Henri Ziegler
Encyclopedia
Henri Ziegler is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
– 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
and its first president.
A Polytechnic
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
engineer and graduate of "Sup'Aéro"
École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace
The École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace , founded in 1909, is one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles in France. It was the world's first dedicated aerospace engineering school and is considered to be one of the best in Europe in that field...
(the national aerospace engineering school) as well as a French air force officer and test pilot, he was a founding father of Airbus Industrie (along with Roger Béteille
Roger Béteille
Roger Béteille was born in Vors , France on 28 August 1921. After graduating from the École Polytechnique, he studied at the École Sup’Aéro and at the Centre des Hautes Études d’Armement. In 1945 he acquired his pilot’s licence...
and Felix Kracht
Felix Kracht
Felix Kracht was a German engineer.After graduating from the Technical University of Aachen, he put his theoretical knowledge into practice at the aeronautical association Flugwissenschaftliche Vereinigung Aachen by building the performance glider FVA-10 “Rheinland"...
) and became its first CEO. He was the driving force behind the development of the Airbus A300
Airbus A300
The Airbus A300 is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner. Launched in 1972 as the world's first twin-engined widebody, it was the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace companies, wholly owned today by EADS...
B, the original aircraft that started Airbus on its road to global success by obtaining French government backing for the programme in 1969.
Following his appointment as assistant director of the Centre d'Essais en Vol (government flight test centre) in 1938, he fought for the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
during the Second World War. In 1944 he was made commander of the Free French air forces in London, going on to become chief of staff of the French Forces of the Interior under General Koenig.
While acting as a special representative of the French government in Britain and the United States, Henri Ziegler was also managing director of Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
from 1946 to 1954. In subsequent years he was the founder of Air Alpes
Air Alpes
Société Air Alpes was a French airline company headquartered in Chambéry Airport and in Viviers-du-Lac, Savoie, near Chambéry. Established in 1961 by Michel Ziegler, the airline's history began in the French Alps.-Creation:...
, a member of several cabinet ministries, president of Avions Breguet
Société Anonyme des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet
The Société des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Bréguet also known as Breguet Aviation was a former French aircraft manufacturer. The company was set up in 1911 by aviation pioneer Louis Charles Breguet....
; president of Sud Aviation
Sud Aviation
Sud-Aviation was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating from the merger of Sud-Est and Sud-Ouest on March 1, 1957...
(1968), leader of the Franco-British supersonic airliner project Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
, and president and CEO (1970–1973) of SNIAS (Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale), which was renamed Aérospatiale
Aérospatiale
Aérospatiale was a French aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale...
in 1984. From 1971 to 1973, he was also managing director of the French Aerospace industries trade organisation (Usias), retiring from Airbus in 1975. In 1973, Ziegler received the Tony Jannus Award
Tony Jannus Award
The Tony Jannus Award recognizes outstanding individual achievement in scheduled commercial aviation by airline executives, inventors and manufacturers, and government leaders. The award is conferred annually by the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society and was first bestowed in 1964 in Tampa,...
, along with Geoffrey Knight, for distinguished contributions to commercial aviation. Ziegler was the father of Bernard Ziegler
Bernard Ziegler
Bernard Ziegler is the former Airbus senior vice president for engineering. He is well known for his evangelical zeal for the application of the fly-by-wire system in the Airbuses. He is the son of the former Airbus CEO, Henri Ziegler....
, the former Airbus Director of Engineering.
"There would be no Airbus without Henri Ziegler," Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert
Gustav Humbert
Dr. Gustav Humbert is the former Chief Executive Officer and President of Airbus SAS, and a former member of the EADS Executive Committee.- Airbus :...
declared on 11 April 2006 at the dedication of the new Airbus delivery centre in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
named in his honour.