Marcel Dassault

Marcel Dassault
Marcel Bloch in 1914
Born	Marcel Bloch (1892-01-22)22 January 1892 Paris, France
Died	17 April 1986(1986-04-17) (aged 94) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Resting place	Passy Cemetery
Nationality	French
Alma mater	Breguet School Supaéro
Occupation	aircraft industrialist
Known for	founding Dassault Aviation
Spouse(s)	Madeleine Minckes
Children	Serge Dassault Claude Dassault
Awards	Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1976)

Marcel Dassault born Marcel Bloch, 22 January 1892 – 17 April 1986, was a French aircraft industrialist.

Bloch was born on 22 January 1892 in Paris. Both of his parents were Jewish.

He was educated at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris. After studies in Electrical Engineering he graduated from the Breguet School and Supaéro. At the latter school Bloch was classmates with a Russian student named Mikhail Gurevich who would later be instrumental in the creating of the MiG aircraft series.

Bloch worked at the French Aeronautics Research Laboratory during World War I and invented a type of aircraft propeller subsequently used by the French army during the conflict. In 1928 Bloch founded the Société des Avions Marcel Bloch aircraft company which produced it's first aircraft in 1930.

In 1935 Bloch and Henry Potez entered into an agreement to buy Société Aérienne Bordelaise (SAB). In 1936 the company was nationalized as the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest (SNCASO). Bloch agreed to become the delegated administrator of the Minister for Air.

During Nazi Germany's occupation of France, the country's aviation industry was virtually disbanded, other than the compulsory manufacturing, assembly and servicing of German designs. In October 1940, Bloch refused to collaborate with the Germans occupiers at Bordeaux-Aéronautique and was imprisoned by the Vichy government. In 1944 the Nazis deported Bloch to the Buchenwald concentration camp, while his wife was interned near Paris. Bloch was detained at Buchenwald until it was liberated on 11 April 1945.