Potez
IndustryAerospace industry
Founded1919
FounderHenry Potez
Defunct1967
SuccessorSud Aviation
HeadquartersAubervilliers, France
ProductsAircraft, aircraft engines

Potez (pronounced [pɔtɛz]) was a French aircraft manufacturer founded as Aéroplanes Henry Potez by Henry Potez at Aubervilliers in 1919. The firm began by refurbishing war-surplus SEA IV aircraft, but was soon building new examples of an improved version, the Potez SEA VII.

History

During the inter-war years, Potez built a range of small passenger aircraft and a series of military reconnaissance biplanes that were also licence-built in Poland. In 1933, the firm bought flying boat manufacturer CAMS.

The company was nationalized in 1936,[1] following which it was merged with Chantiers aéronavals Étienne Romano, Lioré et Olivier, CAMS and SPCA in order to form the Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE) on 1 February 1937.[2]

Potez's factories in Sartrouville and Méaulte were taken over by SNCAN and the Berre factory went to SNCASE.

After World War II, Potez was re-established as Société des Avions et Moteurs Henry Potez at Argenteuil but did not return to the prominence that the company enjoyed prior to nationalisation. In 1958, the company bought Fouga to form Potez Air-Fouga, but when Potez's last design, the 840 (a small turboprop airliner) failed to attract customers, it was forced to close. The remaining assets were purchased by Sud-Aviation in 1967.

Aircraft

Engines

See also

References

  1. ↑ Il y a 75 ans, les nationalisations de l’aéronautique française
  2. ↑ Hartmann, Gérard (2005-01-05), Les réalisations de la SNCASE (PDF) (in French), retrieved 2009-07-15, Alors qu'on ne sait pas très clairement si les sociétés nationales sont des « usines de production de guerre » sans indépendance et sans bureau d'études, la SNCASE est officiellement formée le 1er février 1937.
  • Gunston, Bill (1993). World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p. 243.
  • Gunston, Bill (1986). World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens. p. 107.
  • Media related to Potez at Wikimedia Commons
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