Sud-Ouest Espadon


The Sud-Ouest SO.6020 Espadon was a post-war prototype French interceptor designed and built by SNCASO. Only four aircraft were built and the type did not go into production.

Design and development

The single-seat interceptor was a cantilever mid-wing monoplane powered by a 5000lb thrust Rolls Royce Nene engine licence-built by Hispano-Suiza. The unarmed first prototype S.O.6020.01 first flew on 12 November 1948. The second prototype S.O.6020-02 had a revised fin and air inlets and was fitted with six cannon. It first flew on 30 December 1949. The first prototype was later modified to the same configuration. The third prototype S.O.6020-03 was modified with an auxiliary SEPR 25 liquid-fuel rocket engine beneath the fuselage and was re-designated S.O.6025.
The first prototype was modified for research use and had two wingtip-mounted Turbomeca Marbore turbojets fitted. The second aircraft also had a SEPR 25 rocket engine fitted in the rear fuselage underneath the tail pipe and was re-designated as the S.O.6026. The proposed production variant, the S.O.6021 first flew on 3 June 1950, it had a lighter-weight structure and a revised cockpit with an ejection seat.

Variants

;S.O.6020-01
;S.O.6020-02
;S.O.6020-03
;S.O.6021
;S.O.6025
;S.O.6026

Surviving aircraft

The S.O.6025 in poor conservation state is at the Ailes Anciennes Toulouse museum.

Specifications (SO.6021)