| Bernard 190 | |
|---|---|
 Bernard 191GR Oiseau Canari preserved at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace | |
| General information | |
| Type | Airliner |
| Manufacturer | Bernard |
| Designer | |
| Primary user | CIDNA |
| Number built | ca. 15 |
| History | |
| First flight | 1928 |
The Bernard 190 or Bernard-Hubert 190 was a French airliner of 1928.
The Bernard 190 was a high-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration, based on the Bernard 18. Compared with its predecessor, it kept the same basic design but featured redesigned tail surfaces and an enlarged cabin, and it offered its flight crew a completely enclosed cockpit. Also like its predecessor, the basic airliner model provided — the 190T — provided the basis for a long-range aircraft to be used in record attempts, the 191GR (for Grand Raid).
The eight 190Ts entered service in 1929 with CIDNA, operating on various European routes. The 190T was not popular with CIDNA, whose president had been trying for several years to purchase more efficient and economical Fokker F.VIIs. The last 190T was burnt on 3 January 1933.
The 190 is best remembered for the exploits of the three 191GRs. The first built was used by Louis Coudouret in an attempt to fly from Paris to New York City and make what would have been the first French nonstop transatlantic flight in August 1928. On 25 August, Coudouret and two other men took off from Le Bourget in the fuel-laden 191GR La France but failed to gain altitude. The plane narrowly missed trees, telegraph lines, and electric power lines and scraped its landing gear along the roof of a house before the men dumped their reserve fuel, allowing the plane to climb. After circling the airfield for seven minutes, the shaken aviators landed safely. The Government of France prohibited its citizens from making transatlantic flights, deeming them a useless hazard, but Coudouret nonetheless planned a second attempt in 1929, hoping to fly from Paris to Seville, Spain, and then across the Atlantic to New York in La France. He arrived in Seville on 3 June 1929, but Spanish authorities — in deference to the French government — denied him permission to make a transatlantic flight from Spain and locked his plane in a hangar. He eventually decided to return to France and took off on 7 July 1929 bound for Angoulême. However, at an altitude of 500 metres (1,640 feet) he lost control of the plane due to engine failure and crashed at Saint-Amant-de-Bonnieure, France. Coudouret died of his injuries hours after the crash, but his two passengers survived.
The second example was used in the first successful French aerial crossing of the North Atlantic. Painted bright yellow and dubbed Oiseau Canari ("Canary Bird") it departed Old Orchard Beach, Maine, in the United States on 13 June 1929 piloted by Jean Assolant, René Lefèvre and Armand Lotti. It completed the crossing to Oyambre Beach, near Comillas, Cantabria, Spain, in 29 hours 52 minutes, even with a stowaway (Arthur Schreiber) aboard. This aircraft is now preserved in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace.
The third 191GR was used by Antoine Paillard to set two world airspeed records, for 100 km (62 mi) with a 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) payload, and for 1,000 km (620 mi) with a 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) payload.
France
Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928. Aviafrance:Bernard 190T
General characteristics
Performance
