Henri Ziegler CVO,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was one of the founders of

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

and its first president.

Life and legacy

An engineer, graduate of the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national aerospace engineering school) as well as a French air force officer and test pilot, he was a founding father of

Airbus Industrie Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

(along with

Roger Béteille Roger Béteille (28 August 1921 – 14 June 2019) was a French aeronautical engineer and businessman. Regarded as one of the founding fathers of the company, he is known for his contributions towards Airbus, which contributed towards the airline ...

and Felix Kracht) and became its first CEO. He was the driving force behind the development of the

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West ...

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 The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during the Second World War. In 1944 he was made commander of the

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

air forces in London, going on to become chief of staff of the French Forces of the Interior under General Koenig. He was awarded the Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with three palms, the Médaille de la Résistance with rosette and appointed officer on the US Legion of Merit. 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 (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

from 1946 to 1954. In subsequent years he was the founder of

Air Alpes ; Société Air Alpes was a French airline company headquartered in Chambéry Airport and in Viviers-du-Lac, Savoie, near Chambéry."World Airline Directory." ''Flight International''. 13 February 1975247 Established in 1961 by Michel Ziegler, ...

, a member of several cabinet ministries, president of Avions Breguet; president of Sud Aviation (1968), leader of the Franco-British supersonic airliner project

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

, and president and CEO (1970–1973) of SNIAS (Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale), which was renamed 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 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 Avia ...

'', along with Geoffrey Knight, for distinguished contributions to commercial aviation. Ziegler was the father of Bernard Ziegler, the former Airbus Director of Engineering. During his career, Ziegler was the recipient of several honours, including Grand Officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, honorary Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) and honorary Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(CVO). "There would be no Airbus without Henri Ziegler," Airbus CEO

Gustav Humbert Gustav Humbert (born February 1950 in Celle, West Germany) is the former chief executive officer and president of Airbus SAS, and a former member of the EADS executive committee. Airbus Humbert joined Airbus management in July 2000, as the chief ...

declared on 11 April 2006 at the dedication of the new Airbus delivery centre in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

named in his honour.

External links

Airbus webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Henri 1906 births 1998 deaths Airbus people Aviation pioneers Concorde Corps de l'armement École Polytechnique alumni French aerospace engineers French chief executives French test pilots Officers of the Legion of Merit Supaéro alumni