In response to several fatal crashes the French government had imposed restrictions on the long range flights from France required by attempts on the straight-line distance record. Bernard therefore concentrated on the closed circuit record, which at the time of the 80 GR's first flight was held by the Italians Umberto Madalena and Fausto Cecconi. They had flown 8,188 km (5,089 mi) in a
Savoia-Marchetti S.64. The 80 GR was taken to
Oran in
Algeria, then part of Metropolitan France, in February 1931. In a first attempt, flying a 15 km (9.3 mi) for over 50 hours, Paillard and Louis Mailloux (Professor of Navigation at the École d'Aéronautique de Versailles) covered 8,168 km (5.076 mi). Higher than expected fuel consumption was blamed on the fixed pitch Chauvière propeller, so this was replaced by a
variable pitch Ratier. Whilst this was being done, a new record of 8,822 km (5,483 mi) was set on 1 March by Maurice Rossi and Lucien Bossoutrop in the Blériot 110. On 30 March the Bernard took off again, piloted this time by Jean Mermoz and Paillard, to set a new record of 8,960 km (5,569 mi) in a time of 52 h 44 min. They landed on 2 April with fuel still available, brought down by loss of coolant; during the last part of the flight, they pumped
champagne,
eau de Vittel and
coffee into the radiator. The record was short lived, for on 10 June 1931 Doret and Le Brix flew the Dewoitine 33 a distance of 10,371 km (6,446 mi). After completing the transformation into the 81 GR in August, planning began for an attempt on the straight line record with a flight from Oran to
South America, which would also win a one million franc prize. The attempt was blocked by the unwillingness of the French authorities to grant clearance, partly in response to the recent Dewoitine 33 crash. Instead, there was an attempt to regain the closed circuit record. On 29 December the 81 GR, carrying 8,500 L (1,870 Imp gal, 2,245 USgal) of fuel and piloted by Mermoz, attempted to take off. After a deliberately after a long run the tail lifted and the large propeller hit the ground, the undercarriage collapsed and the 81 GR slid on its belly, fortunately without catching fire. Mermoz and Mailloux escaped with a few bruises. After its repair the 81 GR made a second and final attempt to regain the record. Even during take-off from
Istres on 18 October 1932, Mermoz noticed the aileron controls were slack, the ailerons themselves vibrated and there were large oscillations of the wings, with amplitude as much as 1 m. He dumped most of the fuel and returned, landing safely. It turned out that the wing oscillations were excited by a very stiff undercarriage suspension that transmitted ground forces into the wings, the motion of which damaged the aileron control runs. Almost a year later, the ban on long range flights lifted by a new administration, an attempt on the straight line record was made at last. By this time the record was held by Rossi and Codos in the Blériot 110 at 9,104 km (5,658 mi). ''L'Oiseau Canari II'' left Oran on 4 October 1933, crewed by
Jean Assolant and
René Lefèvre, hoping to reach
Saigon. After 24 hours they realized that the engine was consuming 10 L of fuel per hour more than expected, an excess of about 0.6% . This put the record just out of reach: the
FAI stipulation that the old record had to be beaten by 100 km (62 mi) left them an estimated 200 km (124 mi) short. They therefore landed in
Karachi, having flown 6,600 km (4,100 mi) in 27 hours. An inaccurate rev counter may have been partly to blame for the over-consumption. The ''L'Oiseau Canari II'' was later re-engined with a 670 kW (900 hp) two row radial
Gnome-Rhône 14Kfs engine, perhaps because Hispano-Suiza reclaimed their loaned engined. It was designated
84 GR but never flew. There was also a proposed bomber project, the unbuilt, Hispano powered
81 Bn3, which led to the
Bernard 82 and its own variants. ==Variants==