Breguet 890 Mercure

Mercure / Mars
Role	Freighter and airliner
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Breguet Aviation
First flight	1 March 1949
Number built	3

The Breguet 890 Mercure was a late 1940s French cargo and passenger transport aircraft designed by Breguet Aviation. Three variants were produced including a military variant called the Mars but none entered production.

With a French Air Force requirement to replace the Douglas C-47 and Amiot AAC-1 Breguet started development of the Breguet 890 as a medium-capacity military transport. The commercial transport prototype designated the Breguet 890H Mercure was an all-metal cantilever high-wing monoplane powered by two 2,000 hp (1,491 kW) Bristol Hercules radial engines. It had a retractable tricycle landing gear and, advanced for its day, a swing tail to allow access (using a loading ramp) into the fuselage for heavy equipment and vehicles. A military prototype was also built under the designation Breguet 891R Mars, it retained the swing tail but had provision for 20 paratroopers and was powered by two 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) Gnome-Rhône 14R-200 radial engines. The Mars had parachute doors on each side of the fuselage, a floor chute for dropping containers and also a towing hook for a glider.

The third variant and the first to fly on 1 March 1949 was a convertible passenger/cargo aircraft, designated the Breguet 892S Mercure. Although based on the 890H the 892S had four 500 hp (373 kW) Renault 12S inline piston engines. It had a large cargo door on the starboard side and two passenger doors in the port side. When fitted with seats it could carry 40 passengers.

Only one prototype of each variant was built, the French Air Force ordered the Nord Noratlas rather than the Mars and with the availability of war-surplus aircraft like the Douglas DC-3 available to commercial operators the type did not enter production.

Data from Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft

General characteristics

Performance

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