Marcel Dassault (born Marcel Bloch on January 22, 1892 in Paris - April 17, 1986 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was an entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and CEO of the Dassault Group.
After high school at the Lycée Condorcet, he entered the Bréguet School of Electricity (ESIEE), then joined the Higher school of aeronautics and mechanical construction (Supaéro) from which he graduated in 1913.
He designed the Éclair airplane propeller, used by the French air force during the First World War and built his first plane in 1917. He left the aeronautical field for a while to take care of a furniture factory. Then he returned to aeronautics in 1928, and founded the Société des Avions Marcel Bloch. His company being nationalized under the name SNCASO in 1937, he created the Société Anonyme des Avions Marcel Bloch (SAAMB) a few months later.
During World War II, he was arrested in 1940 by the Vichy government. He refused to collaborate with the invader, was arrested with his wife and children by the Gestapo, interned in Montluc and then in Drancy, he was deported to Buchenwald in 1944 and saved eight months later by Marcel Paul, a member of the Communist Party French, and also by Albert Baudet. He would later show his gratitude by appointing Albert Baudet as advertising director of the magazine Jours de France, and by donating a sum of money each year to the newspaper l'Humanité.
It should also be noted that it was during deportation that Marcel Bloch, of Jewish origin, converted to Catholicism.
In 1946, he had his surname changed to Bloch-Dassault (decree published in the Official Journal of December 4, 1946), then to Dassault (decree published in the Official Journal of February 15, 1949). Dassault is a distortion of the codename Char d'Assault used by his brother, General Darius Paul Bloch, in the resistance.
His company became the Société des Avions Marcel Dassault which produced the first French jet planes:Ouragan (1949), Mystère II (1952), Mirage III (1956), Mirage IV (1959) which equipped the French nuclear forces and the plane civilian, Mystère-Falcon business twin-engine (1963). An electronics division was created in 1954 for the development of missile guidance.
Absorbing the Bréguet factories, the SAMD was renamed Avions Marcel Dassault-Bréguet Aviation (AMD-BA) in 1971. It then produced the Alpha Jet (1973), a training aircraft which, among other things, equipped the Patrouille de France, the Mirage 2000 (1978), the Mercure 100 passenger transport plane (1973), the Rafale and evolutions of the Falcon series. A military and civilian industrial group was thus created, centered on aviation, electronics (Électronique Serge Dassault) and computing (Dassault Systèmes). AMDBA will be renamed Dassault Aviation. In 1976, the company was splashed by a scandal:a former dismissed executive, Hervé de Vathaire, revealed massive tax evasion, Jacques Chirac, former Secretary of State for Finance and very close to the Dassault group, was almost compromised. H. de Vathaire is reinstated and the Dassault company manages to escape legal proceedings. In 1981, it escaped nationalization by donating 26% of its shares to the state.
He also took an interest in the press by creating a weekly Jours de France[1], a competitor to Paris-Match, in which he gave pride of place to aviation and his idols Chantal Goya and Thierry Le Luron. He himself ran a section, the Café du Commerce.
He was a film producer.
He was senator for the Alpes-Maritimes, then deputy for Oise, dean of the National Assembly from 1978 to 1986.
He was decorated with the highest French distinction, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.
In the list of the greatest fortunes of France, he was the first in 1985.
The Place du Rond-point des Champs-Élysées was renamed Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées Marcel Dassault in 1992.
Hergé was inspired by him to create the character of Laszlo Carreidas in the Tintin album Vol 714 for Sydney
His son Serge took over as head of the group until 2000.
dassault planes
Military
MB 152
Bloch SEA IV, 1918
MB 80-81, 1932
MB 200, 1933
MB 210, 1934
MB 120, 1933
MB 130, 1935
MB 211, 1935
MB 131, 1936
MB 150-157, 1937
MB 133, 1937
MB 170, 1938
MB 500, 1938
MB 174, 1939
MB 135, 1939
MB 480, 1939
MB 134, 1939
MB 176, 1939
MB 175, 1939
MB 700, 1940
MB 161, 1939
MB 162, 1940
MB 800, 1941
MB 303, 1947
MD 315 Flamingo, 1947
Hurricane, 1951
Mystery II, 1951
MD 453, 1952
Mystery IV, 1952
MD 550, 1955
Super Mystery B1, 1955
Super Mystery B2, 1956
Dassault Mirage III-C, 1956,
Standard II, 1956
Standard IV, 1956
MD 410 Spiral, 1960
Balzac V, 1962
Mirage IV (nuclear bomber), 1960
Mirage F1, 1966
Mirage V, 1967
Mirage G, 1967
Milan, 1968
Mirage G-4/G-8, 1971
Alpha Jet, 1973
Super-Etendard, 1974
Falcon Guardian 01, 1977
Mirage 2000, 1978
Mirage 4000, 1979
Mirage 50, 1979
Falcon Guardian, 1981
ATL 2, 1982
Mirage III NG, 1982
Burst, 1986
nEUROn, expected in 2009
Civilians
Dassault Falcon (Mystere) 20F-5
MB.60/61, 1930
MB.90/92, 1932
MB.120, 1932
MB.220, 1936
MB.161, 1937
Mystery-Falcon 20, 1963
Falcon 10, 1970
Mercury 100, 1971
Falcon 30, 1973
Falcon 50, 1976
Falcon 900, 1984
Falcon 2000, 1993
Falcon 2000Ex, 1994
Falcon 900Ex, 1995
Falcon 7X, 2005
Falcon 900Dx, 2005
Falcon 2000Dx, 2007