Émile Dewoitine (26 September 1892 – 5 July 1979) was a French aviation industrialist.
Prewar industrial activities
Born in
Crépy-en-Laonnais, Émile Dewoitine entered the aviation industry by working at
Latécoère during
World War I. In 1920, he founded his own company, but facing little success at home, went to Switzerland where his
Dewoitine D.27
The Dewoitine D.27 was a parasol monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Émile Dewoitine in 1928.
Design and development
After the end of World War I, the slump in demand for aircraft forced Dewoitine to close his company and move to Switzerland ...
fighter was accepted for operational service. In 1931, Dewoitine went back to France and founded
Société Aéronautique Française - Avions Dewoitine. During the 1930s, several noteworthy aircraft rolled out of the
Toulouse-based Dewoitine factories including the
Dewoitine D.500, the
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
's first fully metallic, monoplane fighter, as well as the
Dewoitine D.338 airliner. In 1936, part of the French aviation industry was nationalized and Dewoitine's factories were absorbed by the state-owned
SNCAM. During the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
in 1940, the
Dewoitine D.520 turned out to be France's best fighter aircraft.
World War II
After the successful invasion of France by Germany in 1940 culminated in an
armistice with Germany and the creation of the Vichy government, Dewoitine briefly tried to start a business in the United States. This caused him to be tried for treason under the
Vichy government. Dewoitine went back to work with
SIPA which, after an agreement between the Vichy government and German authorities, was manufacturing trainer aircraft intended for the
Luftwaffe, including a derivative of the
Arado Ar 96, which would later be known as the SIPA S.10.
Postwar exile
Facing charges of
collaborationism after the
liberation of France, Dewoitine moved to Spain, where he developed a derivative of the D.520 with
Hispano Aviación
Hispano Aviación was a Hispano-Suiza aircraft factory in Andalusia, southern Spain which became a separate enterprise when taken over by the Francisco Franco led Nationalist faction, "Nationalist" forces in 1939, during the Spanish Civil War.
...
. He later went to Argentina, where he worked for the ''Industria Aeronáutica Militar'', developing the
Pulqui I
The I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I was an Argentine jet designed at the " Instituto Aerotecnico" (AeroTechnical Institute) in 1946. Only one prototype was completed; unsatisfactory performance led to the aircraft being superseded by a later design.
Design ...
, the first South American jet plane, and
ColibrÃ, a trainer aircraft. In France, Dewoitine was condemned ''in absentia'' to a 20-year
forced labour
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
term in 1948.
['' American Jewish Year Book, 2006, p.26]
available here
At the end of this career, he resided in Switzerland. Once his crimes were
prescribed, he returned to France and finished his life in
Toulouse.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewoitine
1979 deaths
1892 births
French expatriates in Spain
French expatriates in Argentina
French collaborators with Nazi Germany
20th-century French engineers
French expatriates in Switzerland
French industrialists