History

The Sud Ouest Bretagne was designed in France during World War II and manufactured immediately after the war. Although outmoded by then its manufacture was used to help relaunch the French aviation industry.

In 1941 a group of French engineers were sent to Cannes in the South of France to design a military transport for the Vichy Air Force. It’s designers kept Allied intelligence informed of their progress.

The prototype was completed in 1943 but hidden to protect it from Allied bombing and finally flew for the first time on 26 February 1945.

The Bretagne was far from modern at the end of World War II and Air France, which preferred the Douglas DC-3 ordered only six which flew with its subsidiary, Air Algerie.

To rebuild the French aviation industry a total of 45 Bretagnes were manufactured and used mainly by French military forces.

This model represents F-BAYI flying for Air Algerie in 1948.

F-Rsin 1/144 kit. Completed in December 2021.

Work Bench Notes

Data

MODEL: Sud Ouest SO30 Bretagne (Air Algerie, F-BAYI, 1948)

ROLE: Airliner and military transport

TIME PERIOD: 1945-1966

ENGINES: two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CA18 air cooled radial piston engines of 1,815kW each

WING SPAN: 26.9m

LENGTH: 18.95m

MAXIMUM TAKE OFF WEIGHT: 20,250kg

CRUISING SPEED: 438 km/h

PAYLOAD: 43 passengers

CREW: 4

SCALE: 1/144

KIT:

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