- Émile Dewoitine
Émile Dewoitine (September 26th, 1892 - July 5, 1979) was a French aviation industrialist.
Prewar industrial activities
Born in
Crépy-en-Valois , Émile Dewoitine entered the aviation industry by working atLatécoère duringWord War I . In 1920, he founded his own company, but facing little success at home, went toSwitzerland where hisDewoitine D.27 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 rooled out of the
Toulouse -based Dewoitine factories including theDewoitine D.500 , theFrench Air Force 's first fully metallic, monoplane fighter, as well as theDewoitine D.338 airliner.In 1936 part of the the French aviation industry was nationalized and Dewoitine's factories were absorbed by the
SNCAM . During theBattle of France in 1940, theDewoitine D.520 turned out to be France's best fighter aircraft.World war II
After the armistice with Germany, Dewoitine briefly tried to start a business in the USA, which 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 theLuftwaffe , including a derivative of theArado Ar 96 that would later be known as the SIPA S.10.Postwar exile
Facing charges of
collaborationism after theLiberation of France , Dewoitine moved to Spain, where he developed a derivative of the D.520 withHispano Aviación . He later went toArgentina where he worked for the "Industria Aeronáutica Militar", developing thePulqui I , the first South American jet plane. In France, Dewoitine was condemned "in absentia" to a 20 yearforced labour term in 1948. [ "American Jewish Year Book , 2006, p.266 [http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1999_8_LatinAmerica.pdf available here] en icon ] At the end of this career, he resided inSwitzerland , and once his crimes were prescribed, returned to France and finished his life inToulouse .References
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