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MARCEL DASSAULT
1892-1986
BY THOMAS V. JONES
MARCEL DASSAULT ctied on April I8, 1986, in Paris at the
age of ninety-four. The father of French aviation ant! a gracI-
uate of that nation's first aeronautical engineering school,
Dassault was the longtime director of Avions Marce!
Dassault-Breguet Aviation, one of Europe's largest aviation
companies. In that capacity, he created and proclucecI such
high-performance combat aircraft as the Mystere and delta-
winged Mirage, a family of planes that today is among the
most respecter! and widely operated fighter-bombers in the
worIct. Dassault also made important contributions to com-
mercial aviation with his Falcon family of executive transport
Jets.
From 1951 until his death, Marce} Dassault served as a
member of the French Parliament. He helct France's highest
military award, the Grant! Cross of the French Legion of
Honor. He was elected a foreign associate of the National
Academy of Engineering in ~ 976 for his "remarkable
achievements in the clesign anc! clevelopment of new aircraft
for military anal commercial use."
Marce! Dassault's vision and extraordinary engineering tal-
ents helped to shape the first century of aviation history. He
was a true pioneer whose imagination, persistence, anc! man-
agement of a(lvancecl aerospace technology are indelibly
blenclect into the tricolor banner of the French nation. De-
119
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120
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
spite the formidable obstacles and great personal dangers
encountered in his ninety-four years, Marce} Dassault re-
mained a man of uncommon strength and unwavering prin-
ciple with a deep faith in the idea that technology and com-
mitment can overcome almost any challenge.
Born in Paris on January 22, 1892, Dassault developed an
early interest in design and scientific inquiry. At the age of
nineteen, he received a degree in electrical engineering and
then began to specialize in the new, little-known field of aero-
nautics.
In the years just prior to World War I, Dassault put his
technical skills and aviation ideas to work in the service of the
French Corps of Engineers. He was selected to improve the
design studies of the Caudron G-3 biplane and, later, to man-
age its manufacture. He also developed new designs for
more efficient propellers. By 1916 he was producing them,
first for the Caudron G-3 and then for the Helice Eclair, the
Spad credited with giving French fliers a distinct flying ad-
vantage during World War I.
After World War I, Dassault set out to fulfill a dream that
had begun in the courtyard of his primary school with his
first glimpse of an airplane circling the Eiffel Tower. French
aviation was about to begin in earnest, and Dassault gathered
a small team of design engineers and housed them in an old
furniture factory. Soon he had built up a highly successful
aviation company, Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation,
to the point at which the French government nationalized his
operations in 1936. In 1940 he produced the Languedoc 6l,
a four-engine civil transport plane. A somber shadow was
cast on its maiden voyage, however: The Germans marched
into Paris, and the occupation of France began.
Authorities in Nazi Germany's aviation industry quickly of-
L~_ ~ 1 ~~ 1, ~ ! A! ~ 1 _ _ - 1 1 ·1 1 ~ . rat ~
.
rerea Assault a position to Resign and bully a Meet ot alr-
craft in exchange for his personal freedom and protection.
He defied the German high command, however, and refused
their offer, spending the war years first in Vichy prisons and
then at the Buchenwald concentration camp. At Buchen-
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MARCEL DASSAULT
121
wald, he contracted diphtheria, and post-diphtheria paraly-
sis plaguer! him throughout the remainder of his life. When
the death camp was liberated on April 19, 1945, Dassault was
frail and weak, but his dream was as strong as ever.
With great courage and a fierce determination, Dassault
began again, his first project the design and production of
the Ouragan, Europe's first jet. Later he introduced the first
European plane to break the sound barrier, the Mystere IV,
which was followed by the Mirage ITI, the plane that opened
the era of Mach 2 aircraft. The Dassault Mirage, with its pure
aerodynamic shape, high performance, and uncompromis-
ing attention to detail, became the standard for modern
French combat aircraft.
The rest is legend. With the introduction of the Mirage A!
in 1956, France began to meet its military aircraft require-
ments solely through domestic production. Today, it remains
the only European nation with an air force equipped entirely
with domestically built aircraft. In addition, Dassault's Mi-
rage family of combat fighters remains one of France's best
export successes. By 1986 Avions Marce! Dassault-Breguet
Aviation had built six thousand aircraft for sixty-~?ne coun-
tries.
Dassault's contributions extend far beyond military avia-
tion. His commercial business jets are noted for both per-
formance and reliability, and his leadership and industrial
management skills enabled Avions Marce! Dassault-Breguet
Aviation to bring France to the forefront of the European
manned spaceplane program. Always active in French poli-
tics, Dassault served his country for thirty years, as a Gaulist
deputy and as a senator for the Union des Democrats pour
la Republique.
In 1967 Marce! Dassault was honored with the Grand
Cross of the French Legion of Honor, the nation's highest
military award. He was also presented with the croix de
guerre 1939-1945 for extraordinary wartime service.
In paying tribute to Marce! Dassault, we also pay tribute to
that small band of original aviation explorers whose ingenu-
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122
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
ity and perseverance enabled the discovery of practical, en-
during solutions to previously intractable aviation engineer-
ing difficulties. Dassault was an industrial giant, an engineer
of exceptional capability, and an aviation genius. Yet most
important, he was an inspiration, a resilient man whose cour-
age and insight, genius and spirit served the engineering
profession, his country, ant! his fellow man with extraorcti-
. . .
nary ( lstlnctlon.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
perseverance enabled
