Bordeaux Aéronautique (BA) was a French aeronautic company founded on 17 March 1939, by Marcel Bloch, André Curvale, Henri Deplante and

Claude de Cambronne Claude de Cambronne (; 23 October 1905 – 31 January 1993) was a French businessman. Early life He studied at the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (Sup'Aéro), learnt how to fly to polar explorer, Paul-Émile Vi ...

History

Facing plane production increase, the SAAMB buys in September 1939, in

Talence Talence (, ; , ; ) is a commune in the department of Gironde, administrative region of New Aquitaine, France. It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side. It is a member of the Bordeaux Mét ...

, near

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, industrial buildings in a workshop next to the ''Château de Brama'' (also called Castle of

Edward, the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II of England, Richard II, succession to the Br ...

) which is retroceded to Bordeaux-Aéronautique. France produces at that time the most important rearmament. The company was supposed to produce for the

Vichy French Air Force The Air Force (), usually referred to as the Air Force of Vichy (''Armée de l'air de Vichy'') or Armistice Air Force (''Armée de l'Air de l'armistice'') for clarity, was the aerial branch of the Armistice Army of Vichy France established in th ...

, front

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

s of Bloch MB.175 and Bloch MB.1020 aircraft, but after the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk () was fought around the French Third Republic, French port of Dunkirk, Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies of World War II, Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle ...

, production stopped at the end of 1940, during the German military administration when Marcel Bloch is arrested on 6 October 1940. During his detention at Thiers, the''Commissariat général aux questions juives'' sends to the regional directions of the economic epuration service of Marseilles and Limoges the order to investigate the Bloch companies. File:Bloch MB 170 San Diego Air & Space Museum.jpg, Bloch MB 170 File:Bloch MB-170 schematics.svg, Bloch MB 170 File:Bloch MB 174.jpg, Bloch MB 174 The ''Comité d'organisation de l'aéronautique'' directed by Joseph Roos achieves to slow down all processes of Aryanisation,Assouline, p. 161. but in 1942, the German authorities of the ''Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich'' (MBF) names a short-term administrator of the Bloch company in

Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud () is a French commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthie ...

, Jean de Broë. On 20 December 1940, Marcel Bloch delegates authority to Henri Carol. The

uses Bloch MB.150 family fighter aircraft and Bloch MB.170 family bomber aircraft, equipping all fighter and bomber units in the unoccupied zone under the Franco-German Agreements. Also being limited to three groups stationed in North Africa. In November, 173 MB.152/155 are gathered at

Guyancourt Guyancourt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero ...

, Orange-Caritat and

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

, for use in training fighter pilots for the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

Chuck Yeager Brigadier general (United States), Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in his ...

, first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the

Sound barrier The sound barrier or sonic barrier is the large increase in aerodynamic drag and other undesirable effects experienced by an aircraft or other object when it approaches the speed of sound. When aircraft first approached the speed of sound, th ...

in level flight (played by

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

in '' The Right Stuff''), flew P-51 Mustangs in combat with the

363d Fighter Squadron 363rd or 363d may refer to: *363d Expeditionary Operations Group, inactive United States Air Force unit * 363d Bombardment Squadron or 19th Antisubmarine Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 363d Fighter Squadron or 164th Airlift Squad ...

, named Glamorous Glen, and survived after he was shot down over

Nérac Nérac (; , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Lot-et-Garonne Departments of France, department, Southwestern France. The composer and organist Louis Raffy was born in Nérac, as was the former Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and FC Girondins de Bo ...

, between

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, in his first aircraft (P-51B-5-NA s/n 43-6763) on March 5, 1944 during his eighth mission, by

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...

from the Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe West, based in

Cazaux Cazaux () is a commune of the Ariège department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ariège department The following is a list of the 325 communes of the Ariège department of France France, officia ...

and directed by Herbert Wehnelt, 1971-1974 commander of the German Air Force Command. File:Bloch MB.151.jpg, Bloch MB 151 File:MB152 Model.png, Bloch MB 152 Dassault MD 311 Flamant.JPG, MD 311 After leaving Pau on 20 August 1944, the Germans leave Bordeaux on 28 August.

SNCASO SNCASO (abbreviated from ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest'' ), or commonly ''Sud-Ouest'', was a French aircraft manufacturer. Created during 1936 as one of seven nationalised aeronautical manufacturing companie ...

comes back to

Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport () is an international airport of Bordeaux, in southwestern France. It is situated in the Communes of France, ''commune'' of Mérignac, Gironde, Mérignac, west of Bordeaux, within the ''Departments of France, dé ...

to work for the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

and after his return from

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

, in April 1945, Marcel Dassault (née Bloch) calls back the group of Talence to relaunch his aircraft company. In June 1945 Marcel Dassault reorganizes the BA 30 project and in July 1946, two prototypes are ordered: the Sud-Ouest Bretagne and the

Dassault MD 315 Flamant The Dassault MD 315 Flamant is a French light twin-engined transport airplane built shortly after World War II by Dassault Aviation for the French Air Force. Design and development Design work on a twin-engined light transport started in 1946 ...

with the SNECMA-Argus S12 and V12 that equipped the Fw 189. In 1947,

Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chaban-Delmas (; 7 March 1915 – 10 November 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. He was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde ''d ...

, former general of the French Résistance close to the

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

, becomes Mayor (''Maire'') of Bordeaux. Dassault Flamant à Rouen-Boos.jpg, Flamant in Rouen Dassault Flamant, Basel-Mulhouse Airport - September 1977.jpg, Flamant Basle Dassault Flamant silhouette.jpg, Flamant Silh

Bibliography

* Marcel Dassault, ''Le Talisman'' (autobiographie), éd. J'ai Lu, 1970 et éd. Jours de France, 1973 * Jean-Yves Lorant, ''Le

Focke-Wulf 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...

'', Paris, avec Jean-Bernard Frappé, Editions Larivière, coll. « Docavia », 1981, 408 p. * Guy Audrain, ''Le Bureau d’études de Bordeaux'', 1982La conception de l’usine Dassault de Mérignac dans l’histoire architecturale aéronautique française, de l’entre-deux-guerres à la guerre froide par Laetitia Maison Soulard
Openedition * Pierre Assouline, ''Monsieur Dassault'', Balland, 1983, * Herrick Chapman, ''State Capitalism and Working-Class Radicalism in the French Aircraft Industry''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991 * Claude d'Abzac-Epezy, ''L'Armée de l'air des années noires : Vichy 1940-1944'', avec Général Maurice Schmitt, 1998 * Claude Carlier, ''Marcel Dassault la légende d'un siècle'', Perrin, 2002 * Patrick Facon, ''La guerre aérienne, 1933-1945'', 2003 * Guy Vadepied (avec la collaboration de Pierre Péan), ''Marcel Dassault ou les ailes du pouvoir'', éd. Fayard, 2003 * Vincent Giraudier, ''Les bastilles de vichy, répression politique et internement administratif'', Editions Taillandier, 2009 * Claude Carlier, ''Dassault, de Marcel à Serge, Cent ans d'une étonnante aventure humaine, industrielle et politique'', Perrin, 2017 *

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the c ...

, ''Dictionnaire amoureux de Bordeaux'', Plon, 2018 * Malcolm Abbott, Jill Bamforth, ''The Early Development of the Aviation Industry: Entrepreneurs of the Sky'', Taylor & Francis, 2019

References

Notes

External links

Marcel Dassault – Dassault Aviation site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux-Aeronautique Aircraft manufacturers of France Dassault Group Defence companies of France Defunct aircraft manufacturers of France French companies established in 1939 Companies based in Bordeaux Marcel Dassault