1888-1917 (French Pilot's Licence No. 26)
Henri Brégi was born in Sedan in northern
France on December 4th, 1888, the son of a military
doctor. He studied electrical engineering before becoming
interested in flying. He experimented with flying models
together with his brother Christian and Louis Paulhan.
After Paulhan famously won a Voisin airplane in a
modelling contest Brégi learned to fly it, making his
first flights during the late summer of 1909. He made his
public debut at the September 1909 Ostend meeting and
then participated in the October 1909 "Grande
Quinzaine" at Port Aviation, where he won several
prizes. He also also participated in the 1909 Antwerp
meeting.
In January 1910 he departed for Argentina together with
his brother, a mechanic and two Voisin planes, one
reportedly the ex-Paulhan "Octavie III". He
made the first official flight in Argentina on February
6th, followed by many more flights before returning to
France in June. He participated in several meetings for
Voisin in the second half of 1910, for example in Reims,
Bordeaux, Bourges and Milano.
In October 1910 he joined the military aviation and
became a specialist in Breguet airplanes, in which he
made the first flights in Morocco in September 1911. In
1912-1914 he specialized on seaplanes. During WW1 he
served in the French air forces.
He was killed in an accident at Saint-Mandrier, near
Toulon, on January 12th, 1917. He made a flight in windy
conditions, perhaps in order to search for an enemy
submarine, and his plane was overturned by a gust. The
other two crew members were saved, but Brégi was trapped
below the surface and drowned before help arrived.
Brégi was granted French "Brevet de Pilote" No.
26 on December 21st, 1909.
Henri Brégi participated in the following air race
meetings:
- Port-Aviation October 1909
- Antwerp 1909
- Reims 1910
- Circuit de l'Est 1910
- Bordeaux 1910
- Milano 1910
- Bourges 1910