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Sud-Ouest SO 8000 Narval

1949 COLD WAR X-PLANE

Sud-Ouest SO 8000 Naval History

The post-World War II reconstruction period brought considerable growth to the French aviation industry, again able to operate freely. The French SNCASO, formed by the merger of Bleriot, Bloch, Sud-Ouest and others, finally attracted the attention of the French Navy for a new fighter design for carrier-based combat, the SO.

8000 "Navar". The aircraft first flew as a prototype on April 1, 1949, and two examples were completed during the program's run.

The

Narval features a twin boom configuration, with the cockpit, engines and weapons all housed in a streamlined fuselage nacelle. The visibility from the cockpit is excellent, thanks to the high seating position and low roof base. At the rear of the fuselage are a pair of three-bladed propellers arranged in a "propeller" configuration - meaning the plane pushes rather than pulls. The blades (counter-rotating) rotate in the area created by the double cantilevers formed by the trailing edge of the main-wing aircraft connected to the vertical plane of the tail.

The rudder is attached by a high-mounted horizontal plane to eliminate propeller washing. The main aircraft is swept along its leading and trailing edges, giving the Narval a rather futuristic propeller design look. For ground operation, wheeled and retractable tricycle landing gear was used.

Power comes from a 2,250-horsepower Arsenal 12HO2 inline V-12 engine. The engine is a French wartime replica of the German Junkers Jumo 213 series - the engines that powered designs such as the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter jet and the Junkers Ju 188 fast reconnaissance platform.

The plane was traveling at 455 miles per hour and had an estimated range of 2,800 miles.

Dimensions include a wingspan of 38.6 feet, a length of 38.9 feet, and a height of 10.5 feet. Gross weight is 15,432 lbs.

As mentioned, two prototypes were completed, but the second was flown first (this one in April 1949), the first was not flown until December 1949. Test pilots found the controls to be very poor, leading to some design changes. Even so, as the jet age continued, Narval was far behind it was written off as an active program.

More than forty flights were made between the two prototypes.