aviation, the 763 took its first flight in 1949 and was introduced in 1953. It entered commercial services with Air Algerie, Air France, and Silver City Airways.
How the Breguet Deux-Ponts came about
It was before the end of World War II when Breguet Aviation began conceptualizing an aircraft that can carry 100 passengers and the idea of a full-length double deck plane came about. The prototype with the name Br.761 took its first flight on February 15, 1949.
The 761’s cantilever wing was mounted in the middle of the aircraft’s tall fuselage. The retractable tricycle landing gear had two wheels. The empennage included a pair of fins and rudders on either side of a single, dormant fin. Four SNECMA 14R-24 radial engines, each producing 1,580 horsepower, propelled the 761. Air France’s Bréguets, which could accommodate up to 107 passengers, also had a convenient elevator connecting the plane’s two decks.
Next came three Br.761S prototypes, all of which were equipped with 2,020 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800-B31 radial engines. Propellers by Hamilton Standard brand measuring 3.70 meters in diameter were installed. The planes made it through their tests without a hitch. In 1951 and 1952, they made their first flights.
Air France and civil operations
Air France ordered six Breguet 763 while the French government ordered 12. The Air France double decker plane could seat 135 passengers in a high-density configuration, with 59 on the upper deck and 48 on the lower deck. The 763’s improvements included beefier engines, a wing span that was 1.20 meters longer, wing reinforcements, and a cockpit that could accommodate three pilots.
On March 10th, 1953, Air France began using the Breguet 763 Provence. First, there was the Lyon to Algiers route. The planes of this type flew across Europe, mostly from Paris to the Mediterranean and occasionally to London. It was possible to fly domestically between Paris and Lyon, Marseille, and Nice.
Six planes were dispatched to help French oil rig engineers at Salat, Algeria after a major accident. In just four days, we were able to transport 200 people and 60 tons of heavy machinery to and from Algiers.
The end of commercial services
The Breguet 763 was made obsolete as a passenger aircraft after the advent of the jet-powered Sud Aviation Caravelle. The Caravelle outperformed the competition in every category, including speed, comfort, and range. Breguet rented a 763 from Air France in 1958 for a marketing trip across the Americas. The plane was registered as F-BASQ. In 1955, this plane had to make an emergency landing at Pont-Évêque.
The trip covered 40,000 kilometers and included stops in New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, Bogotá, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasilia in Brazil. No sales were made as a direct result of the tour. The jet age had begun in the North, while the plane’s large capacity made it unfeasible for South American airlines to use despite being cheaper per seat to run than a Douglas DC-4.
Passenger services increasingly abandoned the 763 in favor of more modern aircraft like the Caravelle and Vickers Viscount. Air France repurposed their remaining fleet of 763s into cargo planes, christening them Universel. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that these were retired from use on European freight routes. On March 31, 1971, the last flight took off from Heathrow bound for Paris-Orly. To commemorate the Breguet 763’s departure from active duty, a double-decker AEC Routemaster bus was parked next to the plane.
Amidst being not so popular, the Breguet 763 goes down on history books as the world’s first full-length double-deck plane.
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
