While still under construction, the original tandem-seat cockpit was reworked to a back-to-back seating arrangement now covered by a "bubble-style" canopy. The nose section was reworked in this way to allow the now-shrouded nose cone to incorporate a radar fit.
It was envisioned, for the finalized bomber form, that the SO.4000's design would eventually include defensive armament in the form of a pair of cannon barbettes each mounting 2 x 15mm MG151 autocannons at rear-facing wingtip pods. These would be radar-directed from the cockpit by the second crewman but were never developed nor installed on the completed, flyable prototype.
The future for this French-inspired jet bomber was already murky in 1947 when it was decided to not pursue serial production of the design. The M.1 glider form was air-launched on September 26th, 1949 while the M.2 recorded its first-flight some time earlier on April 13th of that year. The SO.4000 would have to wait until March 5th, 1950 just to be unveiled and, during taxiing tests on April 23rd, its awkward and fragile undercarriage was damaged. Its first-flight finally arrived on March 15th, 1951 but, again, the undercarriage proved an inherent weak point in the design and was damaged once more upon landing. Beyond this single flying experience, the SO.4000 never took to the skies again and was ultimately given up for good.
Other ideas on the base design of the SO.4000 were entertained and would go on to involve a dedicated reconnaissance variant (which was to do away with the bombing capability altogether), a proposed "all-weather fighter" (which was interesting considering the size of the bomber itself), and a possible switch to the Rolls-Royce "Avon" or Armstrong Siddeley "Sapphire" turbojet engines to exact additional performance for the once-promising design.
While French industry was "ready, willing, and able" - the post-World War 2 French defense budget said otherwise.
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