What records did the Breguet 1001 Taon break?

Short answer

The Bréguet 1001 Taon broke the international 1,000 km closed-circuit speed record: on 25 April 1958 it reached 1,046.65 km/h at 7,620 m altitude. On 23 July that same year it broke it again, at 1,075 km/h. Despite this, no operator ordered the type into production.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

What records did the Breguet 1001 Taon break?

Breguet Taon top view silhouette

A light fighter for NATO

During 1953, NATO invited various Western aircraft manufacturers to submit proposals to meet NATO Basic Military Requirement 1 (NBMR-1), which sought the optimal aircraft for the Light Weight Strike Fighter (LWSF) role. The Taon was powered by a single Bristol Orpheus BOr.3 turbojet; nine of the ten designs submitted for the NBMR-1 competition were Orpheus-powered. The intention was for the production version of the Taon, which was never built, to share its wing with the Bréguet 1100. The first aircraft made its maiden flight on 26 July 1957.

The 1958 records

On 25 April 1958, the Taon set an international 1,000 km (620 mi) closed-circuit speed record of 1,046.65 km/h (650.36 mph) at an altitude of 7,620 m (25,000 ft). On 23 July that same year it broke the record again, this time at 1,075 km/h (667.98 mph).