First World War Centenary
Dassault Aviation supports the renovation of the Verdun Memorial

Dassault Aviation has signed a sponsorship agreement with the French First World War Centenary Partnership to help renovate the Verdun Memorial.

Paris, December 16, 2014 - General Elrick Irastorza, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the First World War Centenary Partnership, and Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, today signed a sponsorship agreement at the Invalides building in Paris.  The signing ceremony was attended by Jean-Marc Todeschini, French Minister of State for Veterans and Remembrance, attached to the Minister of Defense.

According to the terms of this agreement, Dassault Aviation will fund the renovation of the Verdun Memorial. It will also deposit with this memorial museum an Éclair propeller from a Spad VII pursuit plane. This propeller was the first aeronautical design by Marcel Dassault to enter production. In addition to the Spad, it was also used on the Caudron, Nieuport and Farman airplanes that participated in the first large-scale aerial battle in history, in the skies over Verdun in 1916.  The Éclair would also mark the start of the aviation career of Marcel Bloch, who would go on to design both civil and military airplanes between the two world wars. At the end of the Second World War, returning to France after being deported, Marcel Bloch would change his name to Marcel Dassault.

This sponsorship agreement spotlights the roots of Dassault Aviation, the last major family-owned aerospace company in the world, still owned by its founder's family and bearing his name.  It honors Marcel Dassault's contribution to the allied effort in the First World War, and also pays tribute to the memory of the generation that sacrificed their lives to defend their nation.

Dassault Aviation

With over 8,000 military and civil aircraft delivered to 83 countries over the last 60 years, logging some 28 million hours in flight, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter to the high-end Falcon family of business jets and military drones.  Dassault Aviation posted sales of 4.59 billion euros in 2013, and has nearly 11,600 employees.

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