ABSTRACT
As France was an early leader in the development of aircraft manufacturing, this chapter looks at these developments, concentrating on the work of Louis Blériot, who was the first person to fly across the English Channel in 1909 and who also founded an aviation company in the same year. It also looks at the career of Raymond Saulnier, who founded a company in 1911, along with the Farman brothers, who founded their aviation company in 1908, and Marcel Dassault.
