Antoine d'Assche

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Antoine d'Assche (* 1932 in Houyet , Belgium ) was a French aviation entrepreneur who founded the aircraft construction company Alpavia SA in Gap Tallard, France in 1957 . Since 1964, d'Assche was involved in Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co KG on the Dahlemer Binz.

Life

Antoine d'Assche was born in 1932 in Houyet near Namur in Belgium as the son of the Belgian nobleman Comte Henri d'Assche and Colette Allard. After the early death of his father, Comte Antoine d'Assche took over his father's business in the Belgian oil industry in 1952 at the age of 20. At a young age he was involved in motor racing and amateur aviation. His marriage to Anne Marsot has two sons and a daughter.

Alpavia SA

In 1957, Antoine d'Assche founded Alpavia SA in the French high alpine town of Gap Tallard , through which he initially sold aircraft and offered maintenance work. In 1958, d'Assche acquired the license rights to the D.117 from Societe Aeronautique Normande , which he developed further by his technical director Felcien Noin and from 1960 had Alpavia SA built as the D.117A in a small series. Antoine d'Assche had an Alpavia sales office in Paris, from where he operated the French sales of the aircraft.

From 1962, Antoine d'Assche initially supported the French aircraft designer René Fournier in the construction of his two Fournier RF-2 prototypes. From 1963 Alpavia produced in Gap Tallard Fourniers serial machine Fournier RF-3 under license, which d'Assche from Paris initially only marketed in France. In the same year, Antoine d'Assche concluded a sales agreement for the RF-3 in Germany with Alfons Pützer . However, further international distribution agreements with England failed.

Partner Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co KG

When Antoine d'Assche failed to expand his production in Gap Tallard in 1964 due to the lack of infrastructure and could not find government support for relocating his company in France, Antoine d'Assche founded O'Treppe with his Belgian friend and his German sales partner Alfons Pützer Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co KG in the German Eifel town of Schmidtheim , which from 1966 continued the production of Fournier aircraft in a newly built manufacturing facility. Antoine d'Assche brought the Alpavia production facility from Gap Tallard to this company. The Gap Tallard site was then closed. However, D'Assche continued to maintain the Alpavia sales office in Paris, from where he managed the sales of Sportavia aircraft in France. Alpavia maintained a delivery and maintenance station for French customers at the small Guyancourt airport near Paris. Alfons Pützer took over the management of Sportavia-Pützer. René Fournier set up the development office at Nitray Castle in France.

In the second half of the 1960s, the French franc fell against the D-mark. As a result, d'Assche could no longer compete on the French market with the Sportavia aircraft made in Germany. The sales figures for the Fournier RF-4 sank continuously until 1969. In addition, it became apparent that the successor model, the Fournier RF-5, would not be approved by the French aviation authorities. D'Assche then separated in 1968 from his shares in Sportavia-Pützer. Through the mediation of Alfons Pützer, the Mönchengladbach-based Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH acquired the shares of Antoine d'Assche and O'Treppe.

Withdrawal from aviation

With the Alpavia sales office in Paris, Antoine d'Assche remained responsible for the exclusive distribution in France for Sportavia even after his economic separation. After the RF-4 production at Sportavia was discontinued and without a French type approval for the successor RF-5, Antoine d'Assche could no longer realize any sales in France. On February 15, 1971, the Alpavia sales office and delivery station in Guyancourt went bankrupt. D'Assche sold the maintenance station to Continental Air Service and completely retired from aviation at the age of 50.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ geneanet.org - entry to the family d'Assche
  2. ↑ Alfons Pützer Homepage Image and Document Archive / People: Antoine d'Assche
  3. ↑ a b c Paul Zöller: Fournier aircraft , Norderstedt, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7460-4864-2
  4. ^ Paul Zöller, Hanns-Jakob Pützer: Pützer aircraft. Dec. 2018, ISBN 978-3-7481-2096-4
  5. ^ Rene Fournier: Mon reve et mes combats , Edition Sier, Jan. 2005, ISBN 978-2-9519-4580-7
personal data
SURNAME Assche, Antoine d '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French operator
DATE OF BIRTH 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Houyet , Belgium