Origins According to aviation author Peter Caygill, France's aviation industry was in dire straits, perhaps having been more damaged than that of any other nation, as a consequence of events in the
Second World War. Regardless, French industrialists and government officials alike were keen to make rapid advances in aviation technology to not only revive the nation's aviation capabilities, but to utilise the newest advances and produce a new generation of competitive indigenously-built aircraft. France, like the other
Allied nations in the war, had benefitted from captured Germany high speed research; these factors combined gave a great impetus to undertaking advanced research projects.
Design The SO.6000 was, despite the use of
jet propulsion, an otherwise conventional aircraft. It was a compact and unarmed two-seater, having a deep-set fuselage and furnished with a mid-mounted straight wing. The spacious fuselage provided sufficient space for multiple engine models to be readily accommodated. Caygill observed that while SNCASO had to start from scratch on the fuselage's design, by pursuing a clean-sheet approach and the originality which that entailed, the SO.6000 lacked much of the conservatism present in the contemporary designs of several British aircraft manufacturers. While having been envisioned from the onset to be powered by a
jet engine, the availability of such a powerplant to install upon the aircraft was no straightforward issue. At one stage, it had been planned for the type to receive a French-designed
Rateau-Anxionnaz GTS-65 turbojet engine. However, as a result of the delays encountered in the development of this engine, it was decided to instead adopt the
German-designed
Junkers Jumo 004-B2 engine for use upon the first prototype. The choice of a German engine was opted for as a means of preventing any unnecessary delay in the project. ==Operational history==