Roger Béteille was born in Vors (Aveyron

Aveyron

Aveyron is a département in southern France named after the Aveyron River.- History :Aveyron is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790....

), France

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...

 on 28 August 1921. After graduating from the École Polytechnique

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...

, he studied at the École 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...

 and at the Centre des Hautes Études d’Armement. In 1945 he acquired his pilot’s licence. In 1952, he joined Sud-Aviation 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...

 and held senior posts; Head of Flight Testing (1952 to 1957), Head of Rockets and Satellites division (1957 to 1967) and the deputy technical director of and 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...

 programme manager. He also played a decisive role in the “Armagnac

Sud-Est Armagnac

|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Green, William and Gerald Pollinger. The Aircraft of the World. London: Macdonald, 1955.* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft . London: Orbis Publishing, 1985....

” and “Caravelle

Sud Aviation Caravelle

The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 . The Caravelle was one of the more successful European first generation jetliners, selling throughout Europe and even penetrating the United States market, with...

” programmes.

He was one of the key players in the formation of the European Airbus consortium. Béteille had spent time listening to airlines such as 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...

 and Lufthansa

Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

, as well as visiting U.S. airlines like United

United

-Travel:* United Airlines* United Automobile Services, a bus operator in England, now merged with the Arriva Group* United Bus, a bus manufacturing group-Sports:...

, TWA

Twa

The Twa are any of several hunting peoples of Africa who live interdependently with agricultural Bantu populations, and generally hold a socially subordinate position: They provide the farming population with game in exchange for agricultural products....

 and American Airlines

American Airlines

American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...

. He also decided that English should be the working language and that measurements should not be metric because most airlines already had American built aircraft.

A large part of the initial success 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....

 can be traced back to Béteille, whose nickname is Mister Airbus.Karl Morgenstern, Jan Schulz, « L’histoire d’Airbus: une équipe européenne, un succès mondial. Ce sont des pionniers, réalistes dans l’action et visionnaires dans la pensée tels que Roger Beteille « Monsieur Airbus », qui ont permis, finalement, de réaliser cette idée européenne de l’aviation. », 26 juillet 2004, dans Deutschland magazine His contributions include the "Airbus fuselage"; 222-in fuselage

Fuselage

The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...

 cross section with ability to carry 2 LD-3 freight containers and the basic work share agreement of the various partners in Airbus. He purchased Super Guppy transport aircraft to bring the pieces of the aircraft to its final assembly in Toulose. He long served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer

Chief operating officer

A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...

 and may be regarded as one of the founding fathers, along with Henri Ziegler

Henri Ziegler

Henri Ziegler was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president.A Polytechnic engineer and graduate of "Sup'Aéro" as well as a French air force officer and test pilot, he was a founding father of Airbus Industrie and became its first...

 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"...

, of the Airbus Industrie GIE economic interest grouping, subsequently to become a division of EADS

EADS

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...

. He retired in March 1984.

External links

• Airbus webpage
• http://www.eads.net/1024/en/eads/history/wings_of_time/pioneers/beteille.html