Marcel Bloch, the youngest of a doctor's four children, was born on January 22, 1892, in Paris, France. His precocious interest in technological innovation in general - and electricity in particular - became rapidly apparent. "One sunny day in the school playground", he once recalled, "I looked up at the sky and saw the Count of Lambert's Wilbur Wright passing the Eiffel tower for the first time. I had never seen a plane before. There and then, I knew that aviation had become a part of my heart and thoughts". After high school and a spell at Breguet School of Electricity, Bloch joined Ecole Supérieure d'Aéronautique, a school of aviation, whence he graduated in 1913.
He first contributed to France's aviation industry during World War I. He used the engineering skills he had acquired at Chalais Meudon Aeronautical Laboratory to design a propeller, called the Éclair (1916), and a twin-seater fighter, the SEA 4 (1918), working alongside Henry Potez and Louis Coroller.
Bloch married in 1919, and had two sons, Claude and Serge. After dabbling in real-estate and, to a lesser extent, cars, throughout the 1920s, 1930 saw him gather a new team together and return to aviation. He remembered that occasion, in his own terms, as "One day - or indeed I should say one evening - I was at Le Bourget airport and saw Lindbergh land the Spirit of Saint Louis after flying over the Atlantic. I understood something had changed in aviation, and that civil aviation would be born. Wilbur Wright's plane first drew me to aviation. The Spirit of Saint Louis brought me back."
The Front Populaire, the political party in power at the time, nationalized Bloch's firm in 1936. He founded another one, Société Anonyme des Avions Marcel Bloch (SAAMB) on December 12 that same year. From a legal standpoint, that was Dassault Aviation's foundation date. He was concurrently managing director of another firm, Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest (SNCASO), in charge of serially manufacturing his aircraft.
World War II broke out and those planes were used to defend France's skies in 1939 and 1940. Bloch's refusal to collaborate with the invading army after the Armistice led to his incarceration in Montluc Fort in Lyons, along with his wife and children, at the hands of the Vichy Government. He was then sent to Drancy concentration camp before spending eight months in Buchenwald. Post-diphtheria paralysis from 1945 to 1953 did not stop Bloch resuming his aeronautical endeavors after the war.
In order to shed the somber souvenirs of war, Marcel Bloch and his family decided to change names. Dassault was the alias his brother, General Paul Bloch, had used in the Resistance, and the name Marcel adopted in 1949. He diversified into newspapers (at the head of Semaine de France then Jours de France) and, in politics, was to become senator for the Alpes Maritimes department and representative for the Oise department. And Dassault was the name that came to be known around the world for outstanding jet-powered aircraft.
Besides being the French Air Force's first jet aircraft, the MD-450 Ouragan (1949) pioneered the French postwar aeronautical industry's steps into the export market (selling in India and Israel). The Mystère IV (1954) earned endorsement for the company's expertise when the United States ordered 225 planes as part of an agreement with NATO. The 1967 Six Day War between Israel and its neighboring Arab nations provided conclusive evidence of the quality of Dassault aircraft. Other initiatives, like taking part in France's efforts to develop strategic nuclear power after the 1956 Suez expedition through the Mirage IV program (1959), were later to further cement Marcel Dassault's prominence.
Superior civil aircraft also held much of Dassault's interest. And here, again, it was the United States that provided consecration for the company's planes. In this case, Pan Am was the first airline to place a large-scale order and thereby open the doors to the American market.
Besides his work in aviation, newspapers and politics, Dassault was keen on architecture, cinema, banking and the stock market. His services to his country earned him France's highest honor, the Legion of Honor's Grand Cross.
Marcel Dassault died on 17 April 1986. France's government, top-ranking officials, and local and international media paid him an extraordinary tribute. His was the first funeral celebrated at Invalides for a French industrial businessperson.
Ralph was born in Radlett, 18th August 1914.He was the oldest of eight children. At the age of 14, Ralph started work at the De Havilland factory at Stag Lane,working in most of the various assembly shops, with a variety of activities from metal bashing to working with wood which was his favourite occupation. Not only did he have a seven-mile bike ride twice a day but he also stayed on at Night-school from which he earned a scholarship.
In 1939, Ralph was one of the original 9 strong design team who under R.E. Bishop started work in secret, at Salisbury Hall, South Mymms, on the versatile aircraft bomber and fighter, the Mosquito,where he was in charge of overall loads and wing strength caluclations,often working 12 hour days, for seven days a week.The Mosquito was known affectionately as the “Mossie” to its crews and was also known as “The Wooden Wonder” because the bulk of the aircraft was made of laminated plywood and balsa wood.He had to move from Baldock to London Colney to be closer to the Hall and it was near his digs that four goats lived in a field. They were nicknamed, Hitler, Himmler, Goering and Hess. Unfortunately, in a German bombing raid, three goats were killed outright but the fourth, Hitler survived for just a few days more until he succumbed to his injuries: this was thought by local folk to be a good omen for the future. Over the years Ralph worked on many different types of aircraft, initially with De Havilland, then with Hawker Siddeley and lastly with British Aerospace. These included the Vampire which was de Havilland’s first jet aircraft, the Hornet, the Comet, the Trident and the Airbus. However, his love of working with wood made the Mosquito his favourite plane of all.He was appointed Chief Structural Engineer in 1971 and took control of the four structural departments in Hatfield. Ralph also lectured in the De Havilland Technical School from 1936 until 1952, so many younger aircraft designers were able to benefit from his knowledge and experience. He retired in 1979 after 51 years service in the aircraft industry.
Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith was born in Kensington, London. He was the eighth child and only son of Thomas Sopwith, a civil engineer. He was educated at Cottesmore School in Hove and at Seafield Park engineering college in Hill Head.
When he was ten years old, whilst on a family holiday on the Isle of Lismore, near Oban in Scotland, a gun lying across young Thomas's knee went off, killing his father. This accident haunted Sopwith for the rest of his life.
In his youth, he was an expert ice skater and played in goal during Princes Ice Hockey Club's 1908 match with C. P. P. Paris and during the 1909–10 season.He also played on the Great Britain national ice hockey team which won the gold medal at the first ever European Championships in 1910. Sopwith became interested in flying after seeing John Moisant flying the first cross-Channel passenger flight. His first flight was with Gustave Blondeau in a Farman at Brooklands. He soon taught himself to fly on a British Avis monoplane and took to the air on his own for the first time on 22 October 1910. Unfortunately he crashed after travelling about 300 yards (275 m). He soon improved and on 22 November was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviation Certificate No. 31.
On 18 December 1910, Sopwith won a £4,000 prize for the longest flight from England to the Continent in a British built aeroplane. He flew 169 miles (272 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes. He used the winnings to set up the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands.
In June 1912 Sopwith with Fred Sigrist and others set up The Sopwith Aviation Company. The company produced more than 18,000 British World War I aircraft for the allied forces, including 5,747 of the famous Sopwith Camel single-seat fighter. Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918.
Bankrupted after the war by the punitive anti-profiteering taxes, he re-entered the business a few years later with a new firm named after his chief engineer and test pilot, Harry Hawker. Sopwith was chairman of the new firm, Hawker Aircraft.
After the nationalization of what was by then Hawker Siddeley, he continued to work as a consultant as late as 1980.He became a Knight Bachelor in 1953.
His 100th birthday was marked by a flypast of military aircraft over his home. He died in Hampshire on 27 January 1989, aged 101.
Ronald Bishop designed the D.H.98 Mosquito and the D.H. Comet jetliner. Bishop joined the De Havilland company when he was 18 and worked his way through the metal, fitting and engine workshops before entering the drawing office in 1923.
The Air Ministry rejected his idea for a fast bomber built of wood a year before the war began. But Mr. Bishop and the company built it anyway and the DH-98 Mosquito, the ''Wooden Wonder,'' became one of the most versatile military planes ever built for day and night fighting, bombing and photographic reconnaissance.
