Bernard 60
1920s French transport aircraft
title: "Bernard 60" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1920s-french-civil-aircraft", "bernard-aircraft", "trimotors", "high-wing-aircraft"] description: "1920s French transport aircraft" topic_path: "geography/france" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_60" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 1920s French transport aircraft ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox aircraft"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Bernard 60 T |
| image | Le Nouveau tri moteurs Bernard.tif |
| aircraft_type | Fourteen seat passenger aircraft |
| national_origin | France |
| manufacturer | Société des Avions Bernard (S.A.B) |
| designer | Jean Gaultier |
| number_built | 1 |
| first_flight | August 1929 |
| :: |
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The Bernard 60 T and 61 T were closely similar, three engine, twelve seat passenger transports designed in France between 1929 and 1933. They were not a success and only one of each was built.
Design and development
The 60 T (T for transport) was the result of a decision made in May 1929 to turn a current military transport project into a civil, passenger carrying aircraft. The resulting design also owed much to the earlier, single engine Bernard 190 civil transport, though the 60 T had three engines and a greater span. Even though it retained only the wing from the military design, construction began on 11 June and was completed on 20 August.
The Bernard 60 was an all wood aircraft. Like the Barnard 190, it was a high wing cantilever monoplane. In plan the thick wing was straight tapered with rounded tips. The fuselage was flat sided with a curved underside. The crew's enclosed cabin was just ahead of the wing leading edge and the 3.80 m long passenger compartment, with twelve seats in all and five windows on each side, was lower down beneath the wings. Despite the rapid build, the accommodation was heated, ventilated and sound-proofed; entry was via a port side door which included the rearmost window. The sound proofing was assisted by silencers on the engines.
The empennage of the Bernard 60 was conventional with a rounded fin and rudder and a tailplane with a swept leading edge mounted on top of the fuselage. It had a split axle undercarriage with single mainwheels mounted on V-form struts from the lower fuselage longerons and landing loads taken by vertical struts to the wing just inboard of the engines, combined with a tailskid. The trimotor Bernard 60 was unusual in having different engines in the nose and on the wings. The central engine was a nine-cylinder, 313 kW Gnome-Rhône 9Ady Jupiter, with five cylinder, 180 kW Gnome-Rhône 5Bc Titan engines on the wings. The designers would have preferred about 225 kW (300 hp) from each of three identical engines but early in 1929 there were no available homologated types of this power.
Flight history
The Bernard 60 flew for the first time at the end of August 1929, piloted by Antoine Paillard. Tests revealed a serious problem due to the mixture of engine powers: the Bernard 60 could fly satisfactorily with one wing motor shut down but could not reach the altitude of 1000 m required for certification on the power of the two wing motors alone. So in October 1930 Bernard proposed to install three seven cylinder, 224 kW Gnome-Rhône 7Kdrs Titan-Major engines. It first flew in this form in July 1931 but was seriously damaged in a night landing on 22 December 1931 and did not fly again, being scrapped in 1934.
It was succeeded by the Bernard 61 T, similar but with a metal fuselage. The wing was unchanged, weights up by about 100 kg and maximum speed and ceiling increased by 27 km/h and 2500 m respectively. It was powered by three Gnome-Rhône 7Kb Titan-Major engines with the same output as those used on the 60. The 61 T flew for the first time on 28 March 1933, piloted by Jean-Charles Bernache-Assollant.
Operational history
The 60 T never received certification but the 61 T was approved after tests by the STAé in July 1933. It was registered as F-AKBY; the 60 T had flown with the same letters. In May 1934 Georges Barbot tested the performance of the 61 T, now technically dated and always with poor handling characteristics and not of interest to the recently formed Air-France. It was modified again in September 1934 and delivered to CEMA in October, making its last flight the following February.
Variants
60 T
- All wood, originally powered by 2×Titans and 1×Jupiter, replaced by 3×Titan-Majors.
61 T
- Metal fuselage, 3×Titan-Majors
Specifications (61 T)
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Bernard_60_T_3-view_L'Aérophile_September,1929.png" caption="Bernard 60 T 3-view drawing from L'Aérophile September,1929"] ::
|ref=Liron |prime units?=met General characteristics
|genhide=
|crew=2 |capacity=12 passengers |length m=15.57 |length note= |span m=21.50 |span note= |height m=4.05 |height note= |wing area sqm=66.0 |wing area note= |aspect ratio= |airfoil= |empty weight kg=3500 |empty weight lb= |empty weight note= |gross weight kg=5405 |gross weight note= |max takeoff weight kg= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity= |more general= Powerplant
|eng1 number=3 |eng1 name=Gnome-Rhône 7Kb Titan-Major |eng1 type=7-cylinder radial |eng1 hp=300 |eng1 note= |power original=
|more power=
|prop blade number=2 |prop name= |prop dia m= |prop dia ft= |prop dia in= |prop note=
Performance
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=245 |max speed note= |cruise speed kmh= |cruise speed mph= |cruise speed kts= |cruise speed note= |stall speed kmh= |stall speed mph= |stall speed kts= |stall speed note= |never exceed speed kmh= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed kts= |never exceed speed note= |minimum control speed kmh= |minimum control speed mph= |minimum control speed kts= |minimum control speed note= |range km=800 |range note= |combat range km= |combat range miles= |combat range nmi= |combat range note= |ferry range km= |ferry range miles= |ferry range nmi= |ferry range note= |endurance= |ceiling m=6500 |ceiling ft= |ceiling note= |g limits= |roll rate= |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin= |climb rate note= |time to altitude= |wing loading kg/m2= |wing loading lb/sqft= |wing loading note=
|power/mass=
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|avionics=
|see also= |related= |similar aircraft= |lists=
References
Bibliography
References
- Liron, pp. 153–156, 224
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