Marcel Dassault
Encyclopedia
Marcel Dassault, born Marcel Bloch (22 January 1892 - 17 April 1986) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

 industrialist.

Biography

Dassault was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. After graduating from the lycée Condorcet
Lycée Condorcet
The Lycée Condorcet is a school founded in 1803 in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's IXe arrondissement. Since its inception, various political eras have seen it given a number of different names, but its identity today honors the memory of the Marquis de Condorcet. The...

, Breguet School
École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique
ESIEE, , are two French Graduate Schools of Engineering located in Marne-la-Vallée and Amiens delivering the equivalent of a Master's Degree.-General information:It was founded in 1904 and was known until the 1960s as the Breguet school...

and Supaero
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...

, he invented a type of aircraft propeller
Propeller (aircraft)
Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...

 used by the French army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and founded the Société des Avions Marcel Bloch aircraft company. Following the nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 of his company in 1936, under the Front Populaire
Front Populaire
Front Populaire can refer to:* Popular Front * People's Front...

, he stayed as a director. As a Jew, he was deported
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...

 to Buchenwald during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, refusing collaboration with the German aviation industry. He changed his name from Bloch to Bloch-Dassaut then Dassault in 1949. Dassault was the pseudonym of his brother, General Darius Paul Bloch, in 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...

 and means "for assault", originally from char d'assault, French for tank. Marcel Dassault converted to Catholicism in 1950. After the war, Dassault built the foremost military aircraft manufacturer in France, Avions Marcel Dassault. He was succeeded by his son Serge
Serge Dassault
Serge Dassault is a French entrepreneur and conservative politician. According to Forbes magazine, he was the 96th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $9.3 billion....

 as head of the group.

Marcel Dassault died at Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...

 in 1986 and was buried in the Passy Cemetery
Passy Cemetery
The Passy Cemetery is a famous cemetery located at 2, rue du Commandant Schlœsing in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:...

 in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

See also

  • Societé des Avions Marcel Bloch
    Société des Avions Marcel Bloch
    The Société des Avions Marcel Bloch was a French aircraft manufacturer of military and civilian aircraft, that further changed its name in Dassault Aviation, after the end of World War II....

  • Dassault Group
    Dassault Group
    Dassault Group, is a French group of companies led by Serge Dassault.Managing directors are Claude Dassault and Olivier Costa De Beauregard.- Subsidiaries :*Dassault Aviation;...

  • Dassault Aviation
    Dassault Aviation
    Dassault Aviation is a French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets, a subsidiary of Dassault Group.It was founded in 1930 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel Dassault, and the name of the...

  • The Talisman; the Autobiography of Marcel Dassault, Creator of the Mirage jet. translated by Patricia High Painton. New Rochelle, N.Y., Arlington House (1971) ISBN 0-87000-149-3

External links

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