Its inception can be traced back to 1934 when the French Air Ministry issued a requirement for a single-seat fighter (C1). This requirement suffered many changes until 16th November 1935 when it was decided to split it in two categories: light fighters powered by an engine rated between 400 and 500 hp and heavy fighters with engines rated between 800 and 1.000 hp. In this later category, eleven project were presented, with only six of them being ordered as prototypes. André Herbemont, designer of the Blériot-SPAD S.510, presented a biplane, against the Morane-Saulnier Ms.406, Bloch Mb.150, Dewoitine D.513, Loire-Nieuport LN.161 and Loire 250, monoplanes all of them.
The S.710 was an evolution of the S.510, which was itself an evolution of the S.9. The S.710 had a duralumin fuselage with a covered cockpit equipped with a sliding canopy. Wings were covered in fabric and they were different each other. It was powered by a single Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs engine rated at 860 hp and, although the only prototype was never armed, the proposed armament was one engine-mounted 20 mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, four 7,5 mm machine guns mounted on the wings and one 7,5 mm aft-firing machine gun in the rear fuselage. It was also equipped with retractable undercarriage and an V-type or "butterfly" tail configuration. This tail arrangement had already been previously tested on an S.92 with promising results.
Work on the prototype began in October 1935 and was completed shortly after. It wasn't however, until April 1937 that it was tested. On 8th June it exceeded a speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) in level flight. On 15th June, Louis Massotte, the test pilot, noticed a flutter in the tail surfaces when flying at only 200 m (656 ft) high and tried to perform an emergency landing. Unfortunately the aircraft went out of control and crashed into the ground killing Massotte. The flutter phenomenon was relatively unknown back then and this accident put an end to the project.
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blériot-SPAD_S.710 (translated)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blériot-SPAD_S.510
3. http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/bleriot_s-710.php
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