The Sud-Ouest S.O.30 Bretagne was a 1940s French

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

built by Sud-Ouest.

Design and development

The Bretagne (Engl. "

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

") was designed by a group of designers and engineers who were based at

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

from May 1941 following the invasion of France. The design was for a medium capacity civil transport, a twin-engined mid-wing cantilever all-metal monoplane. The prototype (designated the S.O.30N) first flew on 26 February 1945.

Operational history

The initial production version was designated the S.O.30P Bretagne with two versions with different engines. The aircraft operated with a crew of five and could carry between 30 and 43 passengers. A cargo version (the S.O.30C) was produced, with a revised interior and strengthened floor and large cargo door. The aircraft was operated as an airliner, but mainly by the French military forces as a medium transport. Some aircraft were fitted with two underwing

Turbomeca Palas The Turbomeca Palas is a diminutive centrifugal force, centrifugal flow turbojet engine used to power light aircraft. An enlargement of the Turbomeca Piméné, the Palas was designed in 1950 by the French manufacturer Turbomeca, Société Turbo ...

turbojet engines for auxiliary power. Other aircraft were used for engine-trials fitted with the

SNECMA Atar 101 The SNECMA ATAR 101 is a French axial-flow turbojet engine built by SNECMA. It was derived from engines and design work carried out at BMW in Germany during World War II, and extensively developed though a progression of more powerful models. Th ...

and licence-built

Rolls-Royce Nene The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent,"Rolls-Royce Aero Engines" Bill Gunston, Patrick Stephens Limited 1989, , p.111 ...

turbojets.

Variants

;S.O.30N: Tailwheel undercarriage prototype, c/n 01 built after the 1940 armistice and stored till after the war. The second S.O.30R c/n 02 was built in 1946 and later converted to the S.O.30 Nene, jet powered airliner test-bed. ;S.O.30R Bellatrix: Two prototypes of the nosewheel undercarriage production model. ;S.O.30C:cargo version, one built with belly loading hatches. ;S.O.30P-1:production version with Pratt & Whitney R-2800-B43 engines. ;S.O.30P-2:production version with Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CA13 engines. ;S.O.30 Nene:One aircraft converted from S.O.30R c/n 02 for use as a testbed, powered by two

Operators

Military operators

; *

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

Stroud 1966, p. 203. *

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

Civil operators

; *

Air Algérie Air Algérie SpA (, ) is the flag carrier of Algeria, with its head office in the El-Djazair office block in Algiers. With flights operating mostly from Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers and Ahmed Ben Bella Airport in Oran, Air Algérie op ...

Stroud 1966, p. 202. ; *

Aigle Azur Aigle Azur was a French airline based and headquartered at Paris Orly Airport. The airline operated scheduled flights from France to 21 destinations across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, with a fleet of Airbus A320 family and A330 aircr ...

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

* COSARA based in

French Indo-China French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

Stroud 1966, pp. 202–203. ; * Iranian Airways ; * Air Maroc

Specifications (S.O.30P-2)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bridgeman, Leonard. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1953–54''. London: Jane's All The World's Aircraft Publishing Company, 1953. * * * * Stroud, John. ''European Transport Aircraft since 1910''. London: Putnam, 1966.