Société des Avions Marcel Bloch

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The Société des Avions Marcel Bloch was a French aircraft manufacturer . The company was renamed Dassault Aviation in 1947 .

history

The company was founded in 1928 by Marcel Bloch after he had received a production order for a three-engine mail plane from the French Ministry of Aviation . Further successes were achieved in 1931 with the Bloch MB.80 medical aircraft (this type was called medeveac in France ) and the Bloch MB.120 transport and passenger aircraft . Both types received substantial orders from the government. The company's initial location was Boulogne-Billancourt , where Marcel Bloch initially hired a few young engineers , including Henri Deplante , and rented an unused garage. The good order situation made it possible to rent larger properties as early as 1932. The company location was relocated to Courbevoie .

The company received a new major order from the Bloch MB.200 bomber from 1933, of which 208 aircraft had been ordered for the Armée de l'air . In 1934, Marcel Bloch and Henry Potez bought the Société Aérienne Bordelaise , which was restructured into the Société Aéronautique du Sud-Ouest and commissioned with the production of the MB.200. In addition, the Societé des Avions Marcel Bloch granted a production license to Aero and Avia in Czechoslovakia , where a further 124 pieces were manufactured.

The 1934 Bloch MB.210 design won the tender for a new standard bomber for the Armée de l'air. 298 pieces of this type were produced, 24 of them for export to Romania . Although it later turned out that the technical performance of this type did not live up to expectations, Marcel Bloch had secured a permanent place in the French aviation industry with this order at the latest. The company's success led to the establishment of new production sites in Châteauroux- Deols, Villacoublay and Bordeaux .

In 1937 the French aviation industry was nationalized . Marcel Bloch was formally expropriated and his factories were grouped under the newly founded Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest (SNCASO). However, he remained the technical director of the new company and kept the upper hand over the development of new designs. In an attempt to maintain his entrepreneurial independence, Marcel Bloch founded the Société Anonyme des Avions Marcel Bloch (SAAMB) based in Courbevoie in 1936 . However, this approach was put to an end in February 1937 when the SAAMB was incorporated into SNCASO by decision of the Aviation Ministry. Bloch then opened a design office in Paris together with Henry Potez .

Due to the strengthening of Hitler's Germany , the French government launched an extensive armament program in 1937. Marcel Bloch was able to draw attention to himself again with successful designs, especially with the fighter planes of the Bloch MB.150 series and the reconnaissance bomber Bloch MB.174 , which were mass-produced by the SNCASO until the surrender of France in June 1940. In the civil sector, too, SNCASO received orders for the production of Bloch constructions, including for the successful Bloch MB.161 passenger type . It was also planned to produce the militarily modified type Bloch MB.162 as a heavy bomber for the Armée de l'air, but this did not happen before the collapse of France.

In 1938 Marcel Bloch bought land in Saint-Cloud and began building a new factory which was to become active in the production of aircraft engines and propellers . In contrast to airframe production, these two areas had not yet been nationalized. In September 1939 the company expanded by buying industrial buildings in Talence near Bordeaux .

After the French defeat, Marcel Bloch was defamed and interned by the Vichy regime in October 1940 . The German Air Force showed great interest in his designs, especially the Bloch MB.175 , but he refused to collaborate as much as possible. During the occupation, the Bloch factories were under the control of the German Junkers group. From 1942, many designers of the Societé des Avions Marcel Bloch increasingly moved via Spain to the United Kingdom and Algeria to join the Free French there. In 1944 Marcel Bloch was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp due to his Jewish origin and returned to France after the liberation of the camp in April 1945.

Marcel Bloch dared a fresh start and reorganized the locations in Saint-Cloud , Boulogne-Billancourt and Talence again to Société Anonyme des Avions Marcel Bloch . In this phase, the company mainly took on contract work for SNCASO , SNCASE and Latécoère .

On January 20, 1947, SAAMB became the Dassault Aviation company after Marcel Bloch had changed his name to Marcel Dassault.

Known constructions

Civil types in italics:

Web links

Commons : Société des Avions Marcel Bloch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files