Marc Birkigt (8 March 1878,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

– 15 March 1953, Versoix) was a

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engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

, automotive and

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

pioneer, and co-founder of

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

in 1904. He lived in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

when he was hired by Emilio de la Cuadra in 1898 to work as an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

engineer in Cuadra's firm La Cuadra. After several bankruptcies and changes in ownership, the firm was reborn in 1904 as the luxury automobile company

with Birkigt as chief engineer. Later he co-founded the Dewoitine company along with Émile Dewoitine.
Gens de chez nous
', Aisne Council, France (in French). Birkigt was nominated for the Car Engineer of the Century prize for the luxurious Hispano-Suiza H6 car in the 1920s. He also won fame for the aircraft engines and guns he designed as chief engineer at Hispano-Suiza, the former including the liquid-cooled V8 engine that powered the famous French

SPAD VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and rug ...

and

SPAD XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Béc ...

World War I fighters, and the British

Sopwith Dolphin The Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin was a British fighter aircraft manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It was used by the Royal Flying Corps and its successor, the Royal Air Force, during the First World War. The Dolphin entered service on t ...

and S.E. 5a, whilst in the field of ordnance he created the Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20mm

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bul ...

, which was of great importance in WW II as the main fighter gun of the RAF from 1941 onwards.

Biography

Childhood

Marc was born on March 8, 1878 in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Son of a tailor in rue Rousseau, his mother died when he was 2 and his father when he was 12. He was raised by his grandmother.

Education and early working years

Marc entered the Geneva Mechanical School at the age of 17 from where he graduated as an engineer at the age of 20 and then worked in a company manufacturing machines and tools for watchmaking. During his military service in Switzerland, he served as gunsmith. Aged 21, he joined Carlos Vellino (engineering school friend) in 1899 in

(industrial capital of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

) and worked unsuccessfully on a prototype electric omnibus for Barcelona for the company “La Cuadra”. He then designed and manufactured two models of gasoline powered carts: a 4.5 hp single-cylinder and the 7.5-horsepower twin-cylinder Cuadra Centauroune, which in 1901 traveled 1,000 km without incident. He filed his first mechanical patents but the company went bankrupt.

Hispano-Suiza

Early years in Spain and international development

Marc Birkigt founded with the financier Juan Castro de La Cuadra in November 1902 the Juan Castro s.en.c Fabrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles in Barcelona. They manufactured automobiles with internal combustion engines, the 10 hp, 1,873 cc twin-cylinder and the 14 hp, 2,535 cc 4-cylinder chassis. At the beginning of 1904, production was again suspended for lack of money. The Spanish businessmen Damian Mateù and Francisco Seix then finance on June 14, 1904 the new company Hispano-Suiza Fabrica de Automóviles SA in Barcelona. King Alfonso XIII of Spain ordered a 20/24 hp Hispano-Suiza chassis and assured the company of his full support. He awarded Birkigt the title of

Knight of Isabella the Catholic A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in 1908. A new factory was built in Sagrera and sales offices were created in

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, then in the rest of Europe. A sales license was granted to the Swiss company SAG (Société d'automobiles à Genève) of

Lucien Pictet Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to: People Given name *Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint *Lucien, a band member ...

and

Paul Piccard Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. The latter marketed the Hispano-Suiza models under this name until 1908. Marc Birkigt presented two new chassis at the 1907 show: a 4-cylinder 40/45 hp and an imposing 6-cylinder 60/75 hp with 11 litres of displacement decorated with the brand's emblem: two wings (symbol of speed), in the center a white cross (Swiss symbol) on the Spanish colors. In January 1911, Marc Birkigt moved to Paris with a new factory in Levallois and then in

Bois-Colombes Bois-Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 28,239. International companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, IBM and Aviva have their French head ...

in 1914 with agencies all over the world. King Alfonso XIII was then one of the main shareholders of the brand.

Success of aircraft engines in France

In 1914 when the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

broke out, the factories were placed under the control of the company

Gnome et Rhône Gnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. Between 1914 and 1918 they produced 25,000 of their 9-cylinder Delta and Le Rhône 110 hp (81 kW) rotary designs, while another 75,000 were produced by various license ...

. Marc Birkigt then developed a light aircraft engine in Barcelona for the Spanish government. The 150 hp

Hispano-Suiza 8 The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza ...

a 90° V8 engine introduced the innovative concept of light alloy cylinder blocks. From 1915 the French air force successfully equipped itself with 40,000 of these engines, which enabled them to fight on equal terms with their German counterparts. This machine powered the

SPAD S.VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and rug ...

plane of the Stork Squadron ace Georges Guynemer; and so the

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

is now associated with Hispano-Suiza. At the end of the war Marc Birkigt returned to Paris. He devoted himself to luxury automobiles such as the Hispano-Suiza H6, to take advantage of the new fortunes made during the war.

In between two wars until the 1950's

In 1923, the French subsidiary acquired its independence and was baptized

. Birkigt joined forces with

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and larg ...

in the 1930s to create a railcar: the famous

Micheline Michelines were a series of rubber-tyred trains developed in France in the 1930s by various rail companies and rubber-tyre manufacturer Michelin. Some Michelines were built in the United States by the Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20 ...

. After having built more than 2,500 chassis, Hispano Suiza was nationalized by the French state in 1936. Marc Birkigt stopped manufacturing automobiles and devoted himself to aircraft engines and automatic weapons for French national defense. The result is the

Hispano-Suiza 12X The Hispano-Suiza 12X was an aircraft piston engine designed in France by Hispano-Suiza during the early 1930s. A 12-cylinder Vee, liquid-cooled design, the 12X was used on several aircraft types, some of them being used in limited numbers during ...

engine derived from the V8; one of the first engines of the 1000 hp (750 kW) class in the

Hispano-Suiza 12Y The Hispano-Suiza 12Y was an aircraft engine produced by Hispano-Suiza for the French Air Force before the Second World War. The 12Y became the primary French 1,000 hp (750 kW) class engine and was used in a number of famous aircraft, i ...

version, produced under license and developed in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

. The Hispano-Suiza HS-404 aircraft gun was also designed and widely adopted by the British and American armed forces during World War II. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the factories of

and

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

were in ruins and looted. It then relaunched in the manufacture of aircraft reactors (

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

), aviation accessories (thrust reversers, gas turbines, landing gear, diesel engines ...)

Private life

GraveMarcAndEugenieBirkigt-CimetiereDeVersoix RomanDeckert27092022

Marc Birkigt married Eugénie Brachet in Geneva on November 23, 1901. From their union were born Louis in 1903 and Yvonne in 1905. He lived in Versoix since 1930 in his sumptuous “Rive-bleu” residence (on the shores of

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

, facing the Mont-Blanc massif.) He died on March 15, 1953 at the age of 75, after having filed more than 150 patents. He is buried in Versoix.

Décorations

* 1908 : Chevalier de l'ordre d'Isabelle la Catholique * 1930 « Commandeur » then « Grand officier » in 1939 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 ...

* 1923 and 1949 : Laureate of the l' Aéro-Club de France * Docteur honoris causa of l’ École polytechnique fédérale de Zurich

External links

*
Site officiel d'Hispano-Suiza

Marc Birkigt
: parcours d’un des pionniers du Groupe, Safran
Stratégies d'entreprises et innovations internationales : les motoristes français d'aviation (1918-1940)
Histoire, économie & société, 1987, n°6-2 pp. 263-287.
Hispano-Suiza 1911-1961
Musée Safran, 1962 (plaquette avec photos d'époque).
Aucun e-book disponible Les patrons sous l'Occupation
Renaud de Rochebrune, Jean-Claude Hazera, Odile Jacob, 1995 (voir p.365).

References

External links

* 1878 births 1953 deaths European founders of automobile manufacturers Swiss mechanical engineers {{Switzerland-engineer-stub

Biography

Childhood

Education and early working years

Hispano-Suiza

Early years in Spain and international development

Success of aircraft engines in France

In between two wars until the 1950's

Private life

Décorations

See also

External links

References

External links