Édouard Joly, born in

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

in 1898, deceased in 1982 was a French

aeroplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

designer best known for his work with Jean Délémontez on the

Jodel Société Avions Jodel is a French aircraft company started in 1946 by Édouard Joly and his son-in-law Jean Délémontez. History Jodel designed a range of light aeroplanes shortly after the World War II, Second World War. Popular myth has i ...

range of light aircraft.

Biography

Joly worked for 14 years at a company that sold and repaired farm equipment. During

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was mobilized as an aviation mechanic and stationed first in

Avord Avord () is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. It is east of Bourges, by the banks of the river Yèvre. The commune is home to Avord Air Base, the second largest French Air and Space Force base. P ...

and then in

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

. At the end of the war, he returned to the company of which he in time became the owner. His interest for aviation pushed him to become in 1932 one of the founding members of the aero club Beaunois. He then built and owned several sailplanes including one

Flying Flea The Flying Flea () is a large family of light homebuilt aircraft first flown in 1933. The odd name comes from the French nickname for the Ford Model T automobile: ''Pou de la Route'', or "Louse of the Road", because Henry Ford's economy car w ...

. In 1946, he joined his son-in-law Jean Délémontez to found the

company for the study, construction and repair of airplanes. Together they designed the line of

and Robin planes of which more than 6,000 were built in the following 50 years.

References

1898 births 1982 deaths French aerospace engineers {{France-engineer-stub