Henri Deplante

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Henri Deplante (born November 12, 1907 in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon , † March 16, 1996 in the 16th arrondissement of Paris ) was a French aeronautical engineer .

Life and activity

After Henri Deplante had completed his generalist engineering degree at the École centrale Paris in 1929 , the aircraft manufacturer Marcel Bloch, who later changed his name to Marcel Dassault , employed him in his company Societé des Avions Marcel Bloch in 1930 . Here he was initially involved in the development of the company's first metal aircraft, and later in the construction of the MB 60 mail plane and the MB 80 air rescue aircraft. After Bloch was abducted by the German occupation forces in 1940, Deplante went with some engineers to the part of France ruled by the Vichy regime ; When this was also occupied in 1942, he fled first to Spain, then to Great Britain. Here he became a paratrooper with the Special Air Service . During Operation Overlord , he jumped from June 6, 1944 as a captain in a paratrooper regiment of the Forces Françaises Libres over Brittany. He was then used in several risky missions against the German Wehrmacht , for which he received the Croix de guerre in the highest form (with palm trees) and the Médaille de la Résistance .

In March 1945 Deplante became technical director at SNCASO . Among other things, he was in charge of the development of first-generation French jet fighters , such as the SO.6000 Triton. In 1949 he returned to Marcel Dassault as technical director general in his company, now known as Dassault Aviation . Until his retirement in 1981, numerous military and civil aircraft types were built here under his technical direction, including Dassault Mystère , Dassault Super Mystère , Dassault Étendard , Dassault Balzac V , Dassault Mercure and Dassault Mirage . In 1977 he published his memories of the Second World War in the book La liberté tombée du ciel .

Orders and decorations (selection)

Book publications

  • La liberté tombée du ciel. Ramsay, Paris 1977, ISBN 2-85956-015-7
  • A la conquête du ciel . Edisud, Aix-en-Provence 1985.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Deplante, Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French aeronautical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1907
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1996