Marcel Dassault (French pronunciation: [maʁsɛl daso]; born Marcel Ferdinand Bloch; 23 January 1892 – 17 April 1986) was a French engineer and business leader who worked in making airplanes for most of his life. He also took part in government work, serving sometimes in both parts of the French Parliament from 1951 until his death in 1986.
Early life and education
He was born on January 23, 1892, in Paris. He was the youngest of four children. His father, Adolphe Bloch, was a doctor, and his mother was Noémie Allatini. Both of his parents were Jewish.
He attended the Lycée Condorcet in Paris. After studying electrical engineering, he graduated from the Breguet School and Supaéro. At Supaéro, Bloch was classmates with a Russian student named Mikhail Gurevich, who would later play a key role in creating the MiG aircraft series.
Career
During World War I, Bloch worked at the French Aeronautics Research Laboratory in Chalais-Meudon and invented a type of aircraft propeller that the French army used during the war. In 1916, he joined with Henry Potez and Louis Coroller to start a company called the Société d'Études Aéronautiques. This company made the SEA series of fighter planes.
In 1928, Bloch founded an aircraft company named Société des Avions Marcel Bloch. The company produced its first aircraft in 1930. In 1935, Bloch and Henry Potez agreed to buy the company Société Aérienne Bordelaise (SAB). In 1936, the company became owned by the French government and was renamed the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest (SNCASO). Bloch was chosen to manage the company for the Minister of Air.
During World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied France, the country’s aviation industry was almost completely shut down. French factories were required to make, assemble, and service German aircraft designs. In October 1940, Bloch refused to work with the German occupiers at Bordeaux-Aéronautique and was arrested by the Vichy government.
In 1944, the Nazis sent Bloch to the Buchenwald concentration camp as punishment for refusing to cooperate with their government. He was tortured, beaten, and kept alone in a cell. At the same time, his wife was placed in a detention camp near Paris. Bloch remained in the camp until it was freed on April 11, 1945. When he returned to Paris, he was so disabled that he could barely walk. His doctors told him to settle his personal matters, as they believed he would not recover.
After the war, Bloch changed his name from Bloch to Bloch-Dassault in 1949 and later to Dassault. This name came from "Chardasso," a code name used by his brother, General Darius Paul Bloch, during his time in the French Resistance. The code name was based on "char d'assaut," which means "assault tank" in French. In 1971, Dassault bought the company Breguet, creating Avions Marcel Dassault–Breguet Aviation (AMD–BA).
Personal life
In 1919, Bloch married Madeleine Minckès, who was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family that sold furniture. They had two sons named Claude and Serge. In 1950, he changed his name to Dassault and joined the Roman Catholic Church.
In July 1952, Dassault purchased the historic buildings now called Hôtel Marcel Dassault, which were built in 1844. These buildings are located at numbers 7 and 9 on the rond-point des Champs-Élysées, where the avenue des Champs-Élysées meets the avenue Montaigne. The Sabatier d'Espeyran family owned the buildings at the time of the purchase. Since 2002, the building at number 7 has been used by the auction house Artcurial. Artcurial made additional changes to the building with the help of architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. The building at number 7 has since been sold, but the building at number 9 is still used by the Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault.
In 1973, Dassault was honored by being inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.
Death and legacy
Dassault passed away in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1986 and was buried at the Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
Serge Dassault, Marcel's younger son, became the CEO of Avions Marcel Dassault. The company was later restructured as Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, showing its wider range of interests. In 1990, the aviation division was renamed Dassault Aviation.
In 1991, the rond-point des Champs-Elysées in Paris was renamed the rond-point des Champs-Elysées-Marcel-Dassault in his honor.
In popular culture
In the book Flight 714 to Sydney from The Adventures of Tintin, the real-life person Dassault is depicted as a humorous version of a wealthy airplane builder named Laszlo Carreidas – "the millionaire who never laughs" – who offers Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus his personal jet, the Carreidas 160, so they can travel to Sydney.