INNOVATION: OUR CORE BUSINESS FOR ALMOST A CENTURY
The history of the Dassault Group for almost a century can be summarized in a single word: Innovation. Beginning in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War, the 22-year old Marcel Bloch had the firm conviction that aeronautics would be an industry of the future. With Henry Potez, a fellow student at the French aviation and mechanics school (Ecole supérieure d'aéronautique et de construction mécanique), he designed a new propeller called the “Éclair”, 50 of which were subsequently ordered by the French Army.
The part was built in wood by a furniture maker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris. The Eclair equipped several French aircraft and in 1917 was ranked third-best part (out of 253) by an Inspection Committee. This was to be the opening chapter in the life of Marcel Bloch as an innovative aviation engineer and entrepreneur