Sud-Ouest SO.30 Bretagne

Sud-Ouest · France · first flew 1945 · airliner

The Sud-Ouest SO.30 Bretagne was a French twin-engine postwar airliner developed to restart French civil aviation after World War II. It entered service with Air France and served on regional European and colonial routes.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, straight
E — Engines	2 × piston, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	Rounded fuselage typical of late-1940s French airliners
T — Tail	Conventional

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Spot it by:

Large French postwar twin-engine airliner
Low-wing monoplane with twin radial engines
Rounded fuselage typical of late-1940s French airliners

Large low-wing twin-engine airliner with a rounded fuselage cross-section, radial engines in prominent cowlings, and a conventional tail — typical of French late-1940s transport design.

Specifications

The Sud-Ouest SO.30 Bretagne has a length of 18.95 m (62 ft).
It has a wingspan of 26.9 m (88 ft).
Its maximum speed is 575 km/h (357 mph).
Typical crew: 4.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 1945, the SO.30 Bretagne was one of France's first postwar airliner designs and entered service with Air France in 1947. It was designed to carry around 30 passengers on medium-range routes. While useful as a stopgap, it faced competition from American types and did not achieve large production numbers.

Variants

The SO.30 was built in a standard passenger configuration; some aircraft were operated with slightly different interior arrangements for different route requirements.

Where you'll see it

The Bretagne served primarily with Air France on European and North African routes during the late 1940s and early 1950s before being phased out in favour of more modern aircraft.

Related aircraft

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