Général André Jean-Baptiste Marie Gabriel Puget (29 January 1911 – 26 January 1973) was a French diplomat, and the first (joint) chief executive of the

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

supersonic airliner project.

Early life

He was born in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

in the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

department, in north-west France. He attended the

École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (, , abbr. ESM) is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ''Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre'', litera ...

in 1929, leaving in 1931.

Career

Second World War

During the Second World War, he worked with the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

in the UK, flying as a bomber pilot with the

Free French Air Forces The Free French Air Forces (, FAFL) were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free French Forces merged with General Giraud's force ...

. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(DSO). He flew the

Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...

with 346 Squadron in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

French Air Force

He became an officer in the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

. From 1961–62 he was Chief of the Defence Staff.

Sud Aviation

He was head of

Sud Aviation Sud Aviation (, 'Southern Aviation') was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating in the merger of Sud-Est ( SNCASE, or ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du sud-est'') and Sud-Ouest ( SNCASO or ''Société nat ...

from 23 July 1962, and was responsible for getting the Concorde project going, as a joint chief executive. The name Concorde had been thought up by the 18-year-old son of the sales director of BAC; the 'e' was added to Concorde on 11 December 1967. Sud Aviation became part of

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

in 1970. In negotiations to build Concorde in early 1962, there was no progress made between the French and English companies; Georges Hereil of Sud Aviation wanted to build to the French design, and BAC wanted the plane to be built as the BAC 223 ( Bristol Type 223). Hereil being replaced by 51-year-old Puget in 1962 enabled a compromise to be made; Hereil left at the end of June 1962.The 25 Most Influential Aircraft of All Time
/ref> The agreement to build Concorde was signed on 29 November 1962. On 5 November 1965, he took

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

around the Sud Aviation factory in southern France, where the Duke demonstrated his command of the French language. On 5 December 1966, he took the Soviet Prime Minister

Alexei Kosygin Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin (–18 December 1980) was a Soviet people, Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980 and, alongside General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, was one of its most ...

on a tour around the factory, including taking Kosygin briefly inside Concorde 001, which was being built; at the time, Concorde was due to first fly on 28 February 1968. Puget was replaced in 1967 by the controversial Maurice Papon. Papon would not last long at Sud Aviation, being replaced by

Henri Ziegler Henri Ziegler CVO, CBE (18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president. An engineer, he was a graduate of the École Polytechnique and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national aerospace e ...

, who had also flown with the Free French Air Force during the war.

Diplomat

From 1967–1970 he was the French ambassador to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, at the

Embassy of France, Stockholm The Embassy of France in Stockholm is the diplomatic mission of the French Republic in Sweden. The Chancery (building), chancery is located at Kommendörsgatan 13. The embassy The embassy is located in the district of Östermalm in the heart o ...

Business school

From 1970–1973 he was Director of the

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

Jouy-en-Josas Jouy-en-Josas () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is located in the southwestern outer suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris, on the departmental border with Essonne. Jouy- ...

Personal life

He married Thérèse Péquin (2 December 1915 – 30 March 2009) in 1936, and they had three daughters. He died in 1973 in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,482 as of 2020. Suresnes borders the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, ...

, in the west of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, aged 61; he is buried in

Le Pouliguen Le Pouliguen (; ) is a commune of western France, located in the Loire-Atlantique department, Pays de la Loire. Le Pouliguen is situated between La Baule-Escoublac and Batz-sur-Mer. Port The port is located at the border between Le Pouliguen a ...

on the French west coast. His wife died aged 93 in

Le Chesnay Le Chesnay () is a former commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, fr ...

, in the west of Paris.

References

External links

Aviation Heritage

Family tree

Prince Philip visits the Sud Aviation plant in November 1965

Alexei Kosygin visits the Sud Aviation plant in December 1966
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puget, Andre 1911 births 1973 deaths Ambassadors of France to Sweden Chiefs of the Staff of the French Air and Space Force Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Concorde École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Free French military personnel of World War II French Air Force generals Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Diplomats from Nantes Sud Aviation Military personnel from Nantes 20th-century French diplomats