Sud Aviation GY-80 Horizon

The GY-80 Horizon was a French four-seat touring monoplane of the 1960s, designed by Yves Gardan during the 1950s. In 1960 Sud Aviation acquired a licence to build the design from Gardan, and the prototype first flew on 21 July 1960. Sud Aviation built the aircraft at Nantes and Rochefort, and after it bought the bankrupt Morane-Saulnier company and formed the SOCATA subsidiary in 1966, production of its general aviation aircraft moved there. By the end of 1974, when production ended, Sud Aviation and SOCATA had built 273 of them. It was an all-metal low-wing design with Fowler-type flaps and partly retracting tricycle landing gear, powered by a Lycoming O-320 or O-360 flat-four piston engine. Most were bought by French private pilot owners, with exports to Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and an improved variant went on to become the SOCATA ST 10 Diplomate.